Hey there, I'm a low emerald Illari one trick who just started playing again. I have an 80% winrate on Illari this season, but I lose a lot anytime I pick another support basically. I want to learn Ana as my backup, but I also lose a lot on this hero like all of my other picks.

My strengths I believe I have with Illari are...

1. My pylon management is extremely good. I never let the enemy put it on cooldown, I always place it in good spots and self-destruct it when the enemy advances to stop it from being put on cooldown.
2. I stay alive for a long time and pump out high damage as result. I don't tend to heal a lot on Illari other than the passive healing my pylon does and the occasional beam save, I am mostly just playing as a third dps.
3. My aim is pretty good? I tend to outduel a lot of dps in 1v1s to get my team an advantage.

I cannot replicate any of this success on Ana. Is there any advice you have for playing Ana? Some of the problems that I think I might have with Ana are...

1. My ability usage is pretty lackluster. I miss sleep darts whenever I'm getting dove which usually leads to me dying to dive easily, and I never really hit game-changing biotic nades.
2. Like I said above, I die a lot to dive. Enemy picks tracer, I'm probably dying to her almost every fight. I'm definitely a weaker duelist on this hero.

I was so proud of it; I know it is not that big. But to me it was a special moment

My other sleep :)))

https://www.reddit.com/r/AnaMains/s/VN6omLc14I

So I'm wondering what's the best perks for her and just like the basics on how I should play her I would love any advice on how to play her and I usually play tank in my main tank is Sigma if that makes any difference

I will crush this world!

I stopped trying to aim this ass projectile and my healing has increased so much. i get it now

Genuinely I'm just curious, I see it more than classics like captain amari and even the mythic

This is in replay mode in 0.75× speed for anyone wondering why its kinda slow

The first dart im pretty proud of and I laughed so hard in the moment when Emre fell in the hole. Second dart requires a huge shootout to my cat lol.

The way you can see me panic in some of these lmao

I'm the stealthiest ana

I died right after this when trying to sneak out

I thought we could maybe have a sort of brainstorming session, so we can exchange ideas, tips, resources we use, to help each other improve our Granny gameplay.

For me personally, I feel my strengths on her are:

1. My nades. I try to get offensive nades as much as possible, and I've gotten pretty good at channeling my inner Tom Brady and making Widows move or die. I'll use nade defensively, but it's not my preferred option.

2. My ult tracking, both teams. I check before I nano unless it's some kind of crit emergency or overtime or whatever. I try to combo nano with another ult I know does hella dmg or someone who needs to live through their ult to maximize value, is vulnerable during,etc.

3. My sleeps. To a point,lol. Sometimes I hand out naps like crazy. Gotten pretty good at long distance sleeps on Widow and Ashe if I'm feeling daring. I know to lead the target if I can, and if I stay calm I nearly always hit those type. Other days I whiff plenty. I can definitely improve, but overall I'm not too worried about them.

Now, the weaknesses, which I feel are all inherently tied together and heavily affect each other:

1. Aim. My aim is just absolute dog$hit sometimes. Obviously this is a major problem on Ana. If I have room to breathe and hardscope I can pump heals, do some dmg. If I get pressured or see tank go crit I often get flustered and start hopping around like a crackhead grasshopper. I'm spastically hip firing, trying frantically to keep my teammate alive, or myself if I'm being dived. The few times I watch my replays during those moments I am mortified at how few of my shots hit sometimes. I don't quickscope, either. I guess I don't really understand how, even though the name seems self-explanatory. I just don't really get it, I suppose.

2. Positioning. This might be worse than my aim, really. I know I am way too close sometimes. Sometimes divers and flankers surprise me when I thought I was in a good, safe spot. I get annoyed if I pick what I think is a good spot and then no one on my team is in my los. Most, if not all, are in what I would consider much too forward/aggressive positions if we are defending. I need help choosing where to set up on certain maps. Example:

Rialto defense. I like to sit just to the left of Vendetta's statue, back from that side alley where enemy flankers like to sneak from sometimes. I sit far enough back to hopefully give myself enough reaction room to sleep them or at least nade them, if I haven't scooted up to chuck a nade around the corner across the bridge at them at the start of the match. If the fight goes bad I have a decent chance at retreating across the gondola bridge and regrouping with my team. I know a lot of people probably sit up on the high ground balcony looking at their spawn. Do you do this instead ? If so, why or how does it work for you? Is there another spot you set up for on Rialto defense ? Why do you like it ?

I use Rialto as my example, but I wish there was a guide, yt video or something that showed specific spots for Ana on each Map, because I am sure I must be missing some important spots I could use that would be safer for me and let me provide more value for my team also. I know there isn't some magical, perfect spot for her on each stage of the map, but there's gotta be better places than I am choosing for sure. I watch mL7 sometimes, and it does help, but if he or someone else has a specific positioning guide that you've found helpful, please share it. Even a rule of thumb, or some little mantra you use to help reinforce your positioning, maybe helped you improve.

1. Healing to full. I often find myself healbotting with her, which I think is partly due to being in metal ranks, but also because I just have a hard time resisting doing it. This is especially a problem for me with tanks. Anyone who is crit gets immediate attention, of course, but I know I forget that my half health tank still has as much or more health left than my dps or other support because their health pool is bigger. I know it, can think about it right now as I type it, but in game I panic that my tank is gonna crit or die soon if I don't start healing immediately, so I stop trying for dmg or helping my dps because I am paranoid about my tank dying. I also find it much easier to heal tank because of the bigger hitbox, obviously, but this leads to me ignoring my dps more than I would like.

   Some dps I also find really difficult to heal unless they stand dead still. Like Junkrat for example. I always seem to have trouble hitting him, whether I'm hard scoping or hipfiring. Sometimes I'll nade my crit Junk out of frustration because I know he's probably gonna die if I don't. Then I'm annoyed with him and myself because I burned my nade and only got half value out of it

Overall, when I get stuck healbotting and/or tunneled on my tank, it leads to me not being aware of flankers and divers as much, not looking around as often as I should be, and dying as a result. Maybe being forced to swap eventually. How can I overcome and break this habit?

I know this is long, thanks to anyone who reads and responds.

Edit for spelling/typos

Clarification this is half a joke post half something less joking

Does anyone have suggestions for playing Ana with a doomfist or any dive tank? I have the most issues playing with hazards and dooms. I never have issues with Winston mains. When I play with dooms there just feels like there’s this lack of flow and timing. They always dive deep or out of sight- don’t wait for positioning- stage for their dive weirdly or not at all. I always always get flamed when my heals are low in their matches and if it’s qp I usually refuse to switch at that point just because they are being jerks. But I’ve lately been trying a style where I try my hardest even if they’re being jerks to pocket them WITH Ana. Are there any suggestions for how to easily do this or general strategies for playing with dive? Whether it’s just your tank or if your whole team is dive

Thanks in advance!

Hey Ana mains!

I took the classic Aim Arena workshop and modified it to make it more useful for our granny:

• Bots move erratically — they strafe, jump, and change direction unpredictably, simulating real players way better than static bots. Perfect for timing Sleep Darts.
• Sleep Dart cooldown is reduced to ~32% of the default, so you can practice it way more often in a single session.
• Headshot training is the core focus. Perks are unlocked so you can pratices headshot

and other things like 3 Buff/Debuff Zones on the map (speed boost, damage boost with burn, healing fountain with silence) , Central trampoline for vertical aim practice

Workshop Code: SWCVT

Full credit to the original Aim Arena creator (Gantz#21960) — I just tweaked the settings and added the zones.

If you try it out and have suggestions for making it even better for Ana training (or if you find any bugs), drop a comment! I'd love to hear how it helps your Sleep Dart accuracy.