A poke comp is a range claim
Poke does not win by damage. It wins by making you pay for every metre you cross, and then not being there when you arrive.
So the counter is not a hero, it is a route with cover every ten metres. That is measurable, because movement is fixed at 6 metres per second for almost every hero, 7 for Black Panther and Wolverine.
| Distance to close | Time exposed |
|---|---|
| 10 m | 1.7 s |
| 20 m | 3.3 s |
| 30 m | 5.0 s |
| 40 m | 6.7 s |
Five seconds of open ground is enough for a 250-health Duelist to die twice over. Which means a poke comp loses to a team that crosses in 10-metre bites behind cover, and beats a team that tries to cross 30 metres in one run.
Cross in stages, not in a push
Three rules that convert the table into a plan:
1. Never cross more than 10 metres without cover. Ten metres is 1.7 seconds — survivable. Thirty is not.
2. Cross when they are reloading or repositioning, not when they are set. A poke comp that has to move is a poke comp not shooting.
3. Arrive with everyone. A staged crossing where two players arrive early is a 2v6 against a team that has been waiting. Wait at the last cover point and go together — the last 10 metres are the only ones that need to be simultaneous.
Where poke is weakest
Up close and personal, on a target with 250 health. A poke player is usually a Duelist or Strategist, which is 250 to 300 health, which at 200 damage per second is 1.25 to 1.5 seconds. They are not built to survive being reached.
Against a dive that arrives at the same time from two angles. Poke needs a single legible threat direction. Two simultaneous arrivals removes that.
On the clock. This is the part most teams miss. On Domination, whoever controls the point scores 1% every ~1.2 seconds, so 12 seconds of holding is 10%. A poke comp that never commits still wins if it holds — the counter is not to out-poke it but to contest the objective, because contesting stops the round from ending only if you also take control. The game modes guide has the exact rule.
What not to do
Do not peek to trade. Poke comps are built for exactly that exchange. Every long-range trade you accept is a trade you lose slowly.
Do not send one diver alone. A lone flanker against a poke comp is a 1v6 with a long walk back. The flank route guide covers the timing that makes a dive work.
Do not switch to a longer-range hero to answer it. You are now playing their game with a worse version of their comp. The answer is arrival, not range.
The positioning guide covers the cover-and-exit check that makes a staged crossing possible, and the team composition guide covers which lineups actually threaten poke.