Overwatch 08/16 Patch: Who’s Buffed and Who’s Nerfed
Overwatch, the newest game from Blizzard has been the talk of the town for the past few months. Overwatch has kept up the hype by offering players a large selection of characters to choose from without the worries of paid DLC like other games in the space. Blizzard’s team based shooter recently had their first competitive season close and with that, came a new set of rules. Commonly known as “buffs and nerfs”, and seen in other competitive games such as League of Legends and DOTA 2, these changes help provide balance to characters, keeping the game fresh. The object of nerfing and buffing is not to destroy/God-mode characters but to address concerns that may ultimately break the game and allow for players to explore other characters.
So who got buffed and who got nerfed? These are the official stats from Blizzard on the newest update.
D.Va– GG EZ
After being activated, the defense matrix will have a one second delay to begin regenerating (previously 0.5 second delay).
Hanzo-Robin Hood wishes he was Hanzo
Hanzo’s speed while he is aiming was reduced to 30% from its former 40% and his projectile speed has increased by 30%.
Mei-You’re as cold as ice!
The blizzard projectile no longer will pierce barriers. Before, the freeze effect would pass through them, however, the projectile would be stopped. The freeze effect has also been buffed from eight meters to ten meters.
McCree-DRAW!
Deadeye’s ultimate stamina drains at 0.25 seconds, rather displaying a 50% reduction on the meter when activated and zero percent when confirmed.
Mercy-Don’t stop the healing!
Healing beam has been increased to heal 20% more per second than before and her resurrect ultimate has been buffed allowing resurrected teammates to become mobile in 2.25 seconds than the previous three seconds.
Genji-Nerfed so hard it hurts
Genji has lost his ability to double jump after wall climbing. His dash is no longer able damage traps such as Widowmaker’s venom mine or Junkrat’s steel trap. Quickstrike no longer interrupts quick melee attacks and his ultimate “dragonblade” was reduced to six seconds over the previous eight.
Lucio-Jam a little slower
Amp it up’s speed boost was nerfed from 100% down to 70%.
Roadhog-Here fishy fishy
When using chainhook, if the hooked target moves around a corner or out of sight, the target will return to the spot where they were hooked. This is a fix, where previously characters had the chance of being stuck in walls.
Zenyatta-Kung fu fighting
Orb of discord has been nerfed from 50% to 30% but his orb of destruction has been buffed to 46% from 40%.
Blizzard is obviously watching the game very carefully, and adjusting characters as they see fit to keep the game balanced and players on their toes. Personally as a player that mains Hanzo, I am excited about this update, what about you thoughts? Love it? Hate it? Or just excited about the new character Sombra?
