Yesterday, Patch 1.41 was released and went live on Overwatch’s PTR. This update contains a series of massive changes, the bulk of which can be accessed here. With large nerfs to Sigma and Symmetra headlining the litany of changes, there are definitely some major impacts coming to Overwatch once these latest patch notes hit live servers.
The biggest class to get changes in these notes are the tanks. Sigma and Orisa both get serious nerfs in an effort to reduce their viability, while Winston and D.Va both get fairly substantial buffs. Whether this will bring back dive or completely nullify double barrier is yet to be seen, however, it should give other tanks besides Sigma and Orisa more play time across all ranks.
The first impression of this author is that none of the tanks seem out of balance after this patch, which should give way to some exciting new compositions.
One of the staple metas throughout the past several months has been bunker, featuring a combination of Orisa, Sigma, Baptiste, and damage dealers like Bastion and Symmetra. With each of these heroes outside of Bastion getting hit with nerfs, it seems pretty clear that Blizzard wanted to eliminate this defensive composition. Now, these bunkers should be much easier to dismantle and push through with either dive tanks or a sturdy Reinhardt composition.
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Two of the DPS heroes that have dominated this past meta are Reaper and Mei, both of which can fight as close quarters and have good survivability. Neither of these two received nerfs, despite many of their counterparts getting hit (Doomfist, Symmetra, and Sombra to a lesser degree). This may prove to make these two viable options alongside a mobile Winston/Sigma tankline, or something of that sort. Both have powerful ultimates and strong kits, so it is a wonder that they didn’t get nerfed in this patch.
At the end of the day, these are the kinds of patch notes that Overwatch needs. They effectively hit just about all of the heroes that are out of balance at the moment, taking suggestions from the community and integrating them into the game. And, for once, it seems like no hero was nerfed into oblivion or buffed to demi-god status. Small tweaks can go a long way in as delicate an ecosystem as Overwatch’s meta can be.
Personally, this author would have liked to have seen buffs to some hitscan heroes like Soldier: 76 and Ashe, and some nerfs to Reaper and Mei, however, most every other change is something that seems reasonable. For a list of what I would have personally liked to have seen, you can see more of my thoughts in an article that tried to predict this patch.
Spoiler alert: I only got one change correct. Sorry, Orisa.
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