Overwatch 2 Reworks Pharah to Be Less Reliant on Mercy

02/13/2024 04:41 pm EST

Overwatch 2 has made some major changes to the game today, including a big rework of Pharah. Overwatch 2 is one of the most popular online games out there thanks to Blizzard's nearly decade-long support of the game, the fun and highly competitive PvP gameplay, and much more. While a lot of Overwatch players actively rage at the game and detest a lot of changes made on a regular basis, it doesn't change the fact that Overwatch 2 is one of the most successful live-service free-to-play games on the market right now and that will likely continue for years to come.

With all of that said, Overwatch 2 is constantly making major changes to keep the game interesting and as fun as possible. For quite some time, players have utilized a strategy to become an unstoppable force. When playing as Pharah, another player can esssentially stick to them as Mercy and they can fly around the map, allowing Pharah to be healed indefinitely while Mercy is protected by Pharah and moving too fast to hit easily. It is incredibly over-powered and neither of them have to touch the ground, resulting in constant missile barrages from the sky. Blizzard's latest rework of Pharah appears to combat this strategy, forcing Pharah to touch the ground to recharge her jet pack (unless she uses some of her abilities which have a timer on them). She has also gotten an additional 50 health, a slightly faster firing rate for her rockets, she does less damage to herself with her own rockets, and a new secondary ability that dashes her forward horizontally. The idea is to make Pharah a more viable solo hero that fights horizontally instead of flying straight up to the stars. You can view the full details below.

• Health increased from 200 to 250.

Rocket Launcher

• Recovery reduced from 0.85 to 0.80 seconds.
• Projectile speed increased from 35 to 40 meters per second.
• Explosion self-damage reduced from 50% to 25%.

Jet Dash

• New Secondary Fire Ability.
• Provides a quick horizontal boost in the direction Pharah is moving.
• 8-second cooldown.
• Added a setting to activate Jet Dash on Double Jump instead.

Jump Jet

• Now restores 50% of Hover Jets fuel and can briefly overfill the maximum fuel amount.
• Vertical boost height reduced by 20%.
• Cooldown increased from 10 to 14 seconds.

• Cooldown decreased from 9 to 7 seconds.
• Explosion now deals 30 damage to enemy targets.
• Explosion radius reduced from 8 to 6 meters.
• Knockback reduced by 10%.

Barrage

• Now instantly refills Hover Jets fuel.

Hover Jets

• Speed boost increased from 20% to 40%.
• Now requires landing to recharge fuel.
• Can now be activated without fuel to slow your descent.

Whether players grow to enjoy this change remains to be seen. It was a tried and true partnership between support and DPS, but this may make players invest in other heroes for the time being. However, it may also make matches less annoying as a result and 

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