The top 10 best Overwatch League teams of all time

After five seasons, we've seen star-studded rosters assemble and dominate the Overwatch League at least for a period of time.

We've set out to rank the top 10 Overwatch League teams of all time. For this comparison, we looked at the relative strength of the season the teams played in, how they compared to their direct competition both in regular season competition and tournaments, as well as playoff performances, the quality of players on the roster, and the overall perceived dominance judged by their legacy.

Admittedly, this has created outcomes some might disagree with. As such, I haven't weighed the season playoffs as extraordinarily heavy as one might, and teams like the London Spitfire of season 1 had therefore a hard time slotting in at one of the top spots.

Moreover, quantifying the inaugural season proves more difficult due to its quantity of games, lack of Role Stars awards, and its low level of competition, which has caused the 2018 NYXL to miss out on the top 10, even if just barely.

#10 Philadelphia Fusion 2020

Roster

• Carpe
• Eqo
• Ivy
• ChipsaHeesu
• Poko
• SADO
• Fury
• Boombox
• Alarm
• FunnyAstro

Season record and accolades

• 24-2 (2nd)
• Summer Showdown, Countdown Cup Runner-Up

Individual player awards

• Role Stars: Carpe, Alarm
• AROTY: Alarm

Being consistently second will likely give you a place in the best teams of all time but not anywhere towards the top. Name recognition of the players on this roster is high, and many of them celebrated their career peaks during this 2020 season. Just one stage title would've likely given credence to more Fusion players picking up individual performance awards.

#9 San Francisco Shock 2022

Roster

• Proper
• Kilo
• s9mm
• Coluge
• Mikeyy
• FiNN
• Viol2t
• Striker

Season record and accolades

• 20-4 (2nd)
• Runner-Up Midseason Madness, Summer Showdown, season playoffs

Individual player awards

• Role Stars: Proper (1)
• Season MVP: Proper
• AROTY: Proper

Just one map away from the Grandslam of winning every performance award in OWL, the San Francisco Proper in 2022 were still very successful. It would be wrong to only reduce this team around this one player, and yet, a performance like his is unlikely to ever happen again. You have to wonder how this season looks if super didn't retire in the early season. 

#8 Dallas Fuel 2021

Roster

• Sp9rk1e
• Doha
• Pine
• Fearless
• Hanbin
• Jecse
• Fielder
• Rapel

Season record and accolades

• 11-5 (2nd)
• May Melee winner, June Joust Runner-Up

Individual player awards

• Role Stars: Hanbin, Fearless, Fielder, Sp9rk1e (4)

Making lemonade out of lemons, the Dallas Fuel somehow managed to turn the league upside down and stayed one of the best teams in the world without a real hitscan player on their roster. However, after stage 1, it became clear that their shortcomings were catching up to them.

When Fearless was no longer capable of gapping his opponents on Winston, it was all Shanghai's game. Nevertheless, the core of the roster laid the foundation for their victory in 2022. 

#7 Vancouver Titans 2019

Roster

• Haksal
• Hooreg
• Stitch
• SeoMinSoo
• JJANU
• Bumper
• TiZi
• Rapel
• SLIME
• Twilight

Season record and accolades

• 25 - 3 (1st)
• Stage 1 winner, Stage 2 Runner-Up

Individual player awards

• Role Stars: Haksal, Twilight (2)

The Titans consistently remained one of the top 3 teams during the entire season, an achievement that's not regularly achieved, though admittedly probably was also helped by most of season 2 being played under the notorious GOATs composition.

That said, we are quick to forget that the Titans also remained one of the top teams when the meta did switch first and stage 4 and then again in playoffs with the introduction of Sigma.

#6 Shanghai Dragons 2020

Roster

• Diya
• diem
• DDing
• Fleta
• LIP
• Geguri
• Void
• Stand1
• Fearless
• Luffy
• Izayaki
• LeeJaeGon

Season record and accolades

• 27 - 2 (1st)
• May Melee & Countdown Cup winner, Summer Showdown Runner-Up

Individual player awards

• Role Stars: Void, Fearless, LeeJaeGon, LIP, Fleta (5)
• Season MVP: Fleta

It feels wrong to have a team as dominant as the 2020 Dragons this low and yet we have to confront the elephant in the room about season 3 and the regional divide. At least by the eye test, there simply was more competition in the North American competition which the Shock still reigned over.

In a world where we had a regular cross-regional play and the APAC region proves itself to be at least equal regularly and the Dragons win one more fateful map against the Shock in the season playoffs, it's entirely possible for them to peak as high as second. In this limbo state, the team exists in a superposition between 8th and 2nd.

#5 Los Angeles Gladiators 2022

Roster

• SPACE
• kevster
• Shu
• skewed
• FunnyAstro
• Reiner
• Patiphan
• ANS
• Happy

Season record and accolades

• 18 - 6 Regular season score (4th)
• Mid-Season Madness Winner
• Kickoff Clash winner 

Individual player awards

• Role Stars: shu, Reiner, Kevster (3)
• Season MVP Runner-Up Kevster

For the first half of the season, the Gladiators were the undisputed best team in the Overwatch League in season 5. Especially the Mid-Season Madness provided ammunition for that view, given the rigour of the tournament structure that almost compared to the season playoffs. 

I'm almost entirely willing to discard the outcome of the season playoffs given its ridiculous format weakness of only giving teams five days to prepare for the playoff patch, a randomiser that ranks among the worst inflictions of competitive integrity in OWL history. The fact that the finals turned out to be the best yet does little to that view. 

The Overwatch League season 5 playoffs were a mickey mouse competition, and the Gladiators comprehensively proved that they were the best team in the world in most metas three weeks into it. There's little doubt in my mind they would've gone far in stage 3 too, had they made it to playoffs there, which is one major blemish on the Gladiators record this season.

#4 Dallas Fuel 2022

Roster

• Doha
• Sp9rk1e
• Hanbin
• Fielder
• Fearless
• ChiYo
• Edison
• guriyo

Season record and accolades

• 20 - 4 Regular season score (1st)
• Grand Finals Winner
• Summer Showdown Winner, Kickoff Clash Runner-Up

Individual player awards

• Role Stars: Fielder, ChiYo, Hanbin (3)

The Fuel narrowly edge out the Gladiators, mainly through their consistency in the regular season. While winning the season is a bonus, given the format and the closeness in the Grand Finals, it may only provide a minor upside to their claim as one of the best Overwatch League teams of all time, even though I'm sure history won’t acknowledge that nuance.

The season was a worthwhile culmination of a system that had been many years in the making by head coach Rush. Moreover, the team put their efforts on many shoulders, not least in their tank position, a decision that might have cost Hanbin his MVP but also allowed them to win the trophy.

#3 San Francisco Shock 2019 

Roster

• Architect
• Sinatraa
• Striker
• Rascal
• ChoiHyoBin
• Nevixsuper
• smurf
• moth
• Viol2t

Season record and accolades

• 23 - 5 Regular season score (2nd)
• Grand Finals winner
• Stage 2 Playoff winner, Stage 1 & 3 Runner-Up

Individual player awards

• Role Stars: sinatraa, ChoiHyoBin, super, moth (4)
• Season MVP sinatraa

The season 2 Shock was a force to be reckoned with playing themselves into a frenzy after their close loss to the Titans in stage 1. Taking one to the jaw only to punch back twice as hard became a recognisable pattern for them, needing to drop down to the lower bracket against the Reign, but not losing a single map after being woken up.

#2 San Francisco Shock 2020

Roster

• Striker
• ANS
• Rascal
• Ta1yo
• Super
• ChoiHyobBin
• Smurf
• Moth
• Viol2t
• Twilight

Season record and accolades

• 25 - 3 Regular season score (3rd)
• Grand Finals winner
• May Melee & Countdown Cup winner

Individual player awards

• Role Stars: ChoiHyoBin, Viol2t, ANS (3)

Not only were the Shock dominant through multiple rapidly changing metas due to hero pools, but the competition in season 3 was also fierce, with multiple teams having some of the best performances in their franchise history too. Pound for pound, this roster gets close to the best group of players during their peak years there ever was. It's a shame we didn’t get to see more cross-regional play that season to put this team really to the test.

#1 Shanghai Dragons 2021 

Roster

• LIP
• Fleta
• WhoRU
• Develop
• Fate
• Void
• LeeJaeGon
• Izayaki
• Molly

Season record and accolades

• 12 - 4 Regular season score (1st)
• Grand Finals winner
• June Joust & May Melee Winner, May Melee Runner up

Individual player awards

• Role Stars: LIP, Void, Izayaki, LeeJaeGon (4)
• LIP MVP Runner-Up

Though in an admittedly short season with only 16 regular season matches, the Dragons had arguably the most dominant season of all time. You know you’re good if your Grand Finals opponents aren’'t even upset about being beaten by you.

That year, only the Dallas Fuel ever managed to take a trophy away from the Dragons, but once the team forced the League to play around their signature comp, dominance set in.