With the new character Ana added to Overwatch comes a large number of changes to the competitive modes and almost all of the characters. The following is a breakdown of all the changes and how they will effect the game’s competitive scene.

ADDITIONS

New Character: Ana

The video above is a complete breakdown of Ana’s abilities and how she’ll effect the competitive scene overall.

GENERAL UPDATES

Gameplay

• If a match goes into Overtime for more than 20 seconds, the fuse will now start to “burn down” more quickly
• Players now respawn more slowly during Overtime (increased spawn time by 2 seconds)

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WRITER’S ANALYSIS

This change is a definite buff for Defense. While there aren’t any stats from the last few months, the word from Blizzard was that attackers had about an average of a 60% winrate against defenders. If this stat is still a problem these changes could be a way to address that. [/otw_shortcode_info_box]

Competitive Play

• Competitive Play matches can now only have one of each hero per team.

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WRITER’S ANALYSIS

This is a huge change to the game, and one that most of the community was asking for. While there will most likely be tournaments that allows multiples of heroes, many including myself felt that it kept the game stagnant as only a few different team compositions were played. This ensures that teams will have to be a bit more creative when they are restricted and use more strategy when countering the opposing team. Overall this is a great change to the game.[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

Hero Balance Updates

General

• Self-healing abilities now charge ultimate abilities. As a result, some heroes’ ultimate costs have been adjusted (see below).

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WRITER’S ANALYSIS

While this reads as a buff, it’s mitigated by nerfs to most of the heroes who have self healing. Characters like Soldier 76 have had their ultimate charge time increased as a result to compensate.[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

• Ultimate cost increased by 10%

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WRITER’S ANALYSIS

On the surface this looks like a pretty big nerf for Bastion. Ever since the beta he’s been one of the most played, and most effective heroes. However in competitive play he doesn’t really see a lot of use, since he is so easy to counter. This change is more for the public scene as some lower level players still have trouble trying to combat him. This change was also made in light of the self healing change listed above. Bastion has a self healing ability and the change to ultimate charging would have made him even more powerful. We’ll have to wait and see if Bastion stays at the top of the rankings.[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

• Defense Matrix
  • Cooldown decreased from 10 seconds to 1 second
            A new resource meter has been added. This meter will deplete while Defense Matrix is active and then recharge when it’s not in use.
                Defense Matrix takes 10 seconds to reach full charge from empty
                At a full charge, Defense Matrix will last for 4 seconds
                Defense Matrix will now remain active as long as its assigned hotkey is held
  • Defense Matrix has been reclassified as an alternate fire and is now bound to RMB (by default)
                An option to “Toggle Defense Matrix” has been added under Options > Controls > D.Va
  • Self-Destruct
            Ultimate cost decreased by 15%
            Explosion delay reduced from 4 seconds to 3 seconds
            Explosion no longer damages D.Va (the player who activates it)

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WRITER’S ANALYSIS

D.va has been completely reworked in order to make her more of a tank. The remapping of defense matrix to the right mouse button makes he more able to regularly block projectiles and defend her teammates. Her ultimate ability has also received a large buff. Decreasing both the time it takes for the explosion to occur and the time it takes to charge up again. This will make D.va much more viable in both the public and the competitive scene. The explosion also wont kill the player who activates it, which means D.va will be able to push and be more aggressive while the mech is exploding. Overall this change means D.va is much more likely to be seen in tournament comps in the coming months.[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

• Sound Barrier
  • Ultimate cost increased by 10%

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WRITER’S ANALYSIS

This change is meant to mitigate the change to self-healing. It most likely wont change Lucio’s standing in the competitive meta.[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

• Peacekeeper
  • Now maintains full damage at longer distances, but will deal less damage at extreme ranges

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WRITER’S ANALYSIS

Mccree has seen a lot less play in the competitive meta since his right click was nerfed. In order to bring him up to a balanced state his left click range has been increased to a similar range to Soldier 76. This should make him a bit more viable in the competitive meta and see him return as a reliable and accurate damage dealer.[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

• Caduceus Staff
  • Damage Boost
            Effect will no longer stacks with bonus damage provided by another Mercy
• Resurrect
  • Ultimate charge cost increased by 30%
  • Movement is no longer prevented during activation
  • Guardian Angel instantly resets upon use

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WRITER’S ANALYSIS

Mercy is getting quite a large nerf. Her ultimate is getting a huge increase to charging time in order to make her resurect less frequent. Even though she can now move while activating it, I think competitive teams will probably use mercy less since her ultimate takes much longer to earn. She’s still powerful, but after this change I expect her to see less use.[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

• Whole Hog
  • Ultimate cost increased by 45%

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WRITER’S ANALYSIS

I’d say this is a pretty big nerf for roadhog in the public scene. While his ultimate is powerful it’s not the most powerful part of Roadhog’s kit. Because Roadhog’s gun and hook were able to generate ultimate charge really quickly it made his ult powerful by comparison. Now after the nerf, Roadhog is still powerful, but he wont be getting an ultimate seemingly every minute and a half. I don’t see this effecting the competitive scene much.[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

• Heavy Pulse Rifle
  • Spread recovery will begin after a short delay (rather than instantly)
• Tactical Visor
  • Ultimate cost increased by 10%

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WRITER’S ANALYSIS

Soldier wasn’t effected much by the patch. Instead of reducing his range, the recovery time from firing his shots has been increased which mean he wont be able to shoot as far as frequently. This pulls him back from an all ranges character to a more close to mid range character with some long range capabilities. This change shouldn’t effect his play time in the competitive scene much as he’s still a reliable damage dealer with backup healing to boot.[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

• Alternate fire weapon damage increased from 35 to 40
• Primary fire weapon damage decreased from 45 to 40
• Base shields increased by 50 (now 50 Health/150 Shield)

• Orb of Discord and Orb of Harmony
  • Projectile speed has been increased from 30 to 120
• Transcendence
  • Movement speed is now doubled upon activation
  • Healing amount increased from 200 to 300 health per second

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WRITER’S ANALYSIS

Zenyatta is widely considered the worst healer in the game. After his large nerf in the beta he’s seen little to no competitive play. To compensate for this he’s received a buff across the board to his shields and abilities. These changes will hopefully see Zenyatta being picked more in a competitive and public scene but it remains to be seen if these changes will be enough.[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

Conclusion

Overall these changes did a lot to bring up character who see little to no competitive play while fine tuning some others that do see a lot of play. I think the changes to competitive mode will greatly affect tournaments and it’s going to be really interesting to see how it all shakes out in the coming months. If you are interested in seeing the rest of the patch notes about UI changes and more click the link below.

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