Blizzard has just dropped a new update for it’s first-person MOBA title, Overwatch. The update includes the usual bug fixes and performance alterations – but it also introduces a couple of major changes to heros, specifically Sombra, Doomfist and Mei who all get buffed up.
Doomfist Hand Cannon’s ammo recovery rate has been buffed, increasing the rate from 0.8 to 0.65 seconds per bullet. Mei also gets some Blizzard lovin’ as her Endothermic Blaster now freezes enemies for 1.5 seconds and her alternate fire ammo cost has been reduced to 20 from 25.
Finally, Sombra no longer gains ult charges from hacked health packs – rather, her hack ability has received far more utility. It now disables basic movement abilities like Pharah’s Hover Jets, Genji’s double jump, Hanzo’s Wall Climb and Lucio’s Healing and Speed Boost along with Wall Ride. Her pistol fire rate has been lowered slightly in favor of a longer duration of the translocator.
Check out all the changes down below:
HERO UPDATES
Doomfist
Hand Cannon
Ammo recovery rate increased from 0.8 seconds to 0.65 seconds per bullet
Developer Comments: This change will help Doomfist more consistently be able to use his weapon as part of his combos.
Mei
Endothermic Blaster
- Freeze (slow) duration increased from 1 second to 1.5 seconds
- Weapon alternate fire ammo cost reduced from 25 to 20
Developer Comment: Increasing Mei’s slow duration helps her freeze targets that are particularly elusive such as Genji or Lúcio. Lowering her alternate fire ammo cost allows her to more safely use it without costing her the ability to freeze enemies.
Sombra
EMP
No longer blocked by small objects (e.g. sign posts)
Hack
- No longer gains ultimate charge from health pack healing
- Cast time reduced from 0.8 seconds to 0.65 seconds
Now disables the following abilities:
Genji—Cyber-agility
Hanzo—Wall Climb
Pharah—Hover Jets
Lúcio—Healing Boost and Speed Boost (turns off current song entirely), Wall Ride
Mercy—Angelic Descent
Machine Pistol
Machine Pistol spread reduced from 3 to 2.7
Opportunist
- Enemy health bars are now visible when health drops below 100% (formerly 50%)
- Her ability to detect enemies through walls at 50% or less remains unchanged
Translocator
Duration increased from 15 seconds to 20 seconds
Developer Comment: The goal of these changes for Sombra is to remove the necessity for her teammates to take damage and heal themselves with her hacked heath packs to try to get her ultimate charged up quickly. Her ultimate will now come up less often, but there are more abilities that are disabled by Hack so it is more effective when used. Previously, Opportunist would only activate when an enemy’s health bar dipped below 50% but now the passive will reveal all damaged enemies which should help Sombra identify targets in her line of sight to pick off. Overall these changes should make her more effective and less reliant on her ultimate.
MAP UPDATES
Blizzard World
- Some health pack sizes have been reduced
- Some health pack locations have been changed
- Additional health packs have been added
Developer Comments: Health packs are a valuable resource in Overwatch and positioning around them is key to holding ground on defense or keeping up momentum on offense. We have moved the location of some health packs and included additional ones to improve game play on Blizzard World.
USER INTERFACE UPDATES
Mercy
Valkyrie
No longer shows enemies’ health bars unless they have taken damage
Developer Comment: This helps remove some clutter from Mercy players’ screens when they use her ultimate
BUG FIXES
General
Fixed a bug that prevented Capture the Flag statistics from displaying on the Career Profile if the match was played on Ayuttheya in the Arcade
Maps.
Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented announcement voice lines from triggering on Blizzard World
