Overwatch PTR Update Brings Big Changes To McCree, Roadhog, Reaper

With the new Overwatch Public Test Region update that's currently available for testing, there are some noticeable changes in the works for McCree, Roadhog, and Reaper.

Posted by Blizzard Entertainment on Wednesday, the patch notes for the newest PTR Update look to improve upon the heroes' existing strengths while also moving some of the power around to provide more room for counterplay. While many people were excited about the other news that the patch contained, the adjustments made to the three heroes could do quite a bit to change their in-game strength.

Reaper is the hero who is getting what appears to be the greatest change from the PTR update. His passive, The Reaping, no longer allows the hero to pick up health orbs from fallen foes in order to regain health. Instead, he'll now have a life steal effect where he can regain 20 percent of all damage inflicted on enemy heroes as health.

The goal of this changed ability is to allow Reaper to remain in the middle of the fray for longer periods as he regains health as opposed to finishing the fight and using his passive.

"Reaper's old healing passive was useful if you could kill a bunch of enemies in a row," a developer's comment on the update notes read. "But since enemies needed to be dead for it to work, it wasn't very helpful unless the situation was already in your favor."

Next up on the list for changes is the gunslinger McCree. His ultimate ability, Deadeye, has no doubt become one of the most iconic abilities in Overwatch, but there were concerns that he wasn't dishing out power quick enough before getting shut down mid-ult. As he locks on and the potential damage increases, the call of high noon is enough to send many players running for cover, or they'll simply turn on him too quick for him to get off any considerable damage. To remedy this, McCree will now begin locking onto enemies after 0.2 seconds as opposed to after 0.8 seconds. Deadeye's power will also ramp up quicker with the damage that accumulates over the first second increasing from 20 to 80 with the damage-per-second after the initial 1-second period remaining unchanged.

Last on the line-up is Roadhog, the beefy tank who ends many players quickly with a hook-and-shoot combo. That exact combo is what's being looked at here as the team moves around some of Roadhog's strengths. His Scrapgun damage is being decreased by a pretty sizeable 33 percent, but his fire rate is being increased by 30 percent and the clip size is also increasing from 4 to 5 shots. The goal for this change is to increase the chances of surviving an instant combo while also attempting to maintain Roadhog's current DPS. They also shrunk the hitbox around his head a bit; he's a big guy with a big head, and they said that headshots were being inflicted a bit too often.

Other news in the PRT update includes the reveal of a new Overwatch map called Horizon Lunar Colony. The full update notes and instructions on participating in the PTR can be found here.