There are big balance changes coming to the hero roster when Overwatch 2 launches in October.
In the Overwatch 2 development team’s recent
blog post, some balance changes are outlined regarding several heroes. Developers explained that they plan to release a new hero every nine weeks, meaning there has to be consistent and meaningful balance changes.
“Importantly, each season will also see impactful hero balance changes as the season begins to support our goals of constantly balancing the game and keeping the live service feeling dynamic. This means new seasons will feel more distinct and special with balance changing significantly when we move to the next season,” Blizzard wrote. “We are also prepared to make additional balance adjustments if the need within a season arises to manage hero balance and power and keep our game feeling fair and fun.”
Junker Queen to get big changes when Overwatch 2 launches
The newest tank hero, Junker Queen, is seeing the most changes come October 4.
Junker Queen‘s Commanding Shout is seeing a lot of tweaks. Developers are attempting to make the ability “more deliberate” and avoid the possibility of players spamming it during a match. Here are the changes:
Allied health bonus reduced from 100 to 50 HP
Allied duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds
Temporary health no longer decays over its duration
Cooldown increased from 11 to 15 seconds
“Based on data and feedback received from beta testing and (more recently) from observing professional play, we believe the temporary health granted by Junker Queen’s Shout ability has proven too strong overall and enabled a dominating team composition at the very upper ranks of play,” developers explained.
The change will nerf Commanding Shout and make it “less forgiving,” hopefully encouraging players to only use the ability when it’s most needed.
Hero balance changes coming to Overwatch 2
It’s not only Junker Queen that will see changes when the game launches next month.
Orisa is getting a buff to her base health, which is going from 250 to 275, and her base armor, which is going from 250 to 275 as well. Orisa’s Energy Javelin will also have a reduced cooldown, going from eight to six seconds.
Since Orisa is so “in your face,” developers said she’s difficult to balance. During the beta, Orisa had a very low win rate. This update will hopefully make Orisa players more willing to go into the frontlines of battle thanks to their increased health and armor.
D. Va, Baptiste, Sombra, and Bastion were also given buffs, although not as impactful. For example, Sombra’s Hack lockdown duration is going from one second to 1.75 seconds. Sojourn and Brigitte were nerfed.
Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.
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