The next update for over watch 2 will try to target some currently overpowered characters, which should be a relief to any tank facing a double bubble power Zarya or a support player who is regularly harassed by Sombra. Blizzard’s mid-season balance patch for surveillance 2 — which also includes tweaks to D.Va, Genji, and Kiriko — is coming on November 15, ahead of the game’s second season, when the developer is expected to introduce more changes.
Blizzard has detailed the upcoming changes to the game on the official Overwatch forumsexplaining next month’s specific adjustments and why.
Zarya is hit quite hard, with her barrier duration reduced from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds. Barrier’s cooldown is also increased from 10 seconds to 11 seconds. Enemies should have more time to damage Zarya while giving her less time to build up energy from enemy fire.
Sombra also gets a significant nerf, as her Hacked damage multiplier drops from 40% to 25%. Players hacked by Sombra will only be locked out of their abilities for 1.5 seconds instead of 1.75 seconds. Sombra players will also no longer be able to hack an already hacked opponent. This is all pretty good news for support heroes without much escape ability like Zenyatta and Ana.
Genji’s nerf is slightly lighter: he can hold a maximum of 24 shuriken (up from 30) and will do less damage (27 vs. 29) when the balance update goes live. D.Va also gets a slight nerf, as her booster’s impact damage is reduced from 25 to 15 and her Fusion Cannons’ spread is increased from 3.5 to 3.75. Kiriko only gets a minor nerf: her Swift Step teleportation ability makes her invulnerable for just 0.25 seconds (was 0.4).
Overwatch Lead Hero Designer Alec Dawson said in a Twitter Spaces conversation on Friday that the dev team is also looking at adjustments for Doomfist to find “a little bit more identity” for the tank class character, and for Sojourn, who Dawson said is overperforming in higher competitive ranks but underperforming in the rank below master level.
surveillance 2The second season of is scheduled for early December.
