Overwatch 2 Summer Games Patch Aims to Balance Heroes
Overwatch 2 had a massive balance patch during the Summer Games. Along with the all-new Winston Beach Volleyball arcade game and the introduction of Team Queue, developers have brought a lot of new hero updates to Overwatch 2.
Overwatch 2 Hero Updates
Competitive players rejoice — a lot of hero updates have arrived that are aimed to balance out the Summer Games.
Tank Heroes
Orisa
The four-legged tank is getting a buff to Fortify in an attempt to make her a “stronger counter” against team compositions that are focused on crowd control. Her damage reduction has increased from 40 to 50%.
Ramattra
Ramattra’s Ravenous Vortex will now pass through enemy heroes but can still be blocked by barriers. This is to counter an issue that players noticed where his projectile would bounce off enemies “unpredictably,” delaying its activation. It should be a bit more consistent now.
Reinhardt
Developers want Reinhardt to protect his allies a bit more so his barrier uptime is being increased. The maximum health has increased from 1200 to 1400.
“We'll be keeping an eye on this, as we want to avoid situations where players feel like they are always shooting at barriers,” developers commented.
Wrecking Ball
Previously, Wrecking Ball rarely reloaded his Quad Cannons manually since the automatic reload was triggered when he transformed into a ball. Now, the manual reload time has been reduced from 2 to 1.6 seconds (it’s still two seconds when transformed into a ball).
Damage Heroes
Sojourn
Developers are hoping Sojourn will build energy more consistently by decreasing the overall spread of her Railgun primary fire. The number of shots to reach maximum spread has increased from eight to 12 and spread is reduced by 12%.
Soldier: 76
“One of Soldier: 76’s strengths is his reliable damage output, but it hasn’t quite been effective enough after his last round of changes,” developers noted.
However, his primary fire has been too powerful in the past. To balance it, developers have adjusted the primary and secondary fire damage “slightly.” The Heavy Pulse Rifle damage is increased from 18 to 19 and the Helix Rockets’ explosion damage is increased from 80 to 90.
But that’s not it. Soldier: 76 will “be able to stay in the fight longer” to support his teammates thanks to the healing of his Biotic Field being increased from 35 to 40.
Symmetra
The turret-based DPS hero has been seen as “oppressive” in a lot of situations. Developers have decided to make her weapon more effective but make her turrets less frustrating to deal with.
Now, her Photon Projector’s maximum impact damage has been increased from 45 to 50 as well as the explosion damage. Meanwhile, her Sentry Turret damage has been reduced from 40 to 25.
Explained devs: “Symmetra’s turrets are especially powerful when focusing on the same target due to their combined total damage output coupled with their slowing effect. We are lowering their raw damage and angling them towards utility to make spreading them out a more viable option.”
Torbjorn
Speaking of turrets, Torb has also been nerfed after developers noticed his turret was a bit too impactful. His turret’s damage has been reduced from 14 to 11. But his Rivet Gun’s secondary fire spread has been reduced from 5 to 4.5 degrees to inspire more gunplay.
Support Heroes
Kiriko
Developers want Kiriko’s primary fire to feel more effective even when she is focused on healing. They originally increased the Healing Ofuda ability’s recovery time but are now partially reverting the change. The recovery is being reduced from 1 to 0.9 seconds.
Zenyatta
Zenyatta’s Orb of Discord is getting its maximum range reduced from 40 to 30 meters. The time to wear off the target when not in line-of-sight has been reduced from 2 to 1.5 seconds. This will make it “riskier” for Zenyatta to apply the Orb of Discord and “increase counterplay” for the affected target.
