Blizzard looks to kill double shield meta with nerfs to Orisa, Sigma

gabhernandez Published 15/08/2020

Overwatch has received new patch notes and the most notable of the bunch were nerfs to Brigitte and Sigma.

Orisa and Sigma’s ability to spam shields and block massive amounts of damage has dominated the competitive meta, which has been coined the “double shield meta.” 

While Orisa also took a hit, Sigma received a nerf to his shield that dropped his barrier’s health from 900 to 700 while also decreasing the regeneration rate from 120 to 80. The cooldown on the shield was also increased from 10 to 12 seconds. This is likely to have the biggest impact of all the changes in this patch, as Sigma’s shield has always felt more durable than any other similar abilities.

Brigette nerfed alongside Sigma and Orisa

Brigitte was the second hero to take a big hit. In the Overwatch League, fans rarely see a match without Brigitte in it. To lower her versatility and power, her healing potency was lowered and her base health was also reduced, theoretically making her more situational. 

Other changes include a reduction to Orisa’s base armor, and her Halt! ability had its radius reduced and projectile speed increased. Pharah received a movement increase and an increase to the power of her ultimate ability. Roadhog got a small buff for his hook combo, Symmetra got a buff for her Teleporter’s cooldown, and Zenyatta got a small increase to his damage.

OWL Vice President Jon Spector has revealed that this will be the patch used in the playoffs. The response to this news has been mostly positive. Most fans were tired of the Orisa and Sigma duo and were bored with the double shield meta. This season’s playoffs begin September 3.

It is unclear if Spector includes the Grand Finals in his definition of playoffs but with the games starting on October 8, fans could see another small patch before then. That said, it would not be surprising if the Grand Finals were played on this patch as well.

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