Overwatch 2is almost here, and Blizzard has given fans a preview of how it will be changing up its growing roster of heroes. Less than two weeks remain now before the launch ofone of the most hyped upcoming gamesaround, which will see plenty of adjustments made to characters both old and new.
In a new blog post, Blizzard did a deep dive into the balance tweaks that will be made to the sequel at launch, based on the data it received fromOverwatch 2’s public beta. Several characters will see varying degrees of buffs and nerfs, including new characters like Junker Queen and Sojourn.
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Blizzard confirmed thatJunker Queen will be nerfed at launch. During the beta, her Commanding Shout ability, which heals her and nearby allies, made it almost impossible for other characters to kill her in many situations. As such, the ability will see its ally health bonus reduced from 100 to 50 HP and duration reduced from five to three seconds, while its cooldown will be increased from 11 to 15 seconds. Sojourn will be nerfed as well, though not as extensively as Junker Queen. Namely, the amount of railgun energy she gains from barriers, turrets, and other non-player targets will be “reduced by an additional 50%.”
Outside of the new characters, the most sweeping day one changes will apply to several ofOverwatch’s tank characters to better prepare them forOverwatch 2’s new “one tank per team” structure. Orisa will see slight increases to both health and armor and a reduced cooldown for her Energy Javelin, while D.Va will receive a cooldown reduction for Micro Missiles and her Call Mech ultimate and an increase to the damage caused by hitting enemies while using Boosters. On the shorter end of the changes, Brigitte’s Inspire ability will have its cooldown reduced to 5 seconds, while Bastion will get his Ironclad passive back after it was briefly removed.
Among the other hero changes are buffs to Baptiste and Reaper’s primary fire, a streamlining of Mercy’s Guardian Angel and Angelic Descent to make them easier to activate, and an increase to the lockout duration of Sombra’s Hack ability. This will be accompanied by a handful ofother general game changes inOverwatch 2. A new passive will grant 25% increased reload and movement speed for 2.5 seconds upon getting an elimination, temporary health will grant some ultimate charge instead of none, and all heroes will refund up to 30% ultimate power when swapped out for another character.
Time will tell if these balance tweaks will be well-received by players, or if they’ll be able to ease the frustrations players have had withOverwatch 2’s new live-service seasonal structureand some of the other changes the game’s making. But with launch day fast approaching, they’ll find out soon enough.
Overwatch 2launches on October 4 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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