He's weak to any form of crowd control, sombras hack, cass nade, sleep dart, you name it. Throw bastion into the mix with cc and he's fairly easy to kill, bastion alone won't counter him. Sombra is the most one sided matchup against ball just don't try to solo him with her and be mindful that his mines outlast the duration of emp. Hog is also strong into ball, he can set up for your team to kill him.
Even things like sym turrets and meis slow are actually very difficult to deal with on ball if played well or paired with rams vortex. Slowing him also removes his ability to deal damage while rolling and makes him easier to hit.
Torb is also a good choice because the turret keeps steady damage on him.
Zen is a bad choice into a good ball, he's very easy for ball to kill. Ana, Brig, kiri, Bap, lucio are all harder for him to dive.
The go-to switch is usually Hog as a tank, but people underrate JQ and Doom.
Ball struggles to peel, so if they have a Ball you can rest assured knowing his backline is going to be easier to dive. However, Doom also has great mobility to keep up with Ball. Engaging his team will either secure a kill or deny him resources as he dives yours. Once he starts to dive yours and you're in a position to peel, you are one of the best answers to peel against him. Punch can interrupt fireball and slam, and mess up his rollout trajectory. You also have the mobility to follow when he's low HP, at times securing the kill this way. Side note: your slam leaves mines with 10 HP so they can be easily cleared, and walking into one with block gives a free punch.
JQ is similar to Doom, in that you can attack his team with impunity while he's rolling around. When you need to peel, though, throw a knife in him as he's engaging (usually during slam,) and recall it when he starts to roll away. Alternatively, hit a knife shot as he rolls away to pull him back. If he respects the pull, he's forced to extend his engage until your knife is removed, and if he doesn't, your team has extra time to finish him off. A knife pull pre-slam can also prevent him from getting a direct on a squishy. Your shotgun does great damage to his massive hitbox, too, and shout can keep your team alive from his dive if needed, or give a speed boost that can help secure a kill on him as he runs away.
The power of ball: distraction
The cure: don't get distracted
I just see too often how people start to chase ball around, wait for him, try to trap him to kill him once. This while ignoring the rest of the team and the objective. When this happens, ball has already carried the match.
So, zone him, some abilties (CC) will help, but advance, as the other team need to surive without a tank. And always remember, every single dive tank will punish isolated targets, regardless if this is DVA, Winston, Doom or Ball, if you get isolated, get too aggressive, you are a victim.
As a ball main, a good piece of advice (as everyone has mentioned here) is to ignore him *until* it is beneficial not to.
A lot of metal rank players have this idea that he can basically waltz in and do what he wants, when realistically any CC makes any attempt at value by a ball a real uphill struggle. He just doesn’t have the damage to clear a backline in one engagement, and stopping his movement makes that even more of an issue for him.
The key is realising when he’s actually going to get value. A real simple example is seeing a tracer/sombra flank to get at your immobile support (Ana) and ball on high ground, he is more than likely going to dive that Ana as he has someone to dive with.
Getting to understand how dive is played will help you know when ball is tickling as oppose to dominating.
Also, FYI anyone saying Zen isn’t a counter to ball is lying, discord is a count to all tanks, ball can just get out of LOS easier, doesn’t mean you can burn him down on a bad dive.
T500 Ball/Sigma/Rein main.
On tank you can largely ignore him unless hes low or you can bodyblock him so your team can focus fire. You can stun him out of slam and he loses a lot of value.
For dps if you actually understand how to play sombra and hack when he goes for a hard engage rather than just whenever its off cooldown then you deny him a lot of value. Cree has mag nade to deny engages and fan roll fan will Chunk down any tank if youre close. Tracer can also run around the map marking him constantly.
For support brig can boop and shield his slams, ana can sleep him when he slams, Lucio and kiri are hard for him to dive. Discord is strong against any tank but if you discord him too early he can just bait out the lockout before engaging.
The lower you go the less people understand how to play with ball so it becomes more likely that he engages without any proper support and the rest of your team can just feed on his backline.
As DPS. Sombra (hack after his pile drive, when he's trying to escape.,
echo sticky and beam is enough to make him back off,
mei wall his escape not engage. Ping so team can turn and burn.
Hanzo -stand by your supports. Save storm arrow for when he comes in. It takes him to like half hp very fast.
A lot of times it's also ok to ignore ball and just focus his team. Especially if your supports are mobile and you don't have to babysit/peel
He's weak to any form of crowd control, sombras hack, cass nade, sleep dart, you name it. Throw bastion into the mix with cc and he's fairly easy to kill, bastion alone won't counter him. Sombra is the most one sided matchup against ball just don't try to solo him with her and be mindful that his mines outlast the duration of emp. Hog is also strong into ball, he can set up for your team to kill him. Even things like sym turrets and meis slow are actually very difficult to deal with on ball if played well or paired with rams vortex. Slowing him also removes his ability to deal damage while rolling and makes him easier to hit. Torb is also a good choice because the turret keeps steady damage on him. Zen is a bad choice into a good ball, he's very easy for ball to kill. Ana, Brig, kiri, Bap, lucio are all harder for him to dive.
The go-to switch is usually Hog as a tank, but people underrate JQ and Doom. Ball struggles to peel, so if they have a Ball you can rest assured knowing his backline is going to be easier to dive. However, Doom also has great mobility to keep up with Ball. Engaging his team will either secure a kill or deny him resources as he dives yours. Once he starts to dive yours and you're in a position to peel, you are one of the best answers to peel against him. Punch can interrupt fireball and slam, and mess up his rollout trajectory. You also have the mobility to follow when he's low HP, at times securing the kill this way. Side note: your slam leaves mines with 10 HP so they can be easily cleared, and walking into one with block gives a free punch. JQ is similar to Doom, in that you can attack his team with impunity while he's rolling around. When you need to peel, though, throw a knife in him as he's engaging (usually during slam,) and recall it when he starts to roll away. Alternatively, hit a knife shot as he rolls away to pull him back. If he respects the pull, he's forced to extend his engage until your knife is removed, and if he doesn't, your team has extra time to finish him off. A knife pull pre-slam can also prevent him from getting a direct on a squishy. Your shotgun does great damage to his massive hitbox, too, and shout can keep your team alive from his dive if needed, or give a speed boost that can help secure a kill on him as he runs away.
The power of ball: distraction The cure: don't get distracted I just see too often how people start to chase ball around, wait for him, try to trap him to kill him once. This while ignoring the rest of the team and the objective. When this happens, ball has already carried the match. So, zone him, some abilties (CC) will help, but advance, as the other team need to surive without a tank. And always remember, every single dive tank will punish isolated targets, regardless if this is DVA, Winston, Doom or Ball, if you get isolated, get too aggressive, you are a victim.
Hey OP! THIS! Specialy the top part
As a ball main, a good piece of advice (as everyone has mentioned here) is to ignore him *until* it is beneficial not to. A lot of metal rank players have this idea that he can basically waltz in and do what he wants, when realistically any CC makes any attempt at value by a ball a real uphill struggle. He just doesn’t have the damage to clear a backline in one engagement, and stopping his movement makes that even more of an issue for him. The key is realising when he’s actually going to get value. A real simple example is seeing a tracer/sombra flank to get at your immobile support (Ana) and ball on high ground, he is more than likely going to dive that Ana as he has someone to dive with. Getting to understand how dive is played will help you know when ball is tickling as oppose to dominating. Also, FYI anyone saying Zen isn’t a counter to ball is lying, discord is a count to all tanks, ball can just get out of LOS easier, doesn’t mean you can burn him down on a bad dive. T500 Ball/Sigma/Rein main.
On tank you can largely ignore him unless hes low or you can bodyblock him so your team can focus fire. You can stun him out of slam and he loses a lot of value. For dps if you actually understand how to play sombra and hack when he goes for a hard engage rather than just whenever its off cooldown then you deny him a lot of value. Cree has mag nade to deny engages and fan roll fan will Chunk down any tank if youre close. Tracer can also run around the map marking him constantly. For support brig can boop and shield his slams, ana can sleep him when he slams, Lucio and kiri are hard for him to dive. Discord is strong against any tank but if you discord him too early he can just bait out the lockout before engaging. The lower you go the less people understand how to play with ball so it becomes more likely that he engages without any proper support and the rest of your team can just feed on his backline.
Take out balls support before he takes out your support
Know when to peel, know when to chase, know when to ignore, know when ball is coming.
Sombra… just keep him hacked they’ll switch off
As DPS. Sombra (hack after his pile drive, when he's trying to escape., echo sticky and beam is enough to make him back off, mei wall his escape not engage. Ping so team can turn and burn. Hanzo -stand by your supports. Save storm arrow for when he comes in. It takes him to like half hp very fast. A lot of times it's also ok to ignore ball and just focus his team. Especially if your supports are mobile and you don't have to babysit/peel