surveillance 2 Season 4 starts April 11th and brings a new support hero to Blizzard’s free-to-play hero shooter. The existing roster is also getting a number of new balance changes, with some of the bigger changes affecting tanks and support heroes.
Blizzard previously reported on an overhaul of Brigitte that will update her ultimate, Rally, which gives her shield some upgrades: her ultimate will make the shield stronger and wider, and give her the ability to stun enemies (once again) with her shield blast. This buff is offset by changes to her movement speed while gathering and a reduced range of her healing ability, Repair Pack.
Accordingly Blizzard’s Season 4 Patch Notes for surveillance 2Moira also gets a big upgrade. Not only does her Biotic Grip provide better healing, but she now has the ability to use her Fade ability while firing her ultimate, Coalescing. This will be a huge boon for Moira players who are able to predict an ult-breaking Roadhog Chain Hook or Reinhardt Earthshatter. Moira DPS nets will go Love It.
The full Heroes Update patch notes are below, and they include major changes to Ana’s Sleep Arrow (particularly when used against tanks) and less lethality for characters like Sigma and Cassidy.
Reinhardt
- Armor health reduced from 300 to 250
- Base health increased from 175 to 200
Developer Comment: Reinhardt has been playing above average after the recent increase in his offensive skills. These changes have worked well, so we’re reducing his overall health with this armor reduction to match his overall power.
Sigma
accretion
- Impact damage reduced from 60 to 40 (80 damage total with explosion)
- Knockdown duration increased from 0.8 to 1.1 seconds
Developer Comment: Like Roadhog’s Chain Hook, Sigma’s Accretion and Primary Fire combo can be extremely deadly, feeling like a guaranteed kill against 200 health targets. We’re reducing the damage slightly to require an additional salvo of primary fire, but also increasing the stun duration to give allies more opportunity to follow up on successful impacts.
Cassidy
- Base health reduced to 200 from 225
Magnetic grenade
- Damage reduced from 131 to 120
Developer Comments: Magnetic Grenade, which only requires an additional primary fire shot after sticking to a target, was too reliable to cast, although it only works at close range. We’re reducing the overall damage from Mag Grenade, split evenly between the direct target damage and the explosion. The reduced falloff damage buff his primary fire received recently allows Cassidy to play from safer attack zones now, so we’re bringing his health back down to 200.
sombra
- EMP can now disable Blizzard
Developer Comment: We’re expanding what Sombra’s EMP disables to keep it consistent with the impact it has on other device Ultimates.
So
sleep darts
- Tank hero max duration reduced by 30% from 5 seconds to 3.5 seconds
Developer Comments: We observed how effective Sleep Dart was in 5v5 gameplay. It wasn’t overly disruptive overall, but since it’s far more reliable to land against tank heroes due to their large hitboxes, and even more valuable to do so with only one tank on the field, we’re reducing its max duration versus those Aim.
Bridget
rally
- Brigitte now gains 100 recoverable armor health for the duration of the rally
- Brigitte no longer temporarily regains health like her nearby allies
- Rally now upgrades her barrier shield, increasing both its size and health
- Barrier health increased from 300 to 750 during the ultimate
- While gathering, Shield Bash will now hit multiple enemies and briefly stun them
- Bonus movement speed reduced from 30 to 15%
repair package
- Range reduced from 30 to 25 meters
Developer Comments: With the transition from granting bonus armor to temporary health for allies, Rally lost some of its power and overall took a relatively long time to build up its defensive benefits. This revamp aims to keep it as a defensive ultimate, but with a more immediate impact, gaining an upfront increased armor health pool and the improved barrier that can be used to block for teammates while their temporary health is building, or enemies with it to interrupt stun.
grace
caduceus staff
- Healing per second increased from 45 to 55
- Allies below half health no longer gain increased healing
Guardian Angel
- Cooldown reduced from 2.5 to 1.5 seconds
- Increased the duration of the active ability state to cancel jump and crouch from 1.0 seconds to 1.5 seconds
- The active ability state “Break Jump and Crouch” can no longer be manually interrupted to start the cooldown early
Valkyrie
- Support scroll passive healing is now active for the duration of Valkyrie
Developer Comment: The recent increase in Guardian Angel’s jump cancel mobility has yet to be kept in check somehow, but while the last iteration was simple, it also had some unintended effects, such as in and with Resurrect. This rework provides more flexibility, allowing Mercy to opt for an additional 1.5 second cooldown when using the increased mobility from the jump/crouch cancel options or otherwise waiting for the base cooldown.
The Caduceus Staff’s increased healing multiplier condition should help Mercy players have more clout when attempting to save critical health allies and add depth to the healing mechanic without changing the overall time to full heal. However, the overall rebalancing of healing stats received significant negative feedback, both from those who played as Mercy and those who played against it. There wasn’t a happy middle ground to reduce the strength of this effect while still feeling effective, so we’re reverting it.
moira
fading
- Can now be activated during Coalescing
coalescence
- Bonus movement speed reduced from 50 to 40%
Biotic Grip
- The duration of the sustained healing has been increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds
Developer Comments: The ability to use Fade during her Coalescence ultimate grants Moira more gamemaking abilities, allowing her to reposition even faster and avoid potential threats with quick reactions. Due to the broader playstyle of 5v5, we’re increasing the sustained healing duration of her primary fire, meaning it heals more overall.
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