When most people talk about wamai they simply just think “jager but bad/mediocre”. As someone who has played quite a lot of wamai since his release I would heavily disagree with this. IMO wamai is one of the best defenders right now and people are sleeping on him a ton.
Most people just think of his magnets as a throwable version of jager’s gadget that doesn’t destroy projectiles. While if you use wamai’s gadget in the exact same way as jager’s then it might seem that way, but in actuality there is a lot of nuance to this gadget. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that you can use the attacking teams gadgets against them. When using wamai’s magnets. Don’t place them in the same place you would put jager ads’s. Instead hide them in the areas you expect the attackers to be. Then when the attackers try to use their utility to flush you out, they either have to move away and waste time, or get affected by their own gadgets. As a defender, you can take advantage of this chaos to catch the attackers off guard. Plus hiding magnets outside can let you counter utility that would previously untouchable. If you are guarding a garage site. Hiding a magnet outside can pull thatcher emp’s away from the wall so they don’t destroy bandit batteries or mute jammers. You can also protect use the magnets to protect goyo shields that are in chokepoints from explosives. In these situations an add would be very easy to spot and destroy but a magnet can be much sneakier. Get creative about where you place your magnets and you can get great results.
All this and I haven’t even mentioned what I think is the strongest aspect of wamai, his deployable shield. The deployable shields are really strong in general right now as they let you basically play a mini mira wherever you want. Normally they aren’t as effective because they can be destroyed by any explosive. However that is a lot less of an issue when wamai has a gadget that counters explosives. By concentrating your magnets in the location you are defending with your shield, you can become very difficult for attackers to remove. Playing around wamai’s deployable shield let’s you waste a ton of attacker utility and get some free kills to go along with it. In addition, unlike mira who is limited in her placement locations to destructible walls. You can use wamai’s shield on any flat ground. If there is a choke point you want to defend wamai is probably one of if not the best defenders to ensure that attackers can’t get through.
Wamai is an incredibly powerful operator and is so much more than just being jager but worse. He has a lot of unique depth to him and requires a very different strategy than jager. I think people are trying to play him in the same way that they play jager which leads to his current negative reputation. Like it or not, wamai isn’t jager and shouldn’t be played in the same way. Both accomplish similar objectives, but they do so in different ways. I hope this post helps you understand how to use wamai to his strengths.