New patch brings changes to Mercy, Reaper, and more

Fariha Bhatti Published 23/11/2018

A new Overwatch patch is now live across all platforms. Patch 1.30 includes a vast array of hero updates, including four hero buffs and a brand new hero.

There are also some minor changes to the pre-game timers, which have been reduced from 1 minute to 45 seconds for the first round of a match.

Ashe has been introduced to the live server just one week after she was officially announced at BlizzCon, and has spent the shortest time on the PTR out of any of the added heroes. She is the 16th hero to join the DPS category, and can deal quick bursts of high damage and disrupt enemy formations.

Patch 1.30 also brings a number of hero buffs in an effort to better balance the affected heroes and bring them in line with the strength of the remaining roster. Mercy, Roadhog, Reaper, and Symmetra have all received updates to boost their results.

Mercy’s Valkyrie ultimate will now charge faster, as her ultimate cost has been reduced by 15%. The strength of her chain healing while in Valkyrie has also been buffed, and will now do 60 points of healing per second instead of 50.

Symmetra’s primary fire now charges 20% faster so that players can utilise her weapon with greater ease.

Reaper’s primary fire has been given a reduction in its spread randomisation by 50%. His passive ability also has increased life steal and restores 30% of the damage Reaper deals as health instead of the previous 20. Both adjustments are meant to better enable Reaper to effectively finish fights at close range.

Roadhog received the most changes, both strengthening his abilities and making them more reliable. Chain Hook has been slightly reworked so that enemy heroes are easier to catch, and the cooldown starts earlier without relying on how far away the target is. Both his ultimate and weapon fire have had adjustments to their fire spreads, allowing him to deal damage more consistently.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

View full profile

Read Also

Kick

Kick’s Eddie Craven Addresses Ongoing KPP Complaints and Viewbotting Khizar Mundia Several Kick streamers have taken to social media to publicly air their grievances about their KPP apparently being reduced. Kick director Ethan Wright recently responded to the complaints, and now Eddie Craven has also discussed the issue for creators. Stake-backed livestreaming platform Kick has made its place in the industry, in large part because of its higher revenue potential. While there have been one-off incidents where Kick has been criticized ...

Fortnite

Leaks Suggest That a Fortnite X One Piece Collaboration May Be Coming Hannan Mundia Fortnite has collaborated with all sorts of franchises over the years, but a potentially leaked collaboration with One Piece may be the largest yet. When it comes to games collaborating with known IPs, it’s borderline impossible to compete with Fortnite. The battle royale game has some insane collaborations under its belt, including one with Kingdom Hearts when the Square Enix IP’s popularity is at an all-time high. However, if recent ...

Kick

FaZe Banks Thinks N3on’s AI Clone Could Be Worth $100M — How AI Is Changing Streaming Khizar Mundia Rangesh “N3on” Mutama may have received widespread backlash following his decision to use an AI model for certain content, but FaZe boss Richard “Banks” Bengtson has compared the streamer to legendary TikToker Khaby Lame. N3on was recently in the limelight after viewers noticed that a GTA 6 streamer NPC resembles him. The Kick streamer wasted no time in recreating the GTA 6 Netflix Extended Look in an IRL livestream, and ...

Twitch

Twitch Is Testing An AI Stream Coach — Here’s How It Works Khizar Mundia Amazon-backed livestreaming platform Twitch is testing a new feature that will act as an AI coach for streamers, giving them personalized feedback to improve. Twitch has been playing around with several experimental features to improve things for its users. One of these includes auto clips, which was a feature that would automatically generate clips from the best moments of a stream. Another is AI-generated summaries of what happened in a ...

Twitch

Kai Cenat Talks Streamer University, Vivet, and Streaming Future Khizar Mundia Kai Cenat recently sat down with The New York Times for an interview. In a wide-ranging discussion, the Twitch streamer talked about what he looks for in Streamer University participants, and also delved into both his Vivet brand, as well as what the future holds. Kai Cenat may have gone on a break following his massively successful Mafiathon 3, but the creator returned with with a bang in Streamer University ...

League of Legends

Riot Games eyes Polymarket and Kalshi for esports sponsorships Michael Hassall Riot Games, the creator of League of Legends and VALORANT is reportedly exploring the protentional of sponsorship deals with prediction market operators including Polymarket and Kalshi, as per reports emerging late last night (Sep. 10). First reported by Cecilia D’Anastasio of Bloomberg, Riot has started conversations with the two top prediction market operators, Kalshi and Polymarket, with a view to one or both of them becoming sponsors within Riot Games’ ...

Slots

This Is How Gates of Olympus 2500 Builds On The Iconic Series Ian John Since the first Gates of Olympus slot hit casinos in 2021, the series has evolved into one of the most recognisable in the Pragmatic Play stable. The combination of scatter wins, tumbling symbols and dramatic multipliers has established a formula that has been followed in a number of sequels and spin-offs. The latest in that series is the Gates of Olympus 2500 slot, but this game takes a slightly more ...