Next update for Overwatch 2 will try to tackle some of the characters that are currently underpowered, which should help any tank facing a dual bubble-powered Zarya or a support player who is frequently harassed by Sombra. Blizzard’s mid-season balance patch for Overwatch 2 – which also includes tweaks to D.Va, Genji, and Kiriko – will launch on November 15, ahead of the game’s second season, when the developer is expected to roll out further changes.
Blizzard has detailed the upcoming changes to the game on its official Overwatch forumsexplain next month’s specific adjustments and the reasoning behind them.
Zarya is being hit pretty hard, with her Barrier’s duration reduced to 2 seconds, down from 2.5 seconds. Barrier’s cooldown also increased from 10 seconds to 11. Enemies will have more time to deal damage to Zarya, while she will have less time to accumulate mana from enemy fire direction.
Sombra is also getting a significant nerf, with her Hacked damage multiplier reduced from 40% to 25%. Players hacked by Sombra will only have their abilities locked for 1.5 seconds, down from 1.75 seconds. Sombra players will also no longer be able to hack hacked opponents. That’s all good news for support heroes that don’t have great escape abilities, like Zenyatta and Ana.
Genji has a slightly lighter nerf: He can hold up to 24 shurikens (down from 30) and will deal less damage (27, vs 29) when the balance update goes into effect. D.Va will also be slightly nerfed, with her Boosters impact damage reduced from 25 to 15, and Fusion Cannon’s spread increased from 3.5 to 3.75. Kiriko is only slightly nerfed: Her teleport skill, Swift Step, will render her invulnerable for just 0.25 seconds, down from 0.4.
Overwatch’s main hero designer Alec Dawson said in a Twitter Spaces conversation on Friday that the dev team was also looking at tweaks to Doomfist to “find a little more identity” for the tank-level character and in Sojourn, who Dawson said was overactive at the ranks. more competitive, but performing poorly ranked below the Master’s level.
Overwatch 2The second part of the series is expected to arrive in early December.
