Despite pouring a ton of effort and energy into creating Overwatch 2, the developer team for Overwatch has been putting out several balance changes. The most recent patch that went live notably included buffs to both the Shimada brothers.
Now it seems they are back at it again, releasing an experimental card that spells big changes for D.Va and Brigette, alongside some minor tweaks for Ashe and Junkrat.
Starting with the most controversial on the list, the Brigette changes are going to massively impact how she is played. Most notably, her repair pack will no longer grant additional armor when placed on a target with full health.
Before, players could preemptively place an armor pack onto DPS (dive heroes specifically) that were about to charge into a fight or use a crucial ultimate. This means now players will need to be much more skillful in timing when they heal teammates.
If this wasn’t enough, her shield is also receiving some tweaks. While her shield health is set to increase from 200 to 250, this is compensated for by decreasing the shield regeneration rate and increasing the cooldown after the shield is broken.
Combined, these nerfs are set to massively impact this hero if they go through as written currently. Some among the support player community are expressing frustration, harking back to the days of seemingly endless Mercy nerfs. It seems that Blizzard is still unsure what direction they want to take with Brigitte’s playstyle and design.
Next up are some more big changes, but positive this time, for everyone’s favorite Dorito munching gremlin. For D.Va, her fusion cannons have their movement penalty decreased from 50 to 40%. On top of this, the delay upon activating the Micro Missles is set to change from 0.5 to 0.25 seconds.
The most important change, however, is to her Defense Matrix. The cooldown for this ability is decreasing from 1.5 seconds to 1 second. Blizzard devs have continually changed this value to accommodate the current state of the game, and it seems they are trying to put D.Va more in line with the other tank options.
On a smaller scale, Ashe is receiving a nerf to her Dynamite. The cooldown will increase from 10 to 12 seconds, lowering her overall DPS output. This is likely to try and increase the time it takes to build her ultimate, as Dynamite can provide massive alt charge when lighting multiple targets on fire at once.
Finally to wrap things up, Junkrat is being buffed yet again. Junkrat’s Concussion Mine trigger delay is decreasing from 0.156 to 0.1 seconds. Also, the time to regain control of Junkrat after using his Rip-Tire ultimate will go from 1.5 to 0.9 seconds. These are mostly quality of life, and help players double jump using his mines.
That about wraps up the changes for this current experimental card. Keep in mind, all of these are as the name suggests- experimental. Some or all of the changes above might be changed or removed altogether before going live.
