On September 17, Overwatch announced Patch 1.40 on the Play Overwatch website. This patch is headlined by Bastion’s Brick Challenge, but also features several more hero balance changes that should serve to seriously impact the game. Here is an overview of the major changes coming in these patch notes, which can be viewed here in their entirety.
Symmetra has gone from zero to hero with the release of Sigma, so getting nerfed in this patch makes sense. Her beam width has been lowered from 0.3 to 0.2 meters and her beam DPS has been lowered from 65/130/195 to 60/120/180. Since the barrier meta is so prevalent right now, and Symmetra can charge her beam from shields, this will likely be a welcome change that should make her more reasonable in-game.
Image Courtesy of @steel_peach
Zarya’s nerf, although getting at the same issue, is a little different. Instead of her beam growing with her increased charge like one of Goku’s Kamehameha’s, it is now consistently 0.15 meters wide. Additionally, her max beam DPS was lowered from 190 to 170. This should make her more consistent, but seems a bit odd considering her low usage in the current meta.
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Sigma came into the game very strong, so some changes were expected. However, these were not the changes expected by many. Instead, Sigma’s Hyper Sphere’s are now reduced from 35 to 30 damage, being hacked by Sombra will now recall his barrier if it is deployed, his Accretion (Rock) explosion damage is increased from 50 to 60 and his Gravitic Flux cast time is increased from 0.4 seconds to 0.6. Overall, these changes seem to get at some of what makes Sigma overpowered, but perhaps could have done more to nerf his barrier health.
Several bug fixes also come in these notes, as well as fixing Bastion’s self-heal recovery time. Additionally, things like Reaper’s Shadowstep, Mei’s Icewall and Synnetra’s Teleporter now favor edges more, rather than just going their max cast distance.
These changes will be live upon download starting today. Here is a video by Reddit user u/itsjeyang that illustrates the changes in-game, check it out. Be sure to log on, check out the changes, and let us know what you think of them.
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