Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: Brigitte, Genji, Hanzo, Junkrat, Lúcio, overwatch, Tracer

Overwatch Makes a Few Character Updates in Latest Patch

Published Sun, 06 May 2018 07:45:51 -0500

The latest patch that Blizzard's devs have thrown into Overwatch this weekend fixed more than a fair share of bugs in the game and added the Rialto map, but also added in some new changes to a few characters on the roster. You can read the full list of notes here, but we have the character patches for you below, which includes changes to Brigitte, Tracer, Hanzo, Genji, Junkrat, and Lucio!

Overwatch Makes a Few Character Updates in Latest Patch — credit//Blizzard

Brigitte

Shield Bash

Cone angle reduced from 90 to 60

Developer Comments: When fighting against Brigitte, it often felt like Shield Bash was able to hit players who felt like they were out of its range and should have dodged it. On the flip side, when playing as Brigitte sometimes players would hit the wrong enemy in the middle of a fight. With the cone being reduced, the ability is more accurate to its visual representation.

Genji

Deflect

Hitbox size has been reduced

Developer Comments: The hitbox on Genji's Deflect was big enough that it would sometimes reflect projectiles that were pretty far away from him. We've tightened up the hitbox, which should solve this problem while still fully protecting him from projectiles that would hit him from the front.

Hanzo

Storm Bow

Projectile speed increased from 85 to 100

Sonic Arrow

Cooldown decreased from 20 seconds to 12 seconds

Duration decreased from 10 seconds to 6 seconds

Radius decreased from 10 meters to 7 meters

New Abilities

Lunge

Press jump while in the air to leap horizontally

Storm Arrows

Replaces his existing Scatter Arrow ability

Hanzo can now rapidly fire up to 6 arrows that deal reduced damage but are always fired at full power

Developer Comments: The goal of these Hanzo changes is to allow him to have new options and maintain his high damage output, while removing the frustration of fighting against the old Scatter Arrow. Hanzo is now much more mobile with his new Lunge ability, and with the combination of the bow projectile speed increase and the new Storm Arrows ability he can now deal his high damage more consistently than ever before.

Junkrat

Frag Launcher

Projectile size decreased from 0.3 to 0.2

RIP-Tire

Tire movement speed decreased from 13 to 12

Developer Comments: These changes are aimed at lowering some of the most frustrating parts about playing against Junkrat. Decreasing the Frag Launcher's projectile size means he will have to aim a bit more carefully to land powerful direct hits and slowing the RIP-Tire's movement speed gives his opponents slightly more time to destroy it before it detonates.

Lúcio

Wall Ride

Wall riding is less likely to be interrupted along a single surface

Can now go around corners (both outside corners, and inside corners) without having to leave the wall

Can now land back on the same wall after leaping away, provided his leap takes him far enough away from the original jumping off point

Added a minimum time that the jump key must be held before Lúcio can ride around corners

Soundwave

No longer consumes ammo

Can now be used while reloading

Developer Comments: Wall Ride has been significantly overhauled to allow it to function more smoothly across more areas of every map. Lúcio players should instantly notice a huge improvement in where and how Wall Ride can be used. In addition, Sonic Amplifier's Soundwave ability was unnecessarily controlled by both a cooldown and an ammo cost, so we're removing the ammo cost.

Tracer

Pulse Bomb

Max damage decreased from 400 to 300

Developer Comments: Pulse Bomb was too good at killing tanks, who can be easy to stick due to their size. This damage reduction makes it less powerful as a tank-destroyer, while keeping it lethal against most other heroes.