Overwatch 2 Reveals Hero Balance Changes Ahead of Launch

By Marc Deschamps

After an incredibly long wait, Overwatch 2 is just around the corner. Fans have been waiting a long time for the game to arrive, and Blizzard is starting to prepare for launch. Today, the company revealed a handful of hero balance updates based on player feedback from the second beta. It seems Blizzard has made significant changes to characters like Junker Queen, Mercy, Bastion, and more. Hopefully that means players can expect a smoother experience when the full game launches. Players can expect the following hero changes:

Junker Queen

  • Commanding Shout
    • Allied health bonus reduced from 100 to 50 HP
    • Allied duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds
    • Temporary health no longer decays over its duration
    • Cooldown increased from 11 to 15 seconds

General

  • Temporary health now grants 50% reduced ultimate charge instead of zero ultimate charge
  • Damage Role Passive – New Passive: Eliminations grant 25% increased reload and movement speed for 2.5 seconds. Does not stack with itself but will refresh the duration
  • All heroes now refund up to 30% ultimate power on hero swap

Orisa

  • Base health increased from 250 to 275
  • Base armor increased from 250 to 275
  • Energy Javelin cooldown reduced from 8 to 6 seconds

D.Va

  • Boosters impact damage increased from 10 to 25
  • Micro Missiles cooldown reduced from 8 to 7 seconds
  • Call Mech ultimate cost reduced by 12%

Brigitte

  • Inspire duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds

Baptiste

  • Biotic Launcher primary fire damage increased from 24 to 25
  • Biotic Launcher primary fire minimum falloff range increased from 20 to 25 meters

Mercy

  • Pressing Crouch during Guardian Angel now launches you straight up
  • Angelic Descent can now be activated by holding Crouch while airborne

Bastion

  • Ironclad passive is enabled again (20% damage reduction while transformed)

Reaper

  • Hellfire Shotguns spread reduced from 8 to 7 degrees

Sojourn

  • Railgun energy gain from non-player targets (barriers, turrets, etc.) reduced by an additional 50%

Sombra

  • Hack ability lockout duration increased from 1 to 1.75 seconds

Blizzard's full blog post goes into greater detail about each of these changes and the rationale behind these moves; readers can find that right here. It certainly seems like these decisions have been well thought out, but it remains to be seen how well they'll work in practice. Fans can also get a look at these changes ahead of launch by watching the Overwatch League's Countdown Cup, which begins on September 22nd.

Overwatch 2 is set to release on October 4th on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. In the meantime, readers can check out all of our previous coverage of Overwatch 2 right here.

Are you looking forward to next month's release of Overwatch 2? What do you think of these changes? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!

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