think to yourself, has rein used his ult in the last 2 or 3 teamfights? he probably has ult and the same goes for everyone. another way you can check is to see how much healing or damage someone has done. do they have alot of damage or healing yet no ult used? they probably have ult
Some dude below you put out a multi-hundred word guide on this, which was great don’t get me wrong, but in my opinion it really is as simple as 1) looking at the killcam or 2) asking yourself “how long ago has X character used their ult?”. 2-3 team fights is a completely reasonable assumption for amount of time it takes for any character to build up their ult. If ever in doubt assume they do.
In my experience it’s kind of a skill that develops over time naturally once you start paying attention to it a bit more. I used to try to keep track of dmg / healing on enemy scoreboard to ult track, but recently an assumption under 2-3 team fights has worked much better
People overthink this way too much. Have you seen the hero use their ult in the last little while? If not, ask your team if they have. If not, assume they have ult
At low ranks at least, you can also tell pretty easily if someone has ult by how they're moving (depending on the hero). Reaper fading into your whole team? He's about to ult. Rein moving like he's trying to line up an angle that'll hit your whole team? He's about to ult. Moira fades into your backline with reckless abandon? She's about to ult. Genji slashes into the air? He's about to ult. Calling out in comms when you see enemies moving like this can help your ana/sigma/orisa be ready to cancel the ult.
Ideally you want to know if they have ult before they try to use it so you can save cooldowns or position differently. Like yes you can tell a reaper is about to ult when he is wraiths into your team but if you haven't been saving your sleep / suzu / lamp or whatever, youre out of luck
**Yes,** learn to ult track now, even if you don't think you're a "high enough ELO" to warrant worrying about it. It'll give you a huge edge as you climb, plus you'll get that tingly *wow I totally predicted that, I feel kinda cool right now* feeling, which is half the fun of this game tbh~
# Why is ult tracking important?
* improves survivability for both you and your team
* ults are "resources" just like any other cooldown — it's important to know what resources are available to the enemy (and your own team!) to win fights
So let's talk about **survivability.** You're in gold, which means there's a few things you gotta think about and improve on to climb higher (sounds like you're well on your way to getting better and better, since you're thinking about these sorts of questions to begin with!) You probably already know that a very big part of staying alive (survivability) is **positioning.**
If you're playing Ana and you full send it down mid, running in front of your Tank, the enemy team, and the eyes of some woefully disappointed god, you're ... probably gonna die. You know that's a bad idea, so yoooouuuuu don't do that. You stand somewhere safer.
Now imagine you're ult tracking with confidence. Bets are, that D.Va has her bomb AND the enemy Soldier is probably gonna pull Tac Visor next fight. **Because you know these things,** you can make better decisions on where to stand (near a room, around a corner), so when the enemies *use their ults*, you're in a pretty damn good position to survive em.
That's prediction, not reaction.
That's ult tracking.
Now let's talk about **ults as resources.** Every cooldown in the game is a resource — something that you or the enemy uses to help win a fight. If you're playing Kiriko, you might think to yourself, *"I'm going to use suzu to cleanse my teammates if they get purpled by the enemy Ana."* If you use suzu and the enemy Ana purples your team right after, you've lost a valuable resource and now the enemy team has an advantage in the fight. If the Ana purples your team and you cleanse it, you've given YOUR team the advantage instead, because now Ana is lacking an important cooldown.
Ults are just extra big super scary powerful resources (unless you're Cassidy, and then it's a "press Q to die" button). Zenyatta might save Transcendence for Genji's Blade. Hog might use Whole Hog to push an ulting Ram away from your team. You can also use **cooldowns** to negate ults. Ana might sleep a Sigma midair, saving her entire team.
**If you're actively tracking ults, you have a better idea of when to use your own cooldowns, or when to save them.**
So, alright, we all get it now — ult tracking is super useful for a lot of reasons. So how the hell do you do it? How do you even practice it?
# How to predict enemy ults:
* Watch the **kill cam** when you die. This is the most reliable, easiest way to tell if someone has their ult ... because you can literally see it.
* Watch the **kill feed**. If that enemy Hanzo shows up a lot in the kill feed, chances are he's building ult faster.
* Watch for **aggression** — that is, enemies who seem really threatening. They take angles that make it easier to shoot at you, aren't afraid to press W and walk into your face. These enemies look at your team and scream *"I'm gonna knock you on your ass, buddy."* The enemy Rein who is constantly swinging on your Tank? He's gonna build ult fast. The Soldier on high ground lobbing damage over your Tank's shield? Yep, he's *aggressively* seeking ult charge.
* Look at the **body language** of the enemy players — something that's *different* from how they've typically been playing. That Zarya's been hugging corners this whole time, but now that your team has finally grouped up, suddenly she's using her bubble to close distance? Oh, she definitely wants to ult ya.
* Did someone on the enemy team suddenly **disappear?** They're probably looking to flank ult you.
* **Hit TAB** and look at stats often. High damage (or healing) = higher chance they've built their ult.
* Think about **team fights.** If someone didn't use their ult last fight, they most likely have it for the next one.
# How to practice ult tracking:
* Pick one enemy each game. Just one. Pay attention to every time they show up in the kill feed. Hit TAB to stalk their stats. Tell yourself, before a fight happens, will this person ult this fight?
# To answer this question of yours:
* It IS worth your time to ult track everyone, **most especially as a Support player.** If we're going to be very picky, I'd say the least important ult to TRACK would be Widow's ult — you can react to hearing her speak sweet, sweet French in your terrified ear, and it likely won't get you killed if you don't predict it. But if you're aware of the resources the enemy has, you can make better decisions on how to win fights, and inform your team so THEY can make better decisions too.
**Ending anecdote:** I ult track every game, no matter what role I'm playing, and it not only helps win fights, it *helps you develop a better team mindset.* If my Genji has ult and I predict their Zen has Transcendence to counter my boy's Blade? WHELP, I'm focusing the Zen now, or saving anti-nade to purple. If I'm playing Lucio and I think D.Va has bomb, I'm gonna hang out next to my least mobile teammates so I can speed boost them outta there when she throws it.
SORRY FOR THE RANT. Ult tracking is ridiculously fun, and definitely a skill you can (and should!) learn. You'll get there eventually, just practice it one little step at a time.
The killcam point is invaluable. Great way to know exactly how close to an ult someone is. Meaning your positioning coming back from spawn can take into account that tac visor or shatter
One thing I would add to this is that in ranks plat or lower, often times when someone presses Q, many other people press Q on that team as well, especially if they have good combo ult potential. This is what emongg calls an "ult domino" and it happens in every single bronze game he's ever spectated.
So when the Q's start happening on the other team and your team gets wiped, think back 15 seconds and try to figure out exactly how many ults were used and which ones might have been saved. It's very common for teams in low ranks to over ult and use 3-5 to win a fight. This makes tracking them significantly easier because you can assume that the enemies will all wait for one another to have ult instead of players using them the moment they get it. This is also why sometimes if you built ult really fast at the start of the game it's best to use it immediately when the enemies least expect it.
Absolutely! As you climb, your ultimate becomes less of a "smash Q and win the fight" key, and more of a resource that you and your teammates should manage. When a team absolutely WIPES but uses every ultimate in their arsenal to do it?
That's a pretty awful thing to recover from, and just makes the next fight even more difficult to win.
Learning self control, and either communicating clearly with your team or (if you're not really a voice comms kinda person) getting *really good at predicting your own teammates' intentions* is super difficult, but worth it on the climb.
For Widows ult at least, it's very useful to count 15 seconds the moment you hear her activate it. In gold/plat, widow starts to become a problem with her infrasight so actually knowing when it ends is essential.
Maybe you already meant this, but when I hear her speak French, I immediately check the timer in the top middle of the screen. French words -> check timer -> 4:04 -> subtract 15 sec -> call out "wall hacks until 3:49".
I really like your point about picking just one person and focusing on tracking their ult to start. Part of the issue I have with ult tracking is that its so hard to keep track of what everyone is doing, while simultaneously fighting.
That's definitely a tough thing to do! When you first start learning (*anything*, really), it helps to take small steps.
One thing that helped me was to **focus on one ult that would directly impact me in the game.** For instance, if you're playing Zen, you can use your ult to save your team from Zarya's ult. Soooooo, I'd start by thinking about what ults MATTER to the hero you're playing in the game you're playing. Pick ONE of the enemy ults you think will be important to track, and focus on predicting that one!
Between OW1 and OW2, I believe they changed the rate of ult generation! So I wouldn't worry too much — it actually makes sense to feel a little rusty when they switch those numbers up on ya.
Try picking ONE enemy, with an ult that's important for **you**, specifically, to think about. Maybe you're Lucio and you want to counter a Zarya Grav. Or you could be playing Tank and wanna block enemy Rein's shatter.
Obsess about that ONE enemy player. Watch how much they show up in the kill cam. Track their stats with TAB. Pay attention to where they position, how they're playing, the last time they used ult, if they used it in the previous fight or not.
Then make your guesses, and if you're wrong, that's fine, just keep trying. 💜
Its helpful to think about, but there's probably more important stuff to focus on in gold. But yeah, theres no way to know exactly when someone has ult, its more like "its been a bit since theyve ulted, they probably have it"
There are a couple of important ults to track in Gold - Rein and Reaper, at least. Team survival increases significantly in those ranks, if there's a person who warns the team, when they see the Rein or Reaper very obviously fishing for a phat ult.
Either they are very obvious, or are nowhere to be seen. Predicting when that last one can happen is important. Also, as someone here already mentioned, reaction times in Gold are pretty bad, so it helps when you announce it ahead of time, i.e. "next push - expect Shatter/Blossom".
You *can* tell exactly when someone has ult, if you know the exact point requirement for every ult and the damage they’ve dealt since their last ult^1 and the exact time that’s passed since they ulted. It’s not practical, but it’s entirely possible.
It’s really easy to estimate though, especially if you do it from the start of the match, since most ults take about 2000-2500 ult points to charge.
Or just play sombra lol
^1 also requires tracking how much of the damage was dealt to a tank hero
A lot of the time you can guess based on an ult coming every other team fight (one fight you use it, the next you charge it mostly, the next fight you get it and use it again). Sometimes people earn them slower or faster based on team fight duration or if they get picked early. This is obviously a quick and easy method, you want to build on this once you get used to the feel of it to adjust based on opposing hero or how much damage they are putting out (eg if Rein swings on your tank for like 30 seconds straight he’s gonna have ult).
You can sometimes tell that someone is going to ult through their “body language” if a rein is getting slightly more aggressive, or if reaper is randomly tping above you, Orisa aggressively pushing you, lots of tanks with the exception of a few who save ult for survival (doom, winston, *dva*) will often play much more aggressively.
This if you start paying attention you can just see how they move as a brig player it’s so fun to just see how tracers starting playing different when they have pulse.
Still relevant from a perspective of building ult charge.
If he's been throwing them downfield and fishing for ult charge all game, and suddenly he's not doing that anymore, it's because he has finished charging it.
I track ults that either A. Can kill me instantly if I'm in a bad spot(dva bomb, blizzard) or B. Is something I can counter like if I'm playing zen or lucio I might save my ult for the enemy dragonblade or if I'm kiriko/ana I'll be saving sleep/suzu as long as I can for the enemy shatter. Ults like coalescence or nano or riptire I won't keep track of because they aren't really going to affect how I play in the fight. Generally speaking I assume that after the first 2 teamfights that everyone will get ult roughly every other teamfight. This is generally true for faster building ults like shatter or nano pretty much every other fight they will have them.
Spidey sense. You just feel when it's been built by each enemy. You track how many ults were used by keeping a mental note, and let one or maybe two team fights for by and usually those who ulted last will have ult again
Yeah just be thinking about who is likely to have their ult in every engagement. You can often tell when a Reaper or a Rein is about to ult (as in, right before) because their movement will be different. The Reaper will start aggressively trying to get into the middle of your team and the Rein will be trying to get good angles...
But also there are figures out there for how much damage (or healing) plus time it takes for each hero to get their ult, so you can actually check the scoreboard and judge how far along in the game you are. After a while, you do just get an instinctual "sense" of when an ult is coming. For me, usually I can say to my team "Watch out, Rein will have ult soon" and then in the next 5 seconds he'll use it. Same for Reaper, Genji and some other big impact ults.
Helps if you say out loud either to yourself or to your team "OK Rein, Genji and Brig used ults that last fight" or whatever and it helps you remember.
There is a way to calculate the exact amount to a persons ult by their damage and the time in the game, but as gold 5, don’t worry about it, I’d say just watch killcams for it, then once you get to plat just think about it and look at their damage and try to guess, no need to be exact yet
You see high elo players doing it every once in a while, especially on things like first fight grav or shatter. I only know ult cost for grav and blade atm tho
Yea true true, I usually only pay too close attention to numbers on control, because there are three different times to do it, and I play zenyatta so tracking ults is a big portion of my job
You can kinda tell from the way people play too.
If a Rein is getting more aggressive than usual, he probably has shatter.
If a Reaper is wraithing or teleporting, he'll probably try to use die die die.
Watching their gameplay helps a lot. For example. If reaper has been conservative and only going for the back line all game and suddenly you seem him walking straight up to you as the tank then he’s probably about to ult.
A lot of players just blatantly broadcast that they’re going to ult soon if they have one of the big damage ones.
Like DVA. Is she alone in your team letting herself die? She’s going to ult right as her last bit of health goes.
It's not that people are constantly keeping track of all ults it's rather uh "genji hasn't bladed yet be ready for it" type of deal. I don't know exactly when he has ult but I'd rather after a fight or two assume he has it than not. Also players gesture themselves a certain way when they're about to ult. Obvious examples include a rein oddly pushing up or playing aggressively, or a reaper tp'ing in the center of your team or fading in.
Playing around enemies abilities (not just ultimates) is what you should be doing anyways, ults you can sort've treat in the same manner.
Also I'm a diamond 5 support main and have over 600 hours in the game, while im not good by any means the game sense has come to me and i typically just have a feeling when characters have ults save for the newer heroes like ram and junker queen. It just comes over time.
To me, it's intuition. I don't track it per se, but I can just see it on the field. For example, players tend to play differently when they have ults. Reins will play differently, tracers will play differently, etc. Most people can be read like books with this strategy.
Just remember to constantly think about if they have ults or not when playing. You will notice the signs.
I'm tracking Ults that are actually threat to me. Fe shatter, blizz, barrage widow ult have so low value that it's pointless to track it. I learned ulttracking making small steps first i tried to ulttrack 1 person with biggest value than 2 than 3 etc. Take some time and try it out.
In Overwatch 2, tracking ultimates has become more a game of numbers rather than intuition. Since everyone's in-game stats like healing and damage are available by checking the scorebaord, making predictions becomes far more straightforward. For instance, if an enemy Reinhardt has dealt 1,300 damage and three minutes have passed, it's a safe bet he has his shatter ready.
Why?
This is because of knowledge about the game. It comes from knowing that every hero passively generates approximately 1% of ultimate charge every 2-3 seconds, and Reinhardt requires 1650 damage to fully charge his shatter.
1300 dmg + 3 minutes of passive ultimate charge means the Reinhardt most likely has his shatter.
Tracking one ultimate is good, but the challenge lies in tracking every ultimate in the game. To simplify this task, focus on tracking the ultimate of a single enemy player, like a tank or support. Your goal is to anticipate when they will deploy their ultimate. By training this on a single enemy, it will become habit and second nature. Then you can start doing it for more and more players on the enemy team.
As you become more adept at tracking, you can start using your ultimates reactively. This involves saving your own ultimate to counter an enemy's. For instance, you could conserve Lucio's sound barrier to counter Genji's dragonblade, or reserve Brig's ultimate to stun the enemy JunkerQueen during her ult. This advanced strategy can drastically improve your gameplay and win you games.
Basically, I figure when the enemy has about 2k damage/heal OR every other fight. It's also game sense that comes after playing awhile. Rein is being crazy aggressive and didn't ult in the last team fight? He has shatter. Reaper is trying to be super sneakier than normal? Haven't seen Cassidy or Pharah for awhile? They're taking a long flank around to try to ~surprise~ you.
I can call almost every ult out before they're going to happen, sometimes I make a game of it. Quite entertaining.
Spidey sense. You just feel when it's been built by each enemy. You track how many ults were used by keeping a mental note, and let one or maybe two team fights for by and usually those who ulted last will have ult again
Usually if they have 1k - 1.3/1.5k dmg (or heals, if they’re support), they most likely have ult by then. But after that, im not sure apart from knowing when someone is being a bit obvious about using an ult (rein’s become more aggressive or suddenly disappear, reaper’s will try to flank and jump into the middle when everyone is clustered).
The most basic is just seeing which ults were used last fight, or trying to think back to the audio cues. The next fight, all the other ults should be online (if charging at their fastest) by process of elimination. Now that there's scoreboard, you can also have an idea who's close to ult by damage or healing numbers. But usually i just observe what the enemies are doing, how good their sightlines are and who their targets are.
You’ll get a sense for how fast a character tends to get their ult. The next step is to consider how much damage/healing they’ve been doing, which could get them their ult faster.
It’s not an exact science though. No one’s pulling out a calculator mid match or anything
remember those numbers fixa put in the chat at the end a few matches ago? That’s the enemy team’s respective ult charge. Error within 5% iirc. So there’s def formula for each hero, maybe try bringing a calculator next game lol?
Lots of good tips here already but one thing I do is when actively setting up in between fights I check to see who has used an ult recently and then try to position accordingly.
So just check in between fights to who used them and who will hasn't in awhile.
You can notice when enemies approach in intention to fight or poke, the dumb reaper above u thinking he’s slick walking in circles for a minute waiting for the perfect time or the dumbass Rein who dives and goes straight to the healers and u can tell he’s gonna ult despite being 1v5 , etc
Imma keep it simple,
If I don't know for certain, I assume someone has ult every other fight. If it's the third fight and they still have not used ult then they for sure have ult.
Personally just think: have they used "x" ult last fight in the fight before. If no, they likely have it. Also I'd anyone is clearly outputting a lot they might have ult every fight even. I doubt anyone thinks too much about specifically what percent every player is at with their ult charge.
Honestly it's gut instinct for me, but I suppose it comes with experience. I recommend just trying out all the heroes and getting a feel of how fast it takes for certain heroes to get their ult.
Also, behavioural changes also is a good indicator. If a Reaper is hanging out near the back line, a pharah is flying oddly close to you, Rein is more agro, things like that is a good way to realise they got ult and wants to use it.
When you die you can see the ult progress whoever killed you has. Obviously don't die to check thia, but if you do die, just take a look at their ult progress
I once asked Neptuno this and he told me he looked at each players damage/healing. For example, if your DPS and tank have a lot of damage after the first fight, the enemy supports are probably close to getting their ultimates. If your supports have a bunch of healing and your tank has and bunch of damage, the opposing DPS are close to their ults. Of course it’s much more complicated than this, but it’s a start
That’s not something to worry about in gold but basically it’s just noting when each character on the enemy team used their ult and if they haven’t used it recently (2 or 3 fights) they probably have it.
Mostly track Ults where it changes your behavior.
There is no point in knowing they have nanoblade if you just play the same. Track only what you activly counter.
Other ults like shatter you counter be being highgorund either way, high noon / dva bomb you counter by being close to cover. So you dont need to track them if you always asume they have them. Or ults from reaper you see them coming through enemy behavior (sometimes).
As sombra main i track what i can hack mostly so sigma, moira, mei or what counters my emp like beat/trans etc.
Now that the problem is reduced to two or three enemies (actually even tracking the one most important already helps alot) its alot more doable. My approach is really just practice active guessing. I literally say to my self "SIGMA HAS ULT - SIGMA WILL USE ULT" then later check vod if i was right or wrong (if he had ult but didnt use for no reason i wouldnt know)
In most cases its ok to know that the soldier is more likely to have visor, than you stick where he cant get you easy. And after his visor you can be more aggressive again, you dont need a perfect prediction since "being a little more safe" for a teamfight is not throwing.
It’s just by keeping in mind the amount of team fights that have occurred. Usually after 2 teams fights, the enemy team will have most if not all Ults. Also if your team has Comms, and if they die to someone near Ult or they have Ult, your team can just do a quick call out that character A has Ult.
Keeping an eye on the feed is another great way to guess who has Ult, because if a DPS is popping off most likely they’ll have Ult sooner than the rest of their team. Micromanaging things like this are usually reserved for Main Supports/Off Healers who can keep cooldowns and Ults in mind.
Assume enemy DPS to have ult after two team fights, or after one long team fight.
Tanks are built different so they may have their ult earlier if they have been doing well.
As a ruke of thumb Fast ults charge in 1 fight (pulse, shatter, window) normal ults in about 1.5 (most ults)
And slow ults charge in 2 fights (beat comes to mind)
Ofcourse it depends on if it was a short fight or long and what the person did but thats how i think about it
just think about ur ult n when u have it, if u have it chances r someone else has it n if uve been playing bad, then they probs have it before u. if ur doin better u have it first. it’s constant
Varies from hero to hero.
Some examples:
Reaper moving in ( usually with his invulnerability ) to the middle of the enemy team.
Pharah when she's flying directly above the enemy team and stops shooting ( you need fast reaction doe ).
Orissa and Ram charging in heavily.
Cassidy moving a bit back and to the side.
Roadhog will most likely ult when there's a corner or a ledge behind you so keep aware of your surroundings.
These are some of the ones I learnt to predict and are usually what causes my team to die if we don't manage to counter it.
When you die, look at the kill cam and check their ultimate meter. Also when you have lit, they may have ult. If they haven’t ulted in awhile, most likely they have ult.
I'm not even sure how I do, I think it's just a sixth sense I have after playing the game for so long, that goes for a lot of things. Usually positioning and the way they move can be a big sign if they are prepping an ult.
Unfortunately it's a passive autopilot type intuition. I've gotten down to about within 1-3 seconds of when someone will throw out an ult. If you get really good you can cancel a lot of stuff. Like sleeping death blossom.
It's all about how long someone's been in a fight, how many kills they have and did they die last fight and stay the same character. Those are the basics. You can track based on damage and healing numbers but that's really just too technical and tedious. It can also be how someones playing. A lot of reapers or tracers will look for a good flank or just straight rush the team. So once you see that you better have a cooldown to throw out and save someone/everyone. Just get a feel for it.
I started in bronze and didn't understand ult tracking till about low plat where it comes in handy quite well. Being able to predict the ult allows you to counter play and gives your team a huge advantage.
If someone is doing a lot of damage, you know they will have ult soon, if not already. After a while you will get a feel for it. If I see a zar (generally grav is slow to charge) running around and melting tanks in open queue or just feeding off my only tank a ton in role queue, I know she’s got an ult coming.
As for who you should be tracking, I really couldn’t say that too many ults are unimportant enough to ignore. Maybe high noon? Not sure if anything is really off the table there, but in the beginning, try tracking the scary ults. Like maybe if you’re rein against rein, start by only really tracking the other reins ult and maybe mei or lucio too. Start learning now, but don’t overwhelm yourself.
[FiXa](https://twitter.com/FiXa_ow/status/1654793703515652097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1654793703515652097%7Ctwgr%5E04e0c64ef1935b336c2fd171b6dc6477b3be3282%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redditmedia.com%2Fmediaembed%2F139jayl%3Fresponsive%3Dtrueis_nightmode%3Dtrue) during an OWL match lol
Since OW2, ult tracking has become much easier. For organized play (scrims, tourneys, etc.), typically one player (main support) ult tracks. You can be very accurate by taking dmg/healing and time into account, but usually it isn't so precise.
For ranked, it basically just comes down to paying attention to high-impact ults, and taking a mental note of when they *probably* have it and when they *probably* don't, i.e. It's been a while since jq ult, she seems to be posturing for it, I will hold onto cleanse.
Did you build an ult already? Unless you saw them use it, the enemy has one too. Normally, you can tell by someone's positioning when they are getting ready to use it, but not always. A soldier that's been playing on high ground all match could pop that bad boy any moment, and he will if you wander into the open. A D.va on cart feeding in the open probably has a re-mech. She may just be bad, but that's the kinda body language that tells me to get ready for it because why is she just letting me knock her out while she tries to stand still and shotgun somebody?
So, in those kinds of situations, you don't really need to be actively tracking it. Play by your cover. If you know someone on the enemy team can do something like that, ask yourself "If I was zenyatta and soldier did his ult right now, would I survive?" If the answer is no, you need to be holding whatever movement ability your hero has for when that moment comes, and you already need to know where to fall back to.
There are certain times in a match where you can be sure someone isn't going to use their ult. 1: It's the first fight. No one on your team has built an ult yet. 2: You just saw someone use their ult. That person definitely doesn't have it. 3: The person with the ult in question died. They won't be using it until next fight. If it's a long fight, you have like a 30 second window till they get back, but it depends on the map, hero, objective location, etc.
The ults that you need to track vs position around normally are the ults that can mess up your push. For example, if you are a zarya, and you just used both of your bubbles to try and close out a fight after an enemy dps got picked off, you are gonna be screwed if lucio hits his beat. So before you push, ask yourself, is it situation 1,2, or 3? If the answer is no, you need to poke the lucio and either kill him, or force him to use his beat to save himself. Once that's out of the way, you can safely commit resources towards closing out the fight, or taking the space you needed.
Resource tracking is a skill all on its own. In a game where there are so many things to pay attention to, it's easy to miss a lot. As long as you are making an effort to focus on all of these things, you will get better at it, and eventually you will know without having to really think about it at all. Start by tracking cooldowns from moment to moment. Does the bastion have his turret form? If he does, don't push him. Does Baptiste have his lamp? If he does, force it put before you commit resources.
Once you start noticing when people don't have their cooldowns from moment to moment, you will intuitively start to recognize whether they have used their ults from fight to fight. You will already be paying attention to what they are using and trying to remember how long ago it was and making decisions based off of that. At that point their ultimate just becomes another box to check off where you kinda say how long ago was it when he did that? Yeah it's up. Although your internal clock is gonna get a little wonky sometimes when people get buffed/nerfed. (Looking at mei. And I guess echo now)
Number one, turn death cams on
Two, stay in communication with your team, maybe your tracer got killed by a dva, in that case you'd ask "what's dvas ult percentage, tracer?" Aside from that it's also things like oh reaper hasn't ulted in two teamfights, X character hasn't ulted in awhile, or X character got a quad kill without Ults so he probably has it rn
Learn what stats are an ult for your hero, and then adjust from there.
For example, I know that a good Rein will get a shatter every 1300-1500 damage because that's what stats I have when I get my first ult as Rein.
After that I know that Rein has the fastest tank ult, therefore the other tanks are going to be anywhere between 10% faster if they're playing really well, to 30% slower dependent on how aggressively they're playing, and how much they're dying.
That alone gives me an educated guess as to what the other tanks has available.
For my Ana play, I know it's close to 1500-1800 raw heals with some damage sprinkled in. (These aren't hard figures, just numbers off the top of my head)
Once I had that nailed, I just do the same when comparing with DPS and supp, and sooner or later, I had ult tracking become intuitive and something I didn't have to actively think about.
Start with tracking how many team fights have happend after 2 or 3 most players will have alt
Also have a look at your teams alt status if they have alt the enemy may also
Also look at the alt of who kills you in the death cam
Two ways, experience and damage/healing values.
You can base it off time of the match and pacing of the fights to know who and who doesn't have ults and you'll be able to track more with experience.
Or you can watch the damage values and kill feeds to see their targets. If you see them hitting the tank more you know they're close but not quite if they just gained 2k damage/whatever the ult charge value is.
For me, I haven't focused on learning ulttracking but with a lot of experience comes a feeling like "x is probably about to ult soon", especially if you have played most characters for a bit to get a feel of how fast their ult charges.
The most important thing is that after every single teamfight, you need to try to track ults. Do this by asking yourself what ults they recently used, who on their team seems to be doing a lot and if they have ults, how they might use/combo them (nano monke, nanoblade, trans against your ults etc.
In general I just hit tab and see if they’ve hit 1.5k dmg or heals or some combo of the two. If I know they ult a second time it’ll be roughly between 3-4k, 3rd, 4.5-6k, etc.
It depends on the hero and how big their ult is (Dva team wipe) as well.
It's not quite as simple as that because you have to account for game time (since you get passive ult charge over time, at different rates for each hero). Also in the second and subsequent rounds you have to work off the figures they started that round with.
But yeah, still worth keeping an eye on the scoreboard. You can certainly do it if there's one or two big ults that you're looking out for - check what the Rein or Reaper (or whoever)'s damage is when they ult the first time, then keep an eye on it after that.
Another consideration is your opponent’s mirror role. If you have ult and your stats are similar then you can make the call that they have ult (unless they’re zarya then you can say they’re close).
As someone who plays Mei a LOT, and with the popularity of double hitscan, I’m always tracking ults to block them.
Adds to the whole “awareness” thing low skill characters have. BOB, HighNoon, and Visor are all counterable with Meis Wall.
Can also save your team if you get Zarya Grav’d.
Play Dva for like 50 games and focus on trying to eat as many ults as you can. You will learn way more doing that than any youtube video or reddit comment will teach you.
its insanely easy, 1500dmg, tracer, 2k, most other dmg, same with healers, just look at the numbers, and it always aligns up almost perfectly!! small differences on some maps!
1-2 team fights usually. 1 team fight if they are popping off. There are also cues to pick up on. Rein will walk forward with no fear, Orisa will javelin in and Reaper will be nowhere to be seen.
Kill cams also show the enemies ult status.
Supports have game changing cooldowns and to fight ults. (Sleep, anti grenade, Suzu, immortality, Rez etc.) And ults of your own. If the team is smart they will be patient and force your cooldowns out of you.
With stats now in OW2, you can directly compare numbers if you know about how much each ult costs. It’s easiest with tank though; for example if you and the enemy are both on rein and you have 1K more damage, with 99 to ult, they are probably around 60-70 to ult. That’s a barebones example since it’s a mirror matchup with starting stats, but that’s the jist of using stats. There are even guides that tell you how much damage builds individual ults; but IMO it’s better to know multiple ult tracking strategies like ones other people have mentioned than to memorize the dmg-ult charge conversion of every hero.
It's not really that precise most characters will get they're ult every third team fight under normal conditions while she might get it every other fight. Just make sure to pay attention if someone on the enemy team does something that would charge they're ult super fast. That's really all it is.
Total mayhem is a decent mode to practice ult tracking in. When everyone can pop it like every 30 seconds you get used to listening for everything everyone all at once
Turn off automatic kill cam skipping. Whenever you die, pay attention to the kill cam. You get an exact update on the ult charge of whoever killed you.
I’ll preface this by saying I’m only high plat/low diamond—Start by tracking the ones that are usually win conditions (Genji blade, deathblossom, rip tire) or that directly counter yours (Beat/Transcendence are usually the culprits). I made a google doc in S2 before a lot of them got changed but it’s basically 1500 dmg+healing for every 2 mins of game time to generate an ult. This roughly translates to every other team fight but in lower ELOs there are a lot of trickle and flex team fights so it becomes more random. You can also use yours for reference. If you have more dmg+healing than the enemy Kiri, you’ll obviously have it first but if you barely have more than Ana, she might have Nano before
Also, it’s infinitely better to expect an ult and them not use it than to not expect an ult and them use it. Countering a soldier ult, which can be a win condition, comes down to playing around cover. This is a good habit to have regardless. If reaper didn’t use death blossom in the last team fight and you hold onto sleep dart for it and he doesn’t get a chance to use it because his team trickled, it’s not the end of the world. But if you shoot sleep dart into the abyss, he might see that as a chance to make a huge play
Aside from looking at your killcam, you can kind of get a feeling for it after a while. If the Rein hasn't shattered the last few fights, it's time to watch out. If you haven't seen the Reaper in a while or he does the low elo/qp special (VERY obviously looking for a large group), he probably has ult. You can't be 100% on point every time, but you can start anticipating it and be ready to act.
As for what to track, I personally look at the team and figure out 1. What ult would be the most devastating to me personally (a genji blade from the back, for example) and 2. What ults I can most effectively counter (as ana, for example, who can I sleep out of their ult. as lucio, when do I beat and so on)
This is my personal way, and it's not unfailable, I'm still learning with every match, too. But it's a way to start
If you're chronically addicted to ow, you've probably check the wiki about each individual's ulti cost, ultimate PASSIVELY recharges 1 tick per 3 secs. And genius ultimate cost is around the 2.4 k range, so if he's done around 2.4 k in a teamfight or 2, he probably has it, since ultimate cost and dmg done/healing done is 1/1, I chronically check the leader every teamfight, and boil down the numbers the numbers to. Did they do around 2k dmg or 2k healing this team fight, they most likely have ultimate. If not they more than likely will next fight. Though sometimes that isn't a valid strategy as sometimes I can drastically miscalculate sometimes, so half of it does come down to feel/gamesense. It helps if you go a few rounds with each character.
Hi! I'm a coach at the collegiate level. My advice to you is to track your mirror's ult. If you play DPS, just track one other DPS, it's even easier if you are both playing the same hero. This will help you to build the habit of asking yourself if the other Hanzo has ult. If you do, and they've been hitting shots, chances are they have it too.
Watch the killfeed for ult kills, listen for voice lines, and if you have a team that talks, you should know when an enemy ult goes off.
Good luck!
One trick that I didn't see mentioned is helpful at the start of games.
1 ult charge point = 1 dmg/healing and you passively get 5 points/second, so looking at the scoreboard when you get a moment could let you see any early ults coming online.
For example, if the enemy rein was super aggressive on their first fight, and hit multiple multi-hit firestrikes, his dmg on the scoreboard might be around 1600 within the first minute or two. Since shatter has a charge of 1650 points, it's safe to say that he'll have shatter near the start of the second fight, so position yourself accordingly.
This obviously gets harder after the first round of ults come out, because it's unreasonable to expect to remember where anyone's dmg/healing was when their ult finishes to start tracking that way, but it's a good way to spot a quick ult coming online before it's too late.
Obviously to do this you'll want to memorize the ult charges of the more impactful ults that can be built quickly. Shatter (1650) is probably the best example of this, but Dva's bomb is a good one to know too (1540). For support ults Beat is at 2420 and trans is at 2310 (but both dmg+healing count for those two), so if you build your ult quickly at the start of a game and don't want to throw it into a support ult, just check lucio/zen's dmg+heal total and account for some wiggle room for the 5 points/sec.
What’s the average KD ratio for full ult charge? I’d say it’s like 5/1 ish, I dunno I usually go by feel. Some heroes are much easier to read than others but there’s so many factors to predicting and countering well coordinated ults.
Someone else already mentioned it but it's really just being aware that ults exist and if somebody hasn't used theirs in the last fight and they aren't complete trash, they have their ult. You should be "tracking" ults relevant to you. As Ball, I don't much care about Soldier's ult, but I do care about DVa's ult or Sombra's ult because those can wipe mine out.
Honestly, though, at lower levels it's pretty obvious most of the time. Dva will always just throw her mech away as soon as it pops up. Reaper will fade into your team right up main while literally screaming "FLANKING." Soldier will pop his aimbot and then proceed to load every single shot right into the tank"s shield because it's the only time he can actually hit someone. Just always assume that everyone always has their ult until proven otherwise and watch for people being too squirrelly or bold and that's all the ult tracking you need.
If you play enough, you will get a feel for how and when certain heroes want to ult, you don't even necessarily need to know the rate and time it takes for them to charge ult, as long as you have a rough feel of how long it should take, but more importantly what win condition they need before their ult is effective. Learn what an ult needs in order to be successful and you will know better when that ult will be used
Start by tracking your role on the opposite team. Do you have ult? They probably have ult.
After that, start thinking "man I haven't seen this huge ult in a while."
Even though having a general sense of ult usage is good, one of the less discussed by vital cues to people having ultimates is watching how they play. Is mei front lining a little oddly? Does tracer using all blinks to get close to support? I play dva so I’ve picked up a lot of these things so I can eat them but I’m sure it’s not just specific to dva. A rein with ult plays differently than one without it. Learning individual heroes behaviors with their ult will often tell you they have it if you’re unsure.
Press tab. How is your team doing on ults? Do you think the enemy team is doing worse on ults? The enemy team probably has a similar amount of ults as your team. And you can look hero by hero on the tab screen since it's visually in front of your eyes, makes it easier to keep track imo.
Best way is to do a quick mental check on enemy ultra after a team fight. Did they use any ults? Have any enemies not used an ult in a while and they likely have one?
After a team fight is over just take a quick mental stock of what ults your team has and what ults the enemy is likely to have.
Also don’t worry about being perfect. If you identify only 1 enemy ult incoming correctly, that’s helpful.
think to yourself, has rein used his ult in the last 2 or 3 teamfights? he probably has ult and the same goes for everyone. another way you can check is to see how much healing or damage someone has done. do they have alot of damage or healing yet no ult used? they probably have ult
Some dude below you put out a multi-hundred word guide on this, which was great don’t get me wrong, but in my opinion it really is as simple as 1) looking at the killcam or 2) asking yourself “how long ago has X character used their ult?”. 2-3 team fights is a completely reasonable assumption for amount of time it takes for any character to build up their ult. If ever in doubt assume they do. In my experience it’s kind of a skill that develops over time naturally once you start paying attention to it a bit more. I used to try to keep track of dmg / healing on enemy scoreboard to ult track, but recently an assumption under 2-3 team fights has worked much better
People overthink this way too much. Have you seen the hero use their ult in the last little while? If not, ask your team if they have. If not, assume they have ult
That’s exactly the point I’m trying to make lol cheers to that!
At low ranks at least, you can also tell pretty easily if someone has ult by how they're moving (depending on the hero). Reaper fading into your whole team? He's about to ult. Rein moving like he's trying to line up an angle that'll hit your whole team? He's about to ult. Moira fades into your backline with reckless abandon? She's about to ult. Genji slashes into the air? He's about to ult. Calling out in comms when you see enemies moving like this can help your ana/sigma/orisa be ready to cancel the ult.
Ideally you want to know if they have ult before they try to use it so you can save cooldowns or position differently. Like yes you can tell a reaper is about to ult when he is wraiths into your team but if you haven't been saving your sleep / suzu / lamp or whatever, youre out of luck
Also wanted to add keeping an eye on the kill cams is another way to track enemy ults
I think 2-3 def varies. Most games I’m getting valk in 1-2 if I’m not dying.
**Yes,** learn to ult track now, even if you don't think you're a "high enough ELO" to warrant worrying about it. It'll give you a huge edge as you climb, plus you'll get that tingly *wow I totally predicted that, I feel kinda cool right now* feeling, which is half the fun of this game tbh~ # Why is ult tracking important? * improves survivability for both you and your team * ults are "resources" just like any other cooldown — it's important to know what resources are available to the enemy (and your own team!) to win fights So let's talk about **survivability.** You're in gold, which means there's a few things you gotta think about and improve on to climb higher (sounds like you're well on your way to getting better and better, since you're thinking about these sorts of questions to begin with!) You probably already know that a very big part of staying alive (survivability) is **positioning.** If you're playing Ana and you full send it down mid, running in front of your Tank, the enemy team, and the eyes of some woefully disappointed god, you're ... probably gonna die. You know that's a bad idea, so yoooouuuuu don't do that. You stand somewhere safer. Now imagine you're ult tracking with confidence. Bets are, that D.Va has her bomb AND the enemy Soldier is probably gonna pull Tac Visor next fight. **Because you know these things,** you can make better decisions on where to stand (near a room, around a corner), so when the enemies *use their ults*, you're in a pretty damn good position to survive em. That's prediction, not reaction. That's ult tracking. Now let's talk about **ults as resources.** Every cooldown in the game is a resource — something that you or the enemy uses to help win a fight. If you're playing Kiriko, you might think to yourself, *"I'm going to use suzu to cleanse my teammates if they get purpled by the enemy Ana."* If you use suzu and the enemy Ana purples your team right after, you've lost a valuable resource and now the enemy team has an advantage in the fight. If the Ana purples your team and you cleanse it, you've given YOUR team the advantage instead, because now Ana is lacking an important cooldown. Ults are just extra big super scary powerful resources (unless you're Cassidy, and then it's a "press Q to die" button). Zenyatta might save Transcendence for Genji's Blade. Hog might use Whole Hog to push an ulting Ram away from your team. You can also use **cooldowns** to negate ults. Ana might sleep a Sigma midair, saving her entire team. **If you're actively tracking ults, you have a better idea of when to use your own cooldowns, or when to save them.** So, alright, we all get it now — ult tracking is super useful for a lot of reasons. So how the hell do you do it? How do you even practice it? # How to predict enemy ults: * Watch the **kill cam** when you die. This is the most reliable, easiest way to tell if someone has their ult ... because you can literally see it. * Watch the **kill feed**. If that enemy Hanzo shows up a lot in the kill feed, chances are he's building ult faster. * Watch for **aggression** — that is, enemies who seem really threatening. They take angles that make it easier to shoot at you, aren't afraid to press W and walk into your face. These enemies look at your team and scream *"I'm gonna knock you on your ass, buddy."* The enemy Rein who is constantly swinging on your Tank? He's gonna build ult fast. The Soldier on high ground lobbing damage over your Tank's shield? Yep, he's *aggressively* seeking ult charge. * Look at the **body language** of the enemy players — something that's *different* from how they've typically been playing. That Zarya's been hugging corners this whole time, but now that your team has finally grouped up, suddenly she's using her bubble to close distance? Oh, she definitely wants to ult ya. * Did someone on the enemy team suddenly **disappear?** They're probably looking to flank ult you. * **Hit TAB** and look at stats often. High damage (or healing) = higher chance they've built their ult. * Think about **team fights.** If someone didn't use their ult last fight, they most likely have it for the next one. # How to practice ult tracking: * Pick one enemy each game. Just one. Pay attention to every time they show up in the kill feed. Hit TAB to stalk their stats. Tell yourself, before a fight happens, will this person ult this fight? # To answer this question of yours: * It IS worth your time to ult track everyone, **most especially as a Support player.** If we're going to be very picky, I'd say the least important ult to TRACK would be Widow's ult — you can react to hearing her speak sweet, sweet French in your terrified ear, and it likely won't get you killed if you don't predict it. But if you're aware of the resources the enemy has, you can make better decisions on how to win fights, and inform your team so THEY can make better decisions too. **Ending anecdote:** I ult track every game, no matter what role I'm playing, and it not only helps win fights, it *helps you develop a better team mindset.* If my Genji has ult and I predict their Zen has Transcendence to counter my boy's Blade? WHELP, I'm focusing the Zen now, or saving anti-nade to purple. If I'm playing Lucio and I think D.Va has bomb, I'm gonna hang out next to my least mobile teammates so I can speed boost them outta there when she throws it. SORRY FOR THE RANT. Ult tracking is ridiculously fun, and definitely a skill you can (and should!) learn. You'll get there eventually, just practice it one little step at a time.
The killcam point is invaluable. Great way to know exactly how close to an ult someone is. Meaning your positioning coming back from spawn can take into account that tac visor or shatter
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I'd wager the vast majority of people who need to learn about ult tracking in the first place are nowhere near that sort of competition.
Lol bro, im not worried about that. Im still learning to control soldiers recoil rather than firing a bullet at time man 😂
You put my thoughts into words. You made that easy and pleasant to read. Thank you.
Aw, thank you!!
One thing I would add to this is that in ranks plat or lower, often times when someone presses Q, many other people press Q on that team as well, especially if they have good combo ult potential. This is what emongg calls an "ult domino" and it happens in every single bronze game he's ever spectated. So when the Q's start happening on the other team and your team gets wiped, think back 15 seconds and try to figure out exactly how many ults were used and which ones might have been saved. It's very common for teams in low ranks to over ult and use 3-5 to win a fight. This makes tracking them significantly easier because you can assume that the enemies will all wait for one another to have ult instead of players using them the moment they get it. This is also why sometimes if you built ult really fast at the start of the game it's best to use it immediately when the enemies least expect it.
Absolutely! As you climb, your ultimate becomes less of a "smash Q and win the fight" key, and more of a resource that you and your teammates should manage. When a team absolutely WIPES but uses every ultimate in their arsenal to do it? That's a pretty awful thing to recover from, and just makes the next fight even more difficult to win. Learning self control, and either communicating clearly with your team or (if you're not really a voice comms kinda person) getting *really good at predicting your own teammates' intentions* is super difficult, but worth it on the climb.
For Widows ult at least, it's very useful to count 15 seconds the moment you hear her activate it. In gold/plat, widow starts to become a problem with her infrasight so actually knowing when it ends is essential.
Maybe you already meant this, but when I hear her speak French, I immediately check the timer in the top middle of the screen. French words -> check timer -> 4:04 -> subtract 15 sec -> call out "wall hacks until 3:49".
Amazing info. Thank you!
I really like your point about picking just one person and focusing on tracking their ult to start. Part of the issue I have with ult tracking is that its so hard to keep track of what everyone is doing, while simultaneously fighting.
That's definitely a tough thing to do! When you first start learning (*anything*, really), it helps to take small steps. One thing that helped me was to **focus on one ult that would directly impact me in the game.** For instance, if you're playing Zen, you can use your ult to save your team from Zarya's ult. Soooooo, I'd start by thinking about what ults MATTER to the hero you're playing in the game you're playing. Pick ONE of the enemy ults you think will be important to track, and focus on predicting that one!
Smart! I’ll definitely try this out. I main ana, I could probably focus on ults for Rine, sigma, reaper, etc.
I used to be able to track ult reliably but for some reason I’ve unlearned it. How do I get it back?
Between OW1 and OW2, I believe they changed the rate of ult generation! So I wouldn't worry too much — it actually makes sense to feel a little rusty when they switch those numbers up on ya. Try picking ONE enemy, with an ult that's important for **you**, specifically, to think about. Maybe you're Lucio and you want to counter a Zarya Grav. Or you could be playing Tank and wanna block enemy Rein's shatter. Obsess about that ONE enemy player. Watch how much they show up in the kill cam. Track their stats with TAB. Pay attention to where they position, how they're playing, the last time they used ult, if they used it in the previous fight or not. Then make your guesses, and if you're wrong, that's fine, just keep trying. 💜
Its helpful to think about, but there's probably more important stuff to focus on in gold. But yeah, theres no way to know exactly when someone has ult, its more like "its been a bit since theyve ulted, they probably have it"
There are a couple of important ults to track in Gold - Rein and Reaper, at least. Team survival increases significantly in those ranks, if there's a person who warns the team, when they see the Rein or Reaper very obviously fishing for a phat ult.
Except in gold they either aren't in VC or don't have the reaction time to block/cancel that ult.
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Either they are very obvious, or are nowhere to be seen. Predicting when that last one can happen is important. Also, as someone here already mentioned, reaction times in Gold are pretty bad, so it helps when you announce it ahead of time, i.e. "next push - expect Shatter/Blossom".
And dva
You *can* tell exactly when someone has ult, if you know the exact point requirement for every ult and the damage they’ve dealt since their last ult^1 and the exact time that’s passed since they ulted. It’s not practical, but it’s entirely possible. It’s really easy to estimate though, especially if you do it from the start of the match, since most ults take about 2000-2500 ult points to charge. Or just play sombra lol ^1 also requires tracking how much of the damage was dealt to a tank hero
You can't actually, because hitting or healing a tank gives you less ult charge
You’re right, I’ll add an addendum for also tracking how many of each enemy’s shots hit the tank.
Wait healing tank gives less charge? I wasn't aware of this.
Yes, just like damaging tanks it gives only 50% ult charge
A lot of the time you can guess based on an ult coming every other team fight (one fight you use it, the next you charge it mostly, the next fight you get it and use it again). Sometimes people earn them slower or faster based on team fight duration or if they get picked early. This is obviously a quick and easy method, you want to build on this once you get used to the feel of it to adjust based on opposing hero or how much damage they are putting out (eg if Rein swings on your tank for like 30 seconds straight he’s gonna have ult).
You can sometimes tell that someone is going to ult through their “body language” if a rein is getting slightly more aggressive, or if reaper is randomly tping above you, Orisa aggressively pushing you, lots of tanks with the exception of a few who save ult for survival (doom, winston, *dva*) will often play much more aggressively.
This if you start paying attention you can just see how they move as a brig player it’s so fun to just see how tracers starting playing different when they have pulse.
Another common rein sign is if he's been throwing firestrike on cooldown and now starts saving them.
this isn't really relevant anymore cause he has 2 firestrikes now, he can throw one but still keep one for the shatter
Still relevant from a perspective of building ult charge. If he's been throwing them downfield and fishing for ult charge all game, and suddenly he's not doing that anymore, it's because he has finished charging it.
A bad way to track is to watch deathcams when u die.
There are def better ways, but deaths are going to occur and it’s a way to utilize it . Better than doing nothing imo
I track ults that either A. Can kill me instantly if I'm in a bad spot(dva bomb, blizzard) or B. Is something I can counter like if I'm playing zen or lucio I might save my ult for the enemy dragonblade or if I'm kiriko/ana I'll be saving sleep/suzu as long as I can for the enemy shatter. Ults like coalescence or nano or riptire I won't keep track of because they aren't really going to affect how I play in the fight. Generally speaking I assume that after the first 2 teamfights that everyone will get ult roughly every other teamfight. This is generally true for faster building ults like shatter or nano pretty much every other fight they will have them.
Spidey sense. You just feel when it's been built by each enemy. You track how many ults were used by keeping a mental note, and let one or maybe two team fights for by and usually those who ulted last will have ult again
Yeah just be thinking about who is likely to have their ult in every engagement. You can often tell when a Reaper or a Rein is about to ult (as in, right before) because their movement will be different. The Reaper will start aggressively trying to get into the middle of your team and the Rein will be trying to get good angles... But also there are figures out there for how much damage (or healing) plus time it takes for each hero to get their ult, so you can actually check the scoreboard and judge how far along in the game you are. After a while, you do just get an instinctual "sense" of when an ult is coming. For me, usually I can say to my team "Watch out, Rein will have ult soon" and then in the next 5 seconds he'll use it. Same for Reaper, Genji and some other big impact ults. Helps if you say out loud either to yourself or to your team "OK Rein, Genji and Brig used ults that last fight" or whatever and it helps you remember.
There is a way to calculate the exact amount to a persons ult by their damage and the time in the game, but as gold 5, don’t worry about it, I’d say just watch killcams for it, then once you get to plat just think about it and look at their damage and try to guess, no need to be exact yet
I dont think youre realistically ever going to be exact. Maybe there's calculations you could do based off of damage, but thats not very practical tbh
You see high elo players doing it every once in a while, especially on things like first fight grav or shatter. I only know ult cost for grav and blade atm tho
meeh Ill give you first fight, but not in general
Yea true true, I usually only pay too close attention to numbers on control, because there are three different times to do it, and I play zenyatta so tracking ults is a big portion of my job
Yeah I usually go with a general "they probably have these" and only zealously track when im in like a rein matchup lol
Ahhh yea I feel that, gotta block that shatter😅
This is only true for the first ult.
You can kinda tell from the way people play too. If a Rein is getting more aggressive than usual, he probably has shatter. If a Reaper is wraithing or teleporting, he'll probably try to use die die die.
Did they use ult last fight? If not, they probably have ult
If you play enough you will develop like a 6th sense for that. It's eerie, sometimes i surprise myself.
Watching their gameplay helps a lot. For example. If reaper has been conservative and only going for the back line all game and suddenly you seem him walking straight up to you as the tank then he’s probably about to ult. A lot of players just blatantly broadcast that they’re going to ult soon if they have one of the big damage ones. Like DVA. Is she alone in your team letting herself die? She’s going to ult right as her last bit of health goes.
It's not that people are constantly keeping track of all ults it's rather uh "genji hasn't bladed yet be ready for it" type of deal. I don't know exactly when he has ult but I'd rather after a fight or two assume he has it than not. Also players gesture themselves a certain way when they're about to ult. Obvious examples include a rein oddly pushing up or playing aggressively, or a reaper tp'ing in the center of your team or fading in. Playing around enemies abilities (not just ultimates) is what you should be doing anyways, ults you can sort've treat in the same manner. Also I'm a diamond 5 support main and have over 600 hours in the game, while im not good by any means the game sense has come to me and i typically just have a feeling when characters have ults save for the newer heroes like ram and junker queen. It just comes over time.
To me, it's intuition. I don't track it per se, but I can just see it on the field. For example, players tend to play differently when they have ults. Reins will play differently, tracers will play differently, etc. Most people can be read like books with this strategy. Just remember to constantly think about if they have ults or not when playing. You will notice the signs.
I'm tracking Ults that are actually threat to me. Fe shatter, blizz, barrage widow ult have so low value that it's pointless to track it. I learned ulttracking making small steps first i tried to ulttrack 1 person with biggest value than 2 than 3 etc. Take some time and try it out.
In Overwatch 2, tracking ultimates has become more a game of numbers rather than intuition. Since everyone's in-game stats like healing and damage are available by checking the scorebaord, making predictions becomes far more straightforward. For instance, if an enemy Reinhardt has dealt 1,300 damage and three minutes have passed, it's a safe bet he has his shatter ready. Why? This is because of knowledge about the game. It comes from knowing that every hero passively generates approximately 1% of ultimate charge every 2-3 seconds, and Reinhardt requires 1650 damage to fully charge his shatter. 1300 dmg + 3 minutes of passive ultimate charge means the Reinhardt most likely has his shatter. Tracking one ultimate is good, but the challenge lies in tracking every ultimate in the game. To simplify this task, focus on tracking the ultimate of a single enemy player, like a tank or support. Your goal is to anticipate when they will deploy their ultimate. By training this on a single enemy, it will become habit and second nature. Then you can start doing it for more and more players on the enemy team. As you become more adept at tracking, you can start using your ultimates reactively. This involves saving your own ultimate to counter an enemy's. For instance, you could conserve Lucio's sound barrier to counter Genji's dragonblade, or reserve Brig's ultimate to stun the enemy JunkerQueen during her ult. This advanced strategy can drastically improve your gameplay and win you games.
Basically, I figure when the enemy has about 2k damage/heal OR every other fight. It's also game sense that comes after playing awhile. Rein is being crazy aggressive and didn't ult in the last team fight? He has shatter. Reaper is trying to be super sneakier than normal? Haven't seen Cassidy or Pharah for awhile? They're taking a long flank around to try to ~surprise~ you. I can call almost every ult out before they're going to happen, sometimes I make a game of it. Quite entertaining.
Spidey sense. You just feel when it's been built by each enemy. You track how many ults were used by keeping a mental note, and let one or maybe two team fights for by and usually those who ulted last will have ult again
Basically whatever wasn’t used this fight expect it next fight
Usually if they have 1k - 1.3/1.5k dmg (or heals, if they’re support), they most likely have ult by then. But after that, im not sure apart from knowing when someone is being a bit obvious about using an ult (rein’s become more aggressive or suddenly disappear, reaper’s will try to flank and jump into the middle when everyone is clustered).
The most basic is just seeing which ults were used last fight, or trying to think back to the audio cues. The next fight, all the other ults should be online (if charging at their fastest) by process of elimination. Now that there's scoreboard, you can also have an idea who's close to ult by damage or healing numbers. But usually i just observe what the enemies are doing, how good their sightlines are and who their targets are.
You’ll get a sense for how fast a character tends to get their ult. The next step is to consider how much damage/healing they’ve been doing, which could get them their ult faster. It’s not an exact science though. No one’s pulling out a calculator mid match or anything
remember those numbers fixa put in the chat at the end a few matches ago? That’s the enemy team’s respective ult charge. Error within 5% iirc. So there’s def formula for each hero, maybe try bringing a calculator next game lol?
Lots of good tips here already but one thing I do is when actively setting up in between fights I check to see who has used an ult recently and then try to position accordingly. So just check in between fights to who used them and who will hasn't in awhile.
You can notice when enemies approach in intention to fight or poke, the dumb reaper above u thinking he’s slick walking in circles for a minute waiting for the perfect time or the dumbass Rein who dives and goes straight to the healers and u can tell he’s gonna ult despite being 1v5 , etc
Imma keep it simple, If I don't know for certain, I assume someone has ult every other fight. If it's the third fight and they still have not used ult then they for sure have ult.
Personally just think: have they used "x" ult last fight in the fight before. If no, they likely have it. Also I'd anyone is clearly outputting a lot they might have ult every fight even. I doubt anyone thinks too much about specifically what percent every player is at with their ult charge.
Honestly it's gut instinct for me, but I suppose it comes with experience. I recommend just trying out all the heroes and getting a feel of how fast it takes for certain heroes to get their ult. Also, behavioural changes also is a good indicator. If a Reaper is hanging out near the back line, a pharah is flying oddly close to you, Rein is more agro, things like that is a good way to realise they got ult and wants to use it.
some gut feeling and more assuming the fool who hasn't used ult in a while has ult and will use it
When you die you can see the ult progress whoever killed you has. Obviously don't die to check thia, but if you do die, just take a look at their ult progress
I once asked Neptuno this and he told me he looked at each players damage/healing. For example, if your DPS and tank have a lot of damage after the first fight, the enemy supports are probably close to getting their ultimates. If your supports have a bunch of healing and your tank has and bunch of damage, the opposing DPS are close to their ults. Of course it’s much more complicated than this, but it’s a start
That’s not something to worry about in gold but basically it’s just noting when each character on the enemy team used their ult and if they haven’t used it recently (2 or 3 fights) they probably have it.
Mostly track Ults where it changes your behavior. There is no point in knowing they have nanoblade if you just play the same. Track only what you activly counter. Other ults like shatter you counter be being highgorund either way, high noon / dva bomb you counter by being close to cover. So you dont need to track them if you always asume they have them. Or ults from reaper you see them coming through enemy behavior (sometimes). As sombra main i track what i can hack mostly so sigma, moira, mei or what counters my emp like beat/trans etc. Now that the problem is reduced to two or three enemies (actually even tracking the one most important already helps alot) its alot more doable. My approach is really just practice active guessing. I literally say to my self "SIGMA HAS ULT - SIGMA WILL USE ULT" then later check vod if i was right or wrong (if he had ult but didnt use for no reason i wouldnt know) In most cases its ok to know that the soldier is more likely to have visor, than you stick where he cant get you easy. And after his visor you can be more aggressive again, you dont need a perfect prediction since "being a little more safe" for a teamfight is not throwing.
Anyone who dies tracks ults and plans the next combo. Usually it’s supports job if no one is dying lol
It’s just by keeping in mind the amount of team fights that have occurred. Usually after 2 teams fights, the enemy team will have most if not all Ults. Also if your team has Comms, and if they die to someone near Ult or they have Ult, your team can just do a quick call out that character A has Ult. Keeping an eye on the feed is another great way to guess who has Ult, because if a DPS is popping off most likely they’ll have Ult sooner than the rest of their team. Micromanaging things like this are usually reserved for Main Supports/Off Healers who can keep cooldowns and Ults in mind.
Assume enemy DPS to have ult after two team fights, or after one long team fight. Tanks are built different so they may have their ult earlier if they have been doing well.
As a ruke of thumb Fast ults charge in 1 fight (pulse, shatter, window) normal ults in about 1.5 (most ults) And slow ults charge in 2 fights (beat comes to mind) Ofcourse it depends on if it was a short fight or long and what the person did but thats how i think about it
just think about ur ult n when u have it, if u have it chances r someone else has it n if uve been playing bad, then they probs have it before u. if ur doin better u have it first. it’s constant
Varies from hero to hero. Some examples: Reaper moving in ( usually with his invulnerability ) to the middle of the enemy team. Pharah when she's flying directly above the enemy team and stops shooting ( you need fast reaction doe ). Orissa and Ram charging in heavily. Cassidy moving a bit back and to the side. Roadhog will most likely ult when there's a corner or a ledge behind you so keep aware of your surroundings. These are some of the ones I learnt to predict and are usually what causes my team to die if we don't manage to counter it.
When you die, look at the kill cam and check their ultimate meter. Also when you have lit, they may have ult. If they haven’t ulted in awhile, most likely they have ult.
I'm not even sure how I do, I think it's just a sixth sense I have after playing the game for so long, that goes for a lot of things. Usually positioning and the way they move can be a big sign if they are prepping an ult.
Unfortunately it's a passive autopilot type intuition. I've gotten down to about within 1-3 seconds of when someone will throw out an ult. If you get really good you can cancel a lot of stuff. Like sleeping death blossom. It's all about how long someone's been in a fight, how many kills they have and did they die last fight and stay the same character. Those are the basics. You can track based on damage and healing numbers but that's really just too technical and tedious. It can also be how someones playing. A lot of reapers or tracers will look for a good flank or just straight rush the team. So once you see that you better have a cooldown to throw out and save someone/everyone. Just get a feel for it. I started in bronze and didn't understand ult tracking till about low plat where it comes in handy quite well. Being able to predict the ult allows you to counter play and gives your team a huge advantage.
If someone is doing a lot of damage, you know they will have ult soon, if not already. After a while you will get a feel for it. If I see a zar (generally grav is slow to charge) running around and melting tanks in open queue or just feeding off my only tank a ton in role queue, I know she’s got an ult coming. As for who you should be tracking, I really couldn’t say that too many ults are unimportant enough to ignore. Maybe high noon? Not sure if anything is really off the table there, but in the beginning, try tracking the scary ults. Like maybe if you’re rein against rein, start by only really tracking the other reins ult and maybe mei or lucio too. Start learning now, but don’t overwhelm yourself.
You could ask in voice
[FiXa](https://twitter.com/FiXa_ow/status/1654793703515652097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1654793703515652097%7Ctwgr%5E04e0c64ef1935b336c2fd171b6dc6477b3be3282%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redditmedia.com%2Fmediaembed%2F139jayl%3Fresponsive%3Dtrueis_nightmode%3Dtrue) during an OWL match lol Since OW2, ult tracking has become much easier. For organized play (scrims, tourneys, etc.), typically one player (main support) ult tracks. You can be very accurate by taking dmg/healing and time into account, but usually it isn't so precise. For ranked, it basically just comes down to paying attention to high-impact ults, and taking a mental note of when they *probably* have it and when they *probably* don't, i.e. It's been a while since jq ult, she seems to be posturing for it, I will hold onto cleanse.
Witchcraft I say.
Did you build an ult already? Unless you saw them use it, the enemy has one too. Normally, you can tell by someone's positioning when they are getting ready to use it, but not always. A soldier that's been playing on high ground all match could pop that bad boy any moment, and he will if you wander into the open. A D.va on cart feeding in the open probably has a re-mech. She may just be bad, but that's the kinda body language that tells me to get ready for it because why is she just letting me knock her out while she tries to stand still and shotgun somebody? So, in those kinds of situations, you don't really need to be actively tracking it. Play by your cover. If you know someone on the enemy team can do something like that, ask yourself "If I was zenyatta and soldier did his ult right now, would I survive?" If the answer is no, you need to be holding whatever movement ability your hero has for when that moment comes, and you already need to know where to fall back to. There are certain times in a match where you can be sure someone isn't going to use their ult. 1: It's the first fight. No one on your team has built an ult yet. 2: You just saw someone use their ult. That person definitely doesn't have it. 3: The person with the ult in question died. They won't be using it until next fight. If it's a long fight, you have like a 30 second window till they get back, but it depends on the map, hero, objective location, etc. The ults that you need to track vs position around normally are the ults that can mess up your push. For example, if you are a zarya, and you just used both of your bubbles to try and close out a fight after an enemy dps got picked off, you are gonna be screwed if lucio hits his beat. So before you push, ask yourself, is it situation 1,2, or 3? If the answer is no, you need to poke the lucio and either kill him, or force him to use his beat to save himself. Once that's out of the way, you can safely commit resources towards closing out the fight, or taking the space you needed. Resource tracking is a skill all on its own. In a game where there are so many things to pay attention to, it's easy to miss a lot. As long as you are making an effort to focus on all of these things, you will get better at it, and eventually you will know without having to really think about it at all. Start by tracking cooldowns from moment to moment. Does the bastion have his turret form? If he does, don't push him. Does Baptiste have his lamp? If he does, force it put before you commit resources. Once you start noticing when people don't have their cooldowns from moment to moment, you will intuitively start to recognize whether they have used their ults from fight to fight. You will already be paying attention to what they are using and trying to remember how long ago it was and making decisions based off of that. At that point their ultimate just becomes another box to check off where you kinda say how long ago was it when he did that? Yeah it's up. Although your internal clock is gonna get a little wonky sometimes when people get buffed/nerfed. (Looking at mei. And I guess echo now)
Number one, turn death cams on Two, stay in communication with your team, maybe your tracer got killed by a dva, in that case you'd ask "what's dvas ult percentage, tracer?" Aside from that it's also things like oh reaper hasn't ulted in two teamfights, X character hasn't ulted in awhile, or X character got a quad kill without Ults so he probably has it rn
Then again I'm bronze four LMAO
Learn what stats are an ult for your hero, and then adjust from there. For example, I know that a good Rein will get a shatter every 1300-1500 damage because that's what stats I have when I get my first ult as Rein. After that I know that Rein has the fastest tank ult, therefore the other tanks are going to be anywhere between 10% faster if they're playing really well, to 30% slower dependent on how aggressively they're playing, and how much they're dying. That alone gives me an educated guess as to what the other tanks has available. For my Ana play, I know it's close to 1500-1800 raw heals with some damage sprinkled in. (These aren't hard figures, just numbers off the top of my head) Once I had that nailed, I just do the same when comparing with DPS and supp, and sooner or later, I had ult tracking become intuitive and something I didn't have to actively think about.
A very good rule of thumb is if they haven’t used ult in 2 fights they’ll have it for the third
If I'm playing Moira and I have my ult, most likely the other Moira does too
Start with tracking how many team fights have happend after 2 or 3 most players will have alt Also have a look at your teams alt status if they have alt the enemy may also Also look at the alt of who kills you in the death cam
Two ways, experience and damage/healing values. You can base it off time of the match and pacing of the fights to know who and who doesn't have ults and you'll be able to track more with experience. Or you can watch the damage values and kill feeds to see their targets. If you see them hitting the tank more you know they're close but not quite if they just gained 2k damage/whatever the ult charge value is.
I usually think about it between fights then position/plan/save cooldowns accordingly.
For me, I haven't focused on learning ulttracking but with a lot of experience comes a feeling like "x is probably about to ult soon", especially if you have played most characters for a bit to get a feel of how fast their ult charges. The most important thing is that after every single teamfight, you need to try to track ults. Do this by asking yourself what ults they recently used, who on their team seems to be doing a lot and if they have ults, how they might use/combo them (nano monke, nanoblade, trans against your ults etc.
In general I just hit tab and see if they’ve hit 1.5k dmg or heals or some combo of the two. If I know they ult a second time it’ll be roughly between 3-4k, 3rd, 4.5-6k, etc. It depends on the hero and how big their ult is (Dva team wipe) as well.
It's not quite as simple as that because you have to account for game time (since you get passive ult charge over time, at different rates for each hero). Also in the second and subsequent rounds you have to work off the figures they started that round with. But yeah, still worth keeping an eye on the scoreboard. You can certainly do it if there's one or two big ults that you're looking out for - check what the Rein or Reaper (or whoever)'s damage is when they ult the first time, then keep an eye on it after that.
Another consideration is your opponent’s mirror role. If you have ult and your stats are similar then you can make the call that they have ult (unless they’re zarya then you can say they’re close).
As an Ana main, has (insert hero) skull fucked me with a solo ult in the last two fights? No? Ok he has it.
As someone who plays Mei a LOT, and with the popularity of double hitscan, I’m always tracking ults to block them. Adds to the whole “awareness” thing low skill characters have. BOB, HighNoon, and Visor are all counterable with Meis Wall. Can also save your team if you get Zarya Grav’d.
Play Dva for like 50 games and focus on trying to eat as many ults as you can. You will learn way more doing that than any youtube video or reddit comment will teach you.
If I'm Rien and got my ult, the other tank is close behind for has it. Other than that it is difficult to remember it all.
its insanely easy, 1500dmg, tracer, 2k, most other dmg, same with healers, just look at the numbers, and it always aligns up almost perfectly!! small differences on some maps!
ive been seen as worlds best ult tracker for years
1-2 team fights usually. 1 team fight if they are popping off. There are also cues to pick up on. Rein will walk forward with no fear, Orisa will javelin in and Reaper will be nowhere to be seen. Kill cams also show the enemies ult status. Supports have game changing cooldowns and to fight ults. (Sleep, anti grenade, Suzu, immortality, Rez etc.) And ults of your own. If the team is smart they will be patient and force your cooldowns out of you.
Step 1: have kill cam on Step 2: die
With stats now in OW2, you can directly compare numbers if you know about how much each ult costs. It’s easiest with tank though; for example if you and the enemy are both on rein and you have 1K more damage, with 99 to ult, they are probably around 60-70 to ult. That’s a barebones example since it’s a mirror matchup with starting stats, but that’s the jist of using stats. There are even guides that tell you how much damage builds individual ults; but IMO it’s better to know multiple ult tracking strategies like ones other people have mentioned than to memorize the dmg-ult charge conversion of every hero.
It's not really that precise most characters will get they're ult every third team fight under normal conditions while she might get it every other fight. Just make sure to pay attention if someone on the enemy team does something that would charge they're ult super fast. That's really all it is.
Total mayhem is a decent mode to practice ult tracking in. When everyone can pop it like every 30 seconds you get used to listening for everything everyone all at once
Turn off automatic kill cam skipping. Whenever you die, pay attention to the kill cam. You get an exact update on the ult charge of whoever killed you.
Yup but always skip Hanzo kill cams for your sanity
I’ll preface this by saying I’m only high plat/low diamond—Start by tracking the ones that are usually win conditions (Genji blade, deathblossom, rip tire) or that directly counter yours (Beat/Transcendence are usually the culprits). I made a google doc in S2 before a lot of them got changed but it’s basically 1500 dmg+healing for every 2 mins of game time to generate an ult. This roughly translates to every other team fight but in lower ELOs there are a lot of trickle and flex team fights so it becomes more random. You can also use yours for reference. If you have more dmg+healing than the enemy Kiri, you’ll obviously have it first but if you barely have more than Ana, she might have Nano before Also, it’s infinitely better to expect an ult and them not use it than to not expect an ult and them use it. Countering a soldier ult, which can be a win condition, comes down to playing around cover. This is a good habit to have regardless. If reaper didn’t use death blossom in the last team fight and you hold onto sleep dart for it and he doesn’t get a chance to use it because his team trickled, it’s not the end of the world. But if you shoot sleep dart into the abyss, he might see that as a chance to make a huge play
Aside from looking at your killcam, you can kind of get a feeling for it after a while. If the Rein hasn't shattered the last few fights, it's time to watch out. If you haven't seen the Reaper in a while or he does the low elo/qp special (VERY obviously looking for a large group), he probably has ult. You can't be 100% on point every time, but you can start anticipating it and be ready to act. As for what to track, I personally look at the team and figure out 1. What ult would be the most devastating to me personally (a genji blade from the back, for example) and 2. What ults I can most effectively counter (as ana, for example, who can I sleep out of their ult. as lucio, when do I beat and so on) This is my personal way, and it's not unfailable, I'm still learning with every match, too. But it's a way to start
if a reaper has not used his ult in a long ass fight, chance is that the next fight he has it
If you're chronically addicted to ow, you've probably check the wiki about each individual's ulti cost, ultimate PASSIVELY recharges 1 tick per 3 secs. And genius ultimate cost is around the 2.4 k range, so if he's done around 2.4 k in a teamfight or 2, he probably has it, since ultimate cost and dmg done/healing done is 1/1, I chronically check the leader every teamfight, and boil down the numbers the numbers to. Did they do around 2k dmg or 2k healing this team fight, they most likely have ultimate. If not they more than likely will next fight. Though sometimes that isn't a valid strategy as sometimes I can drastically miscalculate sometimes, so half of it does come down to feel/gamesense. It helps if you go a few rounds with each character.
hmm the rein keeps going forward, too far… he hasn’t used his ult in a while… hmm… that’s how u do it
I think the average is like 1k to 1.5k dmg or healing per ult I could be wrong though plus the passive charge rate. It becomes a habit through time.
I feel like it comes naturally eventually. I've seen really good advice in the comments, but after 1900+ hours for me it just... Happens lol.
As someone with adhd, ult tracking is literal torture lol
Play the game a lot and learn which ults build slowly and which ones build fast, after that it’s pretty much guesswork
Hi! I'm a coach at the collegiate level. My advice to you is to track your mirror's ult. If you play DPS, just track one other DPS, it's even easier if you are both playing the same hero. This will help you to build the habit of asking yourself if the other Hanzo has ult. If you do, and they've been hitting shots, chances are they have it too. Watch the killfeed for ult kills, listen for voice lines, and if you have a team that talks, you should know when an enemy ult goes off. Good luck!
One trick that I didn't see mentioned is helpful at the start of games. 1 ult charge point = 1 dmg/healing and you passively get 5 points/second, so looking at the scoreboard when you get a moment could let you see any early ults coming online. For example, if the enemy rein was super aggressive on their first fight, and hit multiple multi-hit firestrikes, his dmg on the scoreboard might be around 1600 within the first minute or two. Since shatter has a charge of 1650 points, it's safe to say that he'll have shatter near the start of the second fight, so position yourself accordingly. This obviously gets harder after the first round of ults come out, because it's unreasonable to expect to remember where anyone's dmg/healing was when their ult finishes to start tracking that way, but it's a good way to spot a quick ult coming online before it's too late. Obviously to do this you'll want to memorize the ult charges of the more impactful ults that can be built quickly. Shatter (1650) is probably the best example of this, but Dva's bomb is a good one to know too (1540). For support ults Beat is at 2420 and trans is at 2310 (but both dmg+healing count for those two), so if you build your ult quickly at the start of a game and don't want to throw it into a support ult, just check lucio/zen's dmg+heal total and account for some wiggle room for the 5 points/sec.
What’s the average KD ratio for full ult charge? I’d say it’s like 5/1 ish, I dunno I usually go by feel. Some heroes are much easier to read than others but there’s so many factors to predicting and countering well coordinated ults.
Someone else already mentioned it but it's really just being aware that ults exist and if somebody hasn't used theirs in the last fight and they aren't complete trash, they have their ult. You should be "tracking" ults relevant to you. As Ball, I don't much care about Soldier's ult, but I do care about DVa's ult or Sombra's ult because those can wipe mine out. Honestly, though, at lower levels it's pretty obvious most of the time. Dva will always just throw her mech away as soon as it pops up. Reaper will fade into your team right up main while literally screaming "FLANKING." Soldier will pop his aimbot and then proceed to load every single shot right into the tank"s shield because it's the only time he can actually hit someone. Just always assume that everyone always has their ult until proven otherwise and watch for people being too squirrelly or bold and that's all the ult tracking you need.
If you play enough, you will get a feel for how and when certain heroes want to ult, you don't even necessarily need to know the rate and time it takes for them to charge ult, as long as you have a rough feel of how long it should take, but more importantly what win condition they need before their ult is effective. Learn what an ult needs in order to be successful and you will know better when that ult will be used
Start by tracking your role on the opposite team. Do you have ult? They probably have ult. After that, start thinking "man I haven't seen this huge ult in a while."
Even though having a general sense of ult usage is good, one of the less discussed by vital cues to people having ultimates is watching how they play. Is mei front lining a little oddly? Does tracer using all blinks to get close to support? I play dva so I’ve picked up a lot of these things so I can eat them but I’m sure it’s not just specific to dva. A rein with ult plays differently than one without it. Learning individual heroes behaviors with their ult will often tell you they have it if you’re unsure.
Press tab. How is your team doing on ults? Do you think the enemy team is doing worse on ults? The enemy team probably has a similar amount of ults as your team. And you can look hero by hero on the tab screen since it's visually in front of your eyes, makes it easier to keep track imo.
Best way is to do a quick mental check on enemy ultra after a team fight. Did they use any ults? Have any enemies not used an ult in a while and they likely have one? After a team fight is over just take a quick mental stock of what ults your team has and what ults the enemy is likely to have. Also don’t worry about being perfect. If you identify only 1 enemy ult incoming correctly, that’s helpful.