Following an initial delay due to unforeseen circumstances, the only balance changes heading to Overwatch 2 in season one are hitting the live servers on Nov. 17.
Though the developer originally said that it didn’t intend on making any immediate balance adjustments because of the relatively even win rates among all heroes, there have been a few characters that stick out as especially problematic to play against.
Heroes like Genji, Sombra, and Zarya are being hit hard for their priority in the current meta and how easily they’ve flourished in the five-vs-five gameplay. Even the game’s newest hero, Kiriko, is receiving a bit of tweaking in order to make her less oppressive.
“Should that plan change, we will be sure to update you here,” the post reads.
One notable omission from the list of hero nerfs was Sojourn, which is among one of the most-played DPS heroes among the top players in the game. Out of the top 20 ranked DPS players on American servers, 16 have Sojourn as their most-played hero, and all 20 have Sojourn as one of their top three most-played heroes.
All upcoming Overwatch 2 hero balance changes
Sombra
- Hack ability lockout duration reduced from 1.75 to 1.5 seconds
- Hacked enemies are no longer valid targets for hacking for the duration of the effect
- Hacked damage multiplier reduced from 40 to 25 percent
Genji
- Maximum ammo reduced from 30 to 24
- Shuriken damage reduced from 29 to 27
Junkrat
- Steel Trap ability arming time increased from .5 to .75 seconds
- Trapped duration reduced from 3 to 2.5 seconds
Mei
- Re-enabled in-game
Zarya
- Barrier duration reduced from 2.5 to 2 seconds
- Barrier cooldown increased from 10 to 11 seconds
D.va
- Fusion Cannon spread increased from 3.5 to 3.75
- Boosters impact damage reduced from 25 to 15
Kiriko
- Swift Step invulnerability duration reduced from 0.4 to 0.25 seconds
