Despite reports from two weeks ago that the heroes in Overwatch 2 were playing at quite a level, producer/developer Blizzard Entertainment has announced some necessary changes to five specific characters. As My Nintendo News pointed out, all five heroes — Sombra, Kenji, Zarya, D.va, and Kiriko — must undergo modifications to mitigate the effects of their abilities.
According to Blizzard’s October 28th Hero Balance Dev update, the changes are intended to bring these particular heroes “more in line with the rest of the roster.” The changes should be reflected in the November 15 update.
For starters, Sombra’s hacked damage multiplier will be reduced from 40 percent to 25 percent, and hacked opponents will not be valid hack targets for the duration of the effect. In addition, the blocking time of the hacking ability will be reduced from 1.75 seconds to 1.5 seconds. Blizzard reports that this ability makes Sombra “too deadly for defenders with easy access to enemy backlines”, and the developer wishes her abilities were more in line with similar characters like Reaper and Tracer.
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Genji, another defender, will receive some mild debuffs, with his shuriken damage reduced from 29 to 27 and his maximum ammo reduced from 30 to 24. Like Sombra, Blizzard stated that Genji’s changes will bring him more in line with the other defenders.
Zarya, who Blizzard listed as the most overmatchable character in their notes earlier this month, will have a shorter barrier duration, her total time will be reduced from 2.5 seconds to two seconds, and her barrier cooldown will be increased from 10 seconds to 11 seconds. Early reports Blizzard received from players predicted that Zarya would be among the weakest solo tanks in the roster, but those who have since played against her have expressed concern that she “has very limited windows of vulnerability that are difficult to deal with , when you combine it with its damage potential,” the report states. The changes should fix her invulnerability and make it harder for her to gain energy.
Kiriko only receives one change, but it cuts the invulnerability duration of her fast step power almost in half, reducing it from 0.4 seconds to 0.25 seconds. While the invulnerability period was intended to protect Kiriko from dying after possibly teleporting into a dangerous situation, Blizzard said, “It ended up being a bit too long and led to some confusion when shooting Kiriko.”
Finally, D.va receives a “partial rollback”, reducing the impact damage of her boosters from 25 to 15, but increasing her fusion cannon spread from 3.5 to 3.75, the only notable buff among the upcoming changes. The developer has noted players’ concerns about upgrading her defense matrix, but is leaving the ability alone, hoping that the reversion will balance her abilities with other characters.