Hero Changes on the PTR July 18th

The latest patch notes for the PTR have been listed with a slew of hero changes in addition to the new role queue. For a full and detailed list of the patch including developer comments, check out blizztrack for the complete rundown. And for more information on the new Role Queue, check out the blog post from the Overwatch website. With that out of the way, let’s get into the changes.

The Big Hero Changes

All Heroes

Ultimates across the board will now charge 12% slower. This is to reduce the frequency and impact of Ults. Slow effects from enemies and friendlies will no longer stack. For example, Widowmaker’s slowed movement while scoped will not compound with an enemy Mei freezing her. Instead, whichever effect results in a greater movement penalty will take effect.

Brigette

Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

Brigette changes most drastically with the patch since she is the hero affected most by Role Queue. Her Armor Pack ability now has three charges that each heal for a reduced amount. Furthermore, healing from armor packs is no longer instant and instead heals over two seconds. Her shield health will also be reduced from 500 to 200. Inspire’s healing will increase from 100 to 130, but self-healing from Inspire will be halved. Brigette also received minor changes for her Whip Shot, Rally, and Shield Bash.  Overall, these changes make Brigette less self-sufficient and more helpful to her team. Time and testing will tell if she is still viable in a new Role Queue world.

Moira

Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

Moira can now use her Fade ability if stunned. This will increase her ability to survive against heroes like Junkrat and Mei. This will be especially important when she is half of the support core in any given composition. Now she can play closer to tanks while being able to peel for backline DPS and another support.

Reinhardt

Reinhardt will receive a new passive called “Steadfast”. This will reduce crowd-control effects by 30%. Being a slow melee tank, Reinhardt is one of the heroes most vulnerable to crowd-control. With the addition of this new passive, Reinhardt can now play more aggressive and not worry about dying as early.

Symmetra

Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

Symmetra’s Teleporter will no longer be destroyed over time. Instead, enemies must damage it or Symmetra can destroy it with the same button used to deploy it. This is a massive increase to the potential of alternative routes and flanks Symmetra can provide for her team. Expect to see a lot of cheeky Teleporters placed behind enemy lines to enable surprise flanks.

Other Hero Changes

These changes to heroes are relativity minor and amount to mostly number tweaking. Again for a comprehensive list of all changes, check out blizztrack for the full patch list.

Ashe

• Reload Time per round decreased from 0.3 seconds to 0.25

Doomfist

Melee

• Quick melee no longer pauses ammo reload.

Hanzo

Storm Arrows

• Storm Arrows ammo reduced from 6 to 5

Orisa

Protective Barrier

• Cooldown increased from 8 seconds to 9

Sombra

Hack

• Duration on enemy players reduced from 6 seconds to 5

EMP

• Activation time increased from 0.5 seconds to 0.65

Tracer

Pulse Bomb

• Damage increased from 300 to 350

Wrecking Ball

Minefield

• Increased projectile speed from 10 to 13
• Reduced the activation time from 0.25 seconds to 0.1

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Featured image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.

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