Overwatch 2 Devs Reveal Huge Changes For All Heroes And New Passive DPS Roles

The developers of Overwatch 2 have revealed a host of major changes coming to the game ahead of its release on October 4th, including a brand new passive damage role and a huge upgrade to the ultimate charge.

originally Overwatch 2 included a new passive for damage heroes that gave them increased movement speed. While this was eventually scrapped in favor of returning the end fee when switching to a new hero, this, again, has been changed.

В his blog dated September 21 Blizzard has laid out a number of changes that will be implemented when the game launches and they're back on the drawing board in terms of how they give DPS heroes a little boost.

The change comes because the previous passive, which allowed DPS players to retain some end-load when switching heroes, now applies to all roles.

Balancing with seasonal releases

Overwatch 2 brings with it a new 9-week season cadence that will consistently introduce new maps, heroes, game modes and more for players. For heroes more specifically, our plan is to release a new hero every two seasons, which, combined with our constant additions of new maps and game modes and our regular balance updates, should reward different strategies and playstyles while keeping the game fresh and dynamic. for many years.

It's important to note that each season will also see impressive hero balance changes as the season begins to support our goals of constantly balancing the game and maintaining a dynamic live service. This means that the new seasons will feel more distinct and special, and the balance will shift significantly as we move on to the next season. We're also ready to make further balance adjustments if the need arises during the season to manage balance and hero power and keep our game fair and fun.

Season 1 preview

The second public beta brought with it an abundance of data on the performance of heroes. This, along with player feedback from the wider community and professional players, was instrumental in setting the hero balance landscape at launch. Based on this data and feedback, the Hero Design team has outlined some balance updates that beta players will recognize as changed from the end of our second public beta earlier this year. You'll have a chance to see most of these changes in action during the next Overwatch League tournament cycle, the Countdown Cup, starting September 22. In the meantime, let's dive into a preview of what to expect on October 4th.

Juncker Queen

• Command Shout
  • Allied health bonus reduced from 100 HP to 50 HP
  • Connection duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds
  • Temporary health is no longer destroyed over its duration
  • Cooldown increased from 11 to 15 seconds

Based on data and feedback received from the beta and (recently) watching pro play, we feel that the temporary health provided by Junker Queen's Shout was too strong overall and allowed us to dominate the team roster at the very top. game levels. The reduction in health gain and duration while increasing the ability's cooldown is intended to reduce the overall power of this ability and make it more intentional and less forgiving to use.

We will continue to monitor Junker Queen's performance and win rate, as well as broader player sentiment in the weeks following launch.

Common

• Temporary Health now gives 50% reduced ending cost instead of zero ending cost

Temporary health that doesn't grant ultimate charge added a lot of latent power to its effect, reducing the consequences for riskier decisions and playstyles. This is especially effective in cases where you can provide temporary health to other players. For damage dealers that deal significant damage but don't get the ultimate charge, can be especially frustrating and ungrateful. With this change, our goal is to keep some of the benefits provided by temporary health while adding a reward for players who contribute to their teams through damage dealt.

• Damage Role Passive - New passive: Eliminations provide 25% increased cooldown and movement speed for 2,5 seconds. Does not stack with itself, but refreshes the duration
• All heroes now return up to 30% of their maximum power when replacing heroes

With the announcement of a change to up to 30% of the end power to transfer when swapping DPS heroes, we saw a lot of feedback asking why this wasn't a wider change for all heroes. After continued testing, we agree and make changes so that the entire list has access to it at launch.

Of course, this means that the DPS role is once again passive without a role. So along with this change, we're introducing a new DPS passive that increases their movement speed and reload speed by 25% for a short window after receiving an exception. We believe this change is the right balance of rewarding players who do well in the Damage role without being overwhelmed. However, in future seasons we can continue to experiment with what these passives do as we aim to shake up the meta on a regular basis.

Orisa

• Base health increased from 250 to 275
• Base armor increased from 250 to 275
• Javelin chill energy reduced from 8 to 6 seconds

For a hero rework that has been lauded as fun to play, hard to kill, and particularly powerful for Tank's playstyle, Orisa continues to be a difficult hero to balance, with one of the lowest win rates in the game. Giving the hero more health is a solid solution, and increasing the frequency of her Energy Spear should keep her feeling active and more efficient as she charges down the frontline.

D.Va

• Booster impact damage increased from 10 to 25
• Micro-rocket cooldown reduced from 8 to 7 seconds
• Call Mech end cost reduced by 12%

D.Va is a bit behind compared to other tanks in 5v5. Increasing the hit damage of the Boosters will add more weight to this “burst” moment for her, building on her strengths as a fast-moving engager that can push deep into enemy lines.

Bridget

• inspire duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds

Even with the stun removed from her Shield Bash, Brigitte continues to be very strong in 5v5, especially in team compositions that take full advantage of the passive healing provided by Inspire. This change does not affect Brigitte's raw healing per second, however it should make her overall effectiveness less generous in situations where she cannot recast Inspire.

Baptist

• Biotic Launcher primary fire damage increased from 24 to 25
• Biotic Launcher primary launcher minimum drop range increased from 20 to 25 meters

Mercy

• Pressing the Crouch button while in Guardian Angel now launches you straight up
• Angelic Descent can now be activated while holding Crouch in the air.

Mercy's beta change to allow her to cancel Guardian Angel and buff where she looks has added a lot of flexibility to her movement. However, zooming up was difficult for many players, given that they had to quickly look up before activating and then look down again to scan the battlefield. To solve this problem, Crouch's input will now launch her upward regardless of her face direction. In addition, Crouch also activates Angelic Descent while in the air, similar to a jump. This adds a much-needed quality-of-life improvement when performing vertical elevation with a crouch.

Bastion

• Armadillo passive re-enables (20% damage reduction when converted)

Since the introduction of the newly redesigned Bastion, we've been tracking the general consensus that his new kit is overpowered, especially in Sentry form. To address this previous issue, we removed the passive Ironclad in order to reign supreme in this perceived power. Now that we've had more time and game data to evaluate, we believe bringing back the passive Ironclad won't push it over the edge.

reaper

• Hellfire shotgun spread reduced from 8 to 7 degrees

Residence

• Railgun energy gain from non-playable targets (barriers, turrets, etc.) reduced by another 50%

Sombra

• Hack lock duration increased from 1 to 1,75 seconds

Hack ability block duration often goes unnoticed unless used as an active interrupt. While we don't want to go back to previous lockout stats, we do want Sombra to have a little more time to feel like the ability is effective. This change is in line with our goals of reducing Overwatch 2's crowd control capabilities, and we'll continue to closely monitor performance data and player feedback to ensure this is the case.

Blizzard

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