Traditionally, every new Season of Overwatch has been released with a number of Hero balance changes following observations and community feedback made during the previous competitive Season. This is no different in Overwatch 2, and now that the first Season is over, Season 2 has launched with several much-needed hero balance changes. Don’t worry; we’ve got all the information you’ll need to know about these tweaks, so follow along below for all Hero balance changes in Overwatch 2 Season 2.
New DPS Passive Ability
The decision has been made to remove the DPS passive of a movement speed bonus due to it affecting the precision of aim. The new DPS passive instead gives a buff to reload times, with changes taking place as follows:
- No longer provides a movement speed bonus
- Reload speed bonus increased from 25 to 35%
Introduction of Ramattra
Ramattra is the latest addition to the Overwatch 2 roster, filling the role of Tank. Ramattra is unlockable at Tier 45 of the free Battle Pass or instantly at Tier 1 with the purchase of the Premium Battle Pass. Ramattra won’t be hitting the Competitive roster for another two weeks, but that gives everyone plenty of time to learn him in Quickplay. Ramattra fills a unique Tank playstyle, with his abilities as follows:
Void Accelerator (Omnic Form):
- Primary: Fire a stream of projectiles in a fixed pattern
- Secondary: Create a barrier at the targeted location
Nemesis Form
- Transform into Nemesis Form, changing your attacks and gaining bonus armor
Pummel (Nemesis Form)
- Primary: Punch forward, creating a wave of piercing energy with every swing
- Secondary: Significantly reduces damage taken from the front and reduces movement speed
Ravenous Vortex
- Fire a nano ball, which explodes when it hits the ground, spreading a damaging field. Affected enemies are slowed and pulled downward
Annihilation
- Enter Nemesis Form and create an energy swarm surrounding yourself. This swarm will lash out towards nearby enemies, dealing damage and pausing the duration when damage is dealt.
Doomfist Changes
After making it through Season 1 as arguably the weakest character in the entire game, Doomfist has received a lot of much-needed changes to his abilities and cooldowns to improve him and put him back on equal grounds with the other Tank heroes (hopefully). Here’s everything you need to know:
Rocket Punch
- Impact damage range (minimum-maximum) increased from 15-30 to 25-50 damage
- Wall slam damage range (minimum-maximum) reduced from 20-40 to 10-30 damage
- Empowered Rocket Punch wall slam stun duration range reduced from 0.5-1 to 0.25-0.75 seconds
- Non-Empowered Rocket Punch now stuns for the minimum 0.25 second duration on wall slam
- Empowered Rocket Punch knockback radius reduced from 4 to 3 meters
- Minimum time before cancel option becomes available reduced from 0.25 to 0.12 seconds
- Cooldown reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
- This has been in since his rework but was not mentioned
Power Block
- Cooldown reduced from 8 to 7 seconds
- Duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds
- Minimum damage mitigated required to empower Rocket Punch reduced from 90 to 80 damage
Meteor Strike
- Now empowers Rocket Punch on landing
- Enemy slow duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds
The Best Defense…
- Maximum temporary health increased from 150 to 200 health
- Temporary health gained per target hit with abilities increased from 30 to 40 health
Junker Queen Changes
Junker Queen is another Tank that has received some much-deserved changes in Season 2. Community feedback from Season 1 stated that many players felt Junker Queen was severely underperforming compared to her experience in the OW2 Beta. Changes to her passive are set to grant Junker Queen more survivability in Season 2, so feel free to check them out in full below.
- Torso and head hit volume size increased 12%
Rampage
- Wound duration reduced from 5 to 4.5 seconds
- Ultimate cost reduced by 10%
Commanding Shout
- Cooldown reduced from 15 to 14 seconds
Adrenaline Rush
- Adrenaline passive healing multiplier increased from 1 to 1.25x damage dealt by wounds
Bastion Changes
Bastion has received changes to his Ultimate to help balance out the damage it causes, as well as a few tweaks to change up the time players have to avoid the area of effect. Here’s all the details:
Configuration Artillery
- Delay before projectile drops reduced from 1 to 0.6 seconds
- Explosion damage reduced from 300 to 250
- No longer deals explosion damage to self
- Minimum delay between placing shots reduced by 20%
Reconfigure
Cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds
Sojourn Changes
Sojourn is a character that has been said to be performing well in the most capable hands at top tiers but somewhat poorly and inconsistently for the average Overwatch gamer. The following changes have been made to Sojourn’s Railgun and Overclock Ultimate in hopes of balancing this out:
Railgun
- Energy delay before draining reduced from 8 to 5 seconds
- Secondary fire damage falloff starting range reduced from 70 to 40 meters
- Secondary fire critical damage multiplier reduced from 2 to 1.5
- Secondary fire damage now scales linearly with energy from 30 to 130 damage (1 energy converts to 1 damage added)
- Primary fire damage per projectile increased from 9 to 10
- Overclock energy charge rate increased by 20%
Symmetra Changes
Symmetra has received changes to her primary fire to give her more damage potential at a faster rate, but it has also been reworked, so these damages decrease faster when her beam isn’t charging. Take a look here:
Proton Projector
- Beam charge rate and decay rate increased by 20%
- Primary fire ammo consumption rate increased from 7 to 10 per second
- Primary fire gains ammo from damaging barriers again
Tracer Changes
Tracer’s changes come following edits that were made to her damage to help negate a bug. Now that the bug is gone, Tracer’s damage has been changed back and will work as followed:
Pulse Pistols
- Damage increased from 5 to 6
Ana Changes
Ana has received a change to her Sleep Dart ability, with Overwatch 2 Devs noting that the decision to reduce the ability’s cooldown will improve Ana’s survivability. Here’s the change that is referenced in this statement:
Sleep Dart
- Cooldown reduced from 15 to 14 seconds
Kiriko Changes
It’s probably not a surprise to many to see Kiriko receiving some changes in Season 2, considering her Ultimate could single-handedly roll every team fight and cause absolute chaos. To help balance this out, Kiriko is receiving reduced movement speed, and cooldown boosts to teammates from Kitsune Rush to help with aim and stability. On top of this, she has also received a few tweaks to her kit, as seen below:
- Arm hit volumes width reduced 15%
- Added an auto-wall climb hero option
Kitsune Rush
- Ultimate cost increased by 10%
- Movement speed bonus reduced from 50 to 30%
- Cooldown rate reduced from 3 to 2 times faster
Protection Suzu
- Cast time reduced from 0.15 to 0.1 second
Kunai
- Ammo increased from 12 to 15
Swift Step
- Ability input can now be held to activate
Mercy
Poor Mercy is one of the characters that has been experimented with the most in Overwatch 2. Once again, our favorite guardian angel has made it into the Season 2 hero balance changes. For Mercy in Season 2, she has now received changes to her Pistol weapon, with the reasoning that it should enable her to defend herself better in bad situations. Take a look for yourself here:
- Weapon swap time reduced from 0.5 to 0.35 seconds
Caduceus Blaster
- Ammo increased from 20 to 25
That’s everything you need to know about all Hero balance changes in Overwatch 2 Season 2. Make sure to check out the rest of our Overwatch 2 content here at Twinfinite. We have a variety of topics to fit all your Overwatch needs, help your troubles, and answer any questions about the game, such as Season 2’s Patch Notes, all rewards in the Season 2 Battle Pass, and how to unlock Ramattra.
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