Blizzard released a new Overwatch patch on August 31 that reduces damage and healing for a large variety of heroes.
Ashe, Junkrat, McCree, Pharah, Symmetra, Widowmaker, and Zarya have all had their DPS reduced. And, to accommodate the damage reductions, Ana, Baptiste, and Moira, all suffered nerfs to their healing per second.
The DPS reductions come through a variety of forms. McCree and Pharah’s weapon recovery time has respectively increased from 0.75 to 0.85 seconds between rockets, and 0.42 to 0.5 seconds between shots. Meanwhile, Ashe, Widowmaker, Zarya, and Ana all had their ammo modified so that they have to reload sooner. On top of that, Widow’s scoped shots now have a damage falloff of up to 50% from 60-85 meters.
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The biggest DPS nerf is for Ashe, Symmetra, and Junkrat who have all had their max damage output reduced. Ashe’s scoped shots now do 80 damage instead of 85, a direct hit with Junkrat’s frag grenade does 40 damage instead of 50 (making his total max damage output 120 instead of 130), and Symmetra’s fully charged photon projector now deals 120 damage instead of 140. Those changes may seem trivial at first, but it now takes each of these heroes an extra shot to kill a Torbjorn turret, or tankier DPS heroes like Doomfist or Mei.
For healers, Ana and Baptiste’s ammo reductions will hurt, but Baptiste also had his Regenerative Burst ability’s team healing cut in half. Now it’s more suited for self-sustainability rather than keeping the team alive. Baptiste players will have to adapt, and learn to shoot their biotic grenades more accurately.
Perhaps the biggest change in the new patch is for Moira. Her primary healing power biotic grasp now lingers for half as long, and although her base healing per second has been increased from 65 to 70, Moira players will need to stay on their team a lot more to keep their healing up. What’s more, the consumption of Moira’s healing resource has jumped up by 27%. Her damage dealing biotic grasp does fill her healing resource faster now, but with the reduced attach angle requiring a more accurate shot, Moira may no longer be the easy healing pick she once was.
The only hero to receive a buff in this sizable update was Orisa. Her Halt ability now has a wider radius and slower projectile speed, making it easier for players to line-up the perfect pull.
The vast array of character tweaks in this update will surely take some time for regular players to get used to. An overall reduction of these more lethal heroes might give rise to a new go-to DPS in the meta, and it will be interesting to see how this update will affect the pros in the first rounds of the Overwatch League Playoffs happening this month.
For a full list of Overwatch Patch notes click here.
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Photo credits: Blizzard Entertainment
