‘Overwatch’ PTR Buffs Bastion, Nerfs Brigitte

Overwatch’s PTR servers have now been updated with a set of buffs and nerfs that affect five different heroes.

Bastion, Brigitte, Doomfist, McCree, and Torbjorn are the five heroes Blizzard’s latest list of experimental Overwatch changes took aim at with some of the heroes receiving a mixture of buffs and nerfs and others only being made weaker or stronger. Some changes listed in the notes were previewed prior to being added to the PTR – Brigitte’s Shield Bash nerf in particular being one that Blizzard revealed before it went live on the test servers – but others will be new to the players that main those heroes.

PC players can now test the PTR changes that are still experimental and may or may not make their way to live servers, all of those changes for each of the five heroes listed below.

Bastion

First in the notes is Bastion, a hero who’s being updated to have more ammo at his disposal when he’s in his Recon mode and will now have a tighter spread the longer he fires in his Sentry mode.

Configuration: Recon

• Ammo increased from 25 to 35

Configuration: Sentry

• Weapon spread decreased by up to 33% while firing

“Bastion could use a little bit of an offensive boost to balance out how vulnerable Configuration: Recon’s bulky size and Sentry’s stationary nature make it,” Blizzard’s developer comments said. “To address this, we increased the ammo he receives in Recon mode and gave Bastion a lower spread in Sentry mode to make it more effective at farther ranges than it was previously.”

Brigitte

Bringing the Brigitte nerfs players saw previously on the Blizzard forums to the PTR servers, the support hero will no longer be able to bash her way through enemies’ barriers.

Shield Bash

• No longer can travel or stun targets through barriers

“Brigitte’s Shield Bash is a strong ability that often feels difficult to counter,” Blizzard’s developer comments said. This change will offer new options for counter play, enabling shield tanks to better protect themselves and their teammates.

Doomfist

Doomfist is one of the heros who got a mix of changes that nerfed one of his abilities and adjusted another so those who use him can show off their skill with tighter windows of opportunity.

Rising Uppercut

• Loss of air control duration lowered to 0.6 seconds from 3 seconds

Seismic Slam

• Maximum range reduced from 20 meters to 15 meters

“Doomfist’s high mobility allows him to engage and disengage from extremely long ranges,” Blizzard’s developer comment said. “Decreasing the range of his targeted aerial version of Seismic Slam requires him to get closer before engaging an enemy and makes it slightly harder for him to escape from combat. The loss of air control on Rising Uppercut was a frustrating mechanic for players, but it allowed Doomfist to set up combos. We’ve found a decent middle ground by limiting the time Doomfist has to line up his next move.”

McCree

McCree only had one part of his kit changed, but it was a straight nerf to his alternate fire ability that gave him more damage to work with.

Peacekeeper

• Alternate fire damage increased from 45 to 55

“McCree’s Fan the Hammer wasn’t as reliable of an option against higher health heroes as it should be,” Blizzard’s developer comment said. “Increasing its damage will make it more potent in close-range engagements where it is intended to be most effective.”

Torbjorn

Last on the list of heroes was Torbjorn, a hero who recently got a complete rework and is still receiving some further iterations on his new abilities such as his area-denying Molten Core skill.

Molten Core

• Damage increased from 130 to 160 per second

“While the Molten Core damage pools were intended to provide players with tools for area denial, they weren’t proving threatening enough to deter enemies for a significant amount of time because their damage was too low,” Blizzard’s developer comment said.