Overwatch’s latest Creator Experimental Card is now live

Overwatch’s developers have once again let some of the community’s top creators and professionals cause chaos for the good of the game.  

The game’s last Creator Experimental Card, from Nov. 30, was a massive hit and drew players back to the game for fun and a bit of competition. A Creator Cup Tournament was held and several teams from across the globe walked away with significant prize money. 

This time around, Overwatch developers recruited some of the biggest brains in the business. Overwatch League player and Houston Outlaws coach Jake Lyon tackled the projectile half of the DPS lineup while popular streamer W_nted handled the hitscan heroes. 

Longtime Overwatch Contenders and Overwatch World Cup caster Jen “LemonKiwi” Pichette, a tank enthusiast, tried to bring a bit of fun back into the tank line while one of the community’s most beloved streamers, ml7support, decided to bump up the support hero roster with a surprising addition. 

The Feb. 10 Experimental Card is now live on all Overwatch platforms. Much like the previous installment, the card will be used in an Experimental Cup tournament that will take place from Feb. 18 to 20. 

General hero updates 

• Maximum hitscan fall off range increased to 50 percent from 30 percent. 
• There is now a 75 percent global cap for movement speed buffs applied to allies. Since other heroes beyond Lúcio can now add speed boosts, this was necessary. 

Support  

Ana 

• Biotic Rifle reload time decreased from 1.5 to 0.75 seconds.
• Targets slept with Sleep Dart now appear in kill feed; allies now see an icon above the slept enemy.
  • Turrets can now be slept.
• Nano Boost now causes the target to heal for 50 percent more instead of offering increased health. 
  • Casting time reduced from 0.15 to 0.05 seconds.
  • Final blows dealt by allies affected by Nano Boost now decrease Ana’s current cooldowns by one second.

Baptiste 

• Exo Boots’ maximum jump height increased by 50 percent. Time to fully charge increased from one to two seconds.
• Immortality Field duration decreased from five to 1.5 seconds. Cooldown decreased to from 25 to 23 seconds. 
  • Now prevents allies from dropping below 20 percent of their maximum health up from 10 percent. 
• Amplification Matrix duration lowered from 10 to eight seconds.
  • Baptiste can now deal self-healing with the Biotic Launcher while his ultimate is active. 

Brigitte 

• Inspire healing effect expires immediately if Brigitte dies.
• Shield Bash distance covered increased by 15 percent. Now retains more velocity when colliding with terrain.
• While Rally is active, Whip Shot functionality changes to the following:
  • Damages and knocks back all enemies within a seven meter radius.
  • Restricts Brigitte’s movement for 0.75 seconds.
  • Increases the cooldown by the remaining duration of Rally plus four seconds.

Lúcio

• Sonic Amplifier damage increased from 20 to 25 while wall riding. 
• Enemies that are in the area of effect of Sound Barrier are now knocked back six meters. 

Mercy

• Valkyrie is no longer an ultimate ability and is now Ability Two (or the E ability for PC players). 
  • Healing increased from 55 to 70 health per second.
  • Caduceus Staff beams no longer attach to additional allies.
  • Duration reduced from 15 to three seconds.
  • Cooldown is now 20 seconds.
  • Flying movement speed decreased from seven to six. 
  • Guardian Angel movement speed reduced from 25 to 20. 
• Resurrect is now Mercy’s ultimate ability.
  • Can resurrect up to five people at once.
  • Maximum range increased from five to eight meters. 

Moira 

• Has a new passive: Quick melee now slows enemies by 30 percent for one second. This effect has a 10 second cooldown per enemy.
• Biotic Grasp primary fire maximum resource increased by 12.5 percent. 
  • Biotic Orbs no longer change speed when near valid targets. 
  • Orbs now move at a constant 5.5 meters per second.
  • After activating the ability, holding primary or secondary fire for one second will cause you to fire a faster Orb that moves at a constant 20 meters per second. 
• Channeling Coalescence on an enemy target continuously for two seconds will now also lift them off the ground for three seconds; this effect can happen once per enemy. 

Zenyatta

• Has a new passive, “Elevation,” that allows Zenyatta to jump higher if a player holds the jump button. 
• Orb of Destruction (primary/secondary fire) ammo increased from 20 to 25. 
• Orb of Harmony grants an additional role-specific effect if attached to the ally for at least two seconds:
  • Tanks get 20 percent damage reduction.
  • Damage gets 10 percent movement speed increase.
  • Support gets their healing received increased from 30 to 40 health per second.
• Orb of Discord damage amplification reduced from 25 percent to 20 percent. 

Symmetra 

Symmetra has been moved from damage to the support role. 

• Photon Projector Primary Fire damage per second decreased from 60/120/180 to 40/80/120. 
  • Secondary Fire damage reduced from 120 to 80.
  • Secondary Fire deals up to 50 percent increased damage to non-heroes like turrets and barriers.
  • Ammo increased from 70 to 80.
• Sentry Turret health increased from 30 to 50.
  • Turrets no longer deal damage; they now heal allies.
  • Heals 20 health per second per turret.
  • Maximum range increased from 10 to 12 meters.
  • Building time reduced from 0.75 to 0.5 seconds.
  • Cooldown reduced from 10 to eight seconds.
  • No longer slows target movement speed. 
• Teleporter cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds.
  • Allies that take the teleporter receive a 40 percent movement speed increase for two seconds.
  • This effect has a ten second cooldown per ally.
• Photon Barrier (ultimate) health reduced from 4,000 to 2,500 health. 
  • Duration reduced from 12 to 10 seconds.
  • Ultimate cost reduced by nine percent. 

Tank

Overall, all tanks received a 50 percent reduction in the duration of crowd control abilities against them, such as stuns or knockbacks. Crowd control abilities related to ultimates, like Mei’s Blizzard, are still at full strength.

D.Va

• New passive: Holding the jump key allows the mech to fall slowly, like Mercy’s float. 
• Fusion Cannons Primary Fire damage reduced from two to one damage per pellet.
• Defense Matrix now grants 30 percent ultimate charge for blocking an enemy Ultimate projectile.
• Booster cooldown reduced from four to two seconds.

Orisa

• Armor increased from 250 to 500. 
• Fortify now grants a 40 percent increase to movement speed.
  • Allies within eight meters have 20 percent increased movement speed and 20 percent damage reduction.
• Halt! no longer fires a projectile.
  • Now attaches a Halt tendril to the nearest enemy target within five meters and tethers them to Orisa for 1.5 second.
• Supercharger (ultimate) no longer grants allies a damage buff.
  • Now slows all enemies within 10 meters by 40 percent. 

Reinhardt

• Armor increased from 200 to 400.
• Enemies hit by Fire Strike now receive 50 percent less healing for four seconds.
• Charge can now pin multiple targets. 
  • Movement speed is increased by 40 percent for the first two seconds of the charge.
  • Can now be canceled by pressing the ability input again.

Roadhog

• Health decreased from 600 to 300.
• Armor increased from zero to 300.
• Chain Hook now pulls enemies 75 percent faster.
• Take a Breather no longer heals for a flat value of 300.
  • Now heals 100 health, plus an additional 100 health per nearby ally.
  • Roadhog gains 25 percent damage reduction when near allied damage heroes
  • This buff is shared with all allies within five meters.
  • Roadhog gains 50 percent damage reduction when near allied tank heroes.
• Whole Hog (ultimate) no longer knocks opponents back and is now cancelable. 

Sigma 

• Armor increased from zero to 200; shield health pool removed.
• Hypersphere (primary fire) now fires one projectile per shot, down from two. 
  • Recovery reduced from 1.2 to 0.5 seconds. 
• Accretion now receives an additional charge on a successful hit. Spending additional charge puts the ability on cooldown.
• Sigma is now immune to crowd control while Kinetic Grasp is active.
• Experimental Barrier cooldown reduced to minimum 0.1 seconds.

Winston 

• Armor increased from 150 to 300. 
• Jump Pack now slightly launches nearby enemies into the air upon landing.
• Primal Rage (ultimate) health granted has been increased from 1,000 to 1,700.
  • Health decays by 75 per second during Primal Rage to a minimum health of 350.
  • Holding primary fire input now charges up a punch, which can increase the knockback by up to 100 percent. 

Wrecking Ball 

• Grappling Claw no longer automatically detaches after six seconds.
  • Wrecking Ball can no longer reach maximum speed, deal damage, or knockback enemies if Grappling Claw has been active for more than six seconds.
• Minefield (ultimate) now blinds enemies for 2.5 seconds when damaging enemies. When blinded, the player is unable to see anything except for their HUD.
• Piledriver now reduces the cooldown of Adaptive Shield by one second for each enemy hit.

Zarya 

• Health increased from 200 to 300.
• Armor increased from zero to 300; shield health pool removed.
• Particle Barrier provides up to 50 percent movement speed boost to Zarya or allies, based on current energy, at 0.5 percent movement speed per one energy.

Projectile DPS

Bastion 

• Model size reduced by 15 percent.
• Configuration: Recon clip size increased from 35 to 100. Max spread reduced by 20 percent. 
• Self-repair is no longer canceled by primary fire and can be used simultaneously. 

Doomfist 

• Now has a new passive where if a player doesn’t hit an ability, they get a one second cooldown reduction on the other two cooldowns. 
  • For example, if you don’t hit a Rising Uppercut, the cooldowns for Seismic Slam and Rocket Punch are reduced by one second. 
• Can cancel Seismic Slam after a short delay by hitting the button again. 

Echo 

• Passive (falling) glide speed increased by 15 percent. 
• Echo gets a new passive called “Assimilation.” Final blows instantly heal Echo for 30 percent of her current missing health. This passive still works during Copy and self-heals will charge her ultimate just like any other healing effect. 

Genji 

• Swift Strike (Dash) now has two charges. 
  • Eliminations refund one dash charge each; casting ult refunds one charge. 
  • Dash damage reduced from 50 to 30.  
• Dragonblade (ultimate) duration reduced from six to three seconds.
  • Dragonblade now applies a 40 percent attack speed buff upon ending that lasts for six seconds; the buff starts after you sheathe the sword. The next ultimate charges as normal during this buff.

Hanzo

• Dragonstrike (ultimate) dragon is spawned immediately if the arrow hits terrain. 
• Storm Arrow has been removed. 
  • In its place is a new ability, which gives a six-second status buff with a cooldown of 14 seconds. 
    • Lunge cooldown is reduced to one second for the duration of the ability. 
    • Storm Bow charging movement penalty removed, from 30 percent to zero. 
    • Storm Bow charge speed increased; the time to max charge is now 0.45 seconds.

Junkrat

• Footstep audio removed.
• RIP-Tire (ultimate) has increased movement speed when detaching from walls. 

Mei 

• Melee attacks on fully frozen targets deal 100 percent increased damage. 
• Ice Wall now boosts players (and Mei herself) far into the air when it’s cast under them, in the same way Baptiste’s charged jump works. Affects both allies and enemies. 
• Cryo-Freeze collision size increased by 50 percent. 

Pharah

• Direct hits from Rocket Launcher now apply a 25 percent movement slow for 0.5 seconds. Knockback also increased by 100 percent for direct hits. 
• Concussive Blast now has two charges. 
  • Players “booped” by a Concussive Blast are immune to all knockbacks 1.5 seconds. This applies to both Pharah and other players. 

Sombra 

• Machine Pistol Primary Fire spread reduced by 20 percent. 
  • Shots per second increased from 20 to 24. 
• Hack’s cooldown, when broken, increased from two to three seconds. 
  • Enemy Hack status effect reduced from five to 3.5 seconds; this also affects EMP, Sombra’s ultimate. 
• Stealth now has an eight-second timer, but makes no audio cue to enemies upon passive decloak from the ability ending. Active decloak, from a Sombra canceling the ability, is unchanged. 

Torbjörn 

• Rivet Gun Primary Fire applies a stacking effect to enemies, which increases the damage of subsequent primary fires by five. 
  • Stacks decay individually and last five seconds. 
  • There is no stack limit, other than what is possible with max fire rate.  

Hitscan DPS

Ashe 

• The Viper no longer reloads ammo individually. 
  • Now reloads all ammo in 2.25 seconds.
• Coach Gun cooldown increased from 10 to 13 seconds.
  • Dynamite no longer deals self-damage. 
  • Explosion no longer has damage falloff.

Cassidy

• Health reduced from 225 to 200.
• Peacekeeper Secondary Fire (Fan the Hammer) removed.
  • Weapon recovery reduced from 0.5 to 0.42 seconds.
• Combat Roll cooldown increased from six to eight seconds.
  • Can no longer be used in the air.
• Deadeye (ultimate) grants reduced visual effects around Cassidy while active.

Reaper 

• Shadow Step cooldown decreased from 10 to five seconds.
  • Can now be used during Wraith Form.
• Wraith Form cooldown reduced from eight to four seconds.
  • No longer reloads your weapon.
  • No longer applies a movement speed buff.

Soldier: 76 

• Tactical Visor (ultimate) grants reduced visual effects around Soldier: 76 while active.
• Helix Rockets no longer deal self-damage. 
• Cooldown increased from six to eight seconds.

Tracer

• Pulse Bomb ultimate cost reduced by 50 percent. 
  • Explosion damage reduced from 350 to 190.
  • No longer deals self-damage.

Widowmaker 

• Grappling Hook cooldown increased from 12 to 15 seconds.
• Venom Mine can now place up to three active mines.
  • Cooldown reduced from 15 to 10 seconds.
  • Damage reduced from 15 to 10 per second.
  • Effect duration reduced from five to three seconds.
  • Projectile speed increased from 20 to 30