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Overwatch 2 Season 5 Nerfs And Buffs

Varno Harris II

Publish Date: June 12, 2023

The Overwatch 2 Season 5 nerfs and buffs are finally here to prep gamers for the launch of the new season. Here is everything that was included in the notes.

Junker Queen

Rampage

Ultimate cost increased by 15%.

Commanding Shout

Temporary health was reduced from 200 to 150.

Dev Comment: The last round of Junker Queen changes increased both her sustained damage and self-healing. Hence, she ends up staying alive and in the fight longer, which was the intent, but naturally, her ultimate charges much more quickly on average as a result.

The passive Adrenaline Rush healing becoming more potent has been interesting for gameplay as it’s tied to landing her abilities. To bring her survivability more in line, we’re shifting some of the power out of the Commanding Shout temporary health gained for Junker Queen herself.

Road Hog

Take a Breather

Now amplifies healing received by 50% for 2.5 seconds after finishing Take a Breather.

Dev Comment: We would like Roadhog to be even sturdier as he’s an immobile tank with minor damage-blocking ability. His self-sustainability is already quite powerful when alone, so this is more of a team-oriented change. Take a Breather briefly increasing healing received will enable the support heroes on Roadhog’s team to help him recover more quickly.

Cassidy

Magnetic Grenade

It no longer has a maximum projectile travel range of 10 meters.

The projectile now magnetizes toward an enemy target from 1.5 meters away and chases them for up to 1 second.

Impact damage increased from 0 to 10.

Explosion damage was reduced from 120 to 70.

Stuck targets now have their movement slowed by 30%.

Stuck targets are now affected by a “Hindered” status effect, interrupting and preventing movement abilities from being activated.

Dev Comment: The overall goals for Magnetic Grenade are to shift its use from purely damage into more of a utility, and change its deployment behavior from a close-range lock-on to more of an aimed projectile that magnetizes if it gets close to an enemy target. The previous “Stuck” banner text alert confused Tracer’s Pulse Bomb message, so this mobility-locking status effect is being referred to as “Hindered.”

Hanzo

Sonic Arrow

Impact sound effect now plays for enemies.

The visual effect is now briefly visible to enemies when first deployed.

Storm Bow

Maximum damage reduced from 125 to 120.

Dev Comment: The Storm Bow damage adjustment is a small but significant change so that heroes with 250 health won’t be eliminated with one critical damage shot. We’ve also updated the sound and visual for when Sonic Arrow initially lands to give nearby enemies more awareness that the ability was used.

Mei

Endothermic Blaster

Damage per second was reduced from 100 to 55.

Primary fire slow is no longer always 40% and now scales from 30-50%.

Primary fire impacts now build up to a slowing effect that sticks to the enemy target for 1.5 seconds and slows them for 75%.

Secondary fire impacts can detonate this new slow effect, dealing an additional 40 damage.

Dev Comment: This set of changes is intended to bring back some of the gameplay and feeling Mei’s primary fire used to have previously, though without the hard crowd control of a full freeze stun.

Reaper

Wraith Form

Can no longer be activated while affected by mobility-locking effects (Magnetic Grenade, Steel Trap, Graviton Surge, etc.).

Dev Comment: The Reaper and Moira changes are addressing an inconsistency with the interaction of Wraith Form or Fade with mobility-locking effects such as Junkrat’s Steel Trap, Sigma’s Gravitic Flux, Zarya’s Graviton Surge, and Cassidy’s Magnetic Grenade. They are now disabled similarly to Tracer’s Recall or Sombra’s Translocator, which are abilities that also phase out and can move the player.

Tracer

Pulse Pistols

Spread increased by 15%.

Dev Comment: We uncovered a bug that was setting Tracer’s maximum weapon spread smaller than intended. We’ll be monitoring the results of this one closely, as fixing it may have a significant impact on her overall effectiveness.

Widowmaker

Widow’s Kiss

Scoped shot damage falloff min-max range reduced from 70-100 to 40-60 meters.

Scoped shot maximum damage falloff scalar increased from 30 to 50%.

Dev Comment: These changes to Widowmaker’s weapon falloff are intended to reduce her one-shot capabilities on maps with extremely long sightlines. The average range to still eliminate a 200 health hero at full charge is around 50 meters. A fully-charged critical shot will still eliminate 150 health targets regardless of range.

Lifeweaver

General

Petal ornaments on his back have had their size and hit volume reduced by 10%.

Healing Blossom

Maximum healing increased from 65 to 75.

Thorn Volley

Damage per projectile increased from 5 to 6.

The projectile radius increased from 0.1 to 0.125.

Ammo increased from 60 to 70.

Petal Platform

The walkable area increased by 15%.

The area to trigger the lift now shrinks from a radius of 2 to 0.75 meters after initial placement.

Life Grip

Cooldown was reduced from 20 to 16 seconds.

Now heals the target ally for 50 health.

Tree of Life

Ultimate cost increased by 8%.

Dev Comment: Lifeweaver’s stats have been improving over time, but he is still underperforming. These adjustments are primarily straightforward improvements to nearly every aspect of his kit, outside of his ultimate ability, which received a small cost adjustment for the increased healing and damage output. The Petal Platform area shrinking is a quality-of-life change intended to help avoid accidentally activating the lift after it has been placed.

Moira

Fade

Can no longer be activated while affected by mobility-locking effects (Magnetic Grenade, Steel Trap, Graviton Surge, etc.).

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