Overwatch 2 Developer Reveals Big Changes Coming to Several Characters

Overwatch 2 developer Blizzard has teased, and in some cases revealed and detailed, several big changes coming to several characters. First up is Brigitte. Back in September, Blizzard revealed that the character's Shield Bash ability, a point of contention within the Overwatch community, would no longer stun in the sequel, but it can still go through barriers. Meanwhile, while it has lost its stun capabilities, it now gives the character her healing aura. Blizzard has now also confirmed the range of it has doubled, which in turn makes the character far more mobile in the sequel than she is right now. And if that wasn't enough, it now deals more damage and has a reduced cooldown.

Brigitte isn't the only character being reworked though. Blizzard has also confirmed nerfs are coming for Hanzo and Echo, or more specifically damage nerfs to the former's Storm Arrows and the latter's beam. According to Blizzard, this is being done because of the switch from 6v6 to 5v5.

Also getting changes is Doomfist, who Blizzard has said has been tough to balance. Without going into specifics, Blizzard has confirmed the character will be getting a reduction in damage but a buff in defense, and it sounds like he will be getting a new ability as well, as feedback has suggested to Blizzard he isn't fully realized in the current meta brewing for the sequel.

Of course, every character is being changed and reworked for Overwatch 2. Some of these changes and reworkings we've covered in the past and others will be revealed in the future, but lately, these are the characters Blizzard has been talking about. Generally speaking, Blizzard has also confirmed that the healing class will have to be nerfed, as testing suggests they are the best class by some margin. 

Overwatch 2 is in development for the Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. At the moment of publishing, there's been no word of a release date, but the current expectation is it will release sometime next year, 2022, and when it does it sounds like its characters will all play quite different.