Overwatch 2 hero designers reveal big changes to Echo, Hanzo, and Doomfist

The Overwatch 2 hero design team revealed that Hanzo and Echo are the next DPS heroes to get a big update in the upcoming sequel.

The developers hosted a Reddit AMA to explain the DPS updates in the /r/CompetitiveOverwatch subreddit. A hero developer using the handle Josh offered insight into the redesign of Echo and Hanzo and explained how these changes would help balance the sequel’s five-on-five format.

One of the questions Josh was asked was: “What is your philosophy on how ‘tank-buster’ heroes should be approached in Overwatch 2?”

Josh responded that “high damage output heroes” need to adopt new concepts when the format is five versus five, which is only one tank instead of two. He explained that players needed “more options” to respond to a variety of challenges and need “more depth of team comp” to have deeper gameplay overall.

“We have taken some tuning steps to make abilities like Storm Arrows and Echo’s beam less lethal against tanks but still keep them powerful in other situations,” Josh said.

Fans agreed that Hanzo’s arrows needed changes come Overwatch 2. Some players noted that they shouldn’t deal critical damage while others said tanks shouldn’t be able to be headshot. When Hanzo is able to KO tanks from a safe distance it defeats the purpose of other players being tank buster characters.

Doomfist to get changes in Overwatch 2

Another hero that is possibly seeing major changes is Doomfist. Another hero designer, named Geoff, said that Blizzard developers were experimenting with making Doomfist a tank instead of a DPS hero. While no established hero has transitioned into a tank role to this point in the game’s history, the team has started to test Doomfist as a tank.

“Doomfist’s kit is full of crowd control effects and mobility, which makes it difficult to tune and balance him as a DPS in OW2. As a Tank though, he can keep those key properties to his kit since those can fit nicely into a Tank role (mostly the crowd control stuff),” Geoff said.

This will lead to Doomfist losing some damage and gaining bulk, Geoff added. This move is still in the early stage of testing so Geoff doesn’t have much more on the topic as of yet. But early feedback is saying that Doomfist doesn’t feel like a tank just yet due to being too passive in his defensive options.