Less than one week after the Overwatch 2 season five mid-cycle balance patch dropped, players are loathing one of the game’s unexpected changes to a hero who already seemed to have a fairly reasonable position in the overall meta.
Blizzard gave three different buffs to Soldier: 76 last Tuesday, July 11. And since that point, he has run rampant on the game’s competitive ladder, according to numerous players on social media. While his Biotic Field buff isn’t really anything to write home about, damage buffs to both his Heavy Pulse Rifle and Helix Rockets have made the wily Overwatch veteran an easy pick for a lot of DPS players.
Here are Soldier: 76’s season five mid-cycle patch balance changes:
- Heavy Pulse Rifle damage increased to 19, up from 18.
- Helix Rockets explosion damage increased to 90, up from 80.
- Biotic Field healing per second increased to 40, up from 35.
The patch’s developer comments noted that this change is intended to be a slight rollback from a previous nerf that saw his primary fire damage drop from what was previously 20 damage. Blizzard mentioned that Soldier’s primary fire has “proven too powerful in the past.” By slightly buffing his primary fire and giving his secondary fire a boost as well, the intention was to try to find a middle ground.
But players seem to think this buff just makes Soldier the obvious mid-range DPS selection. Previously, the game’s meta was fairly open as far as mid-range DPS heroes were concerned. Ashe, Cassidy, Sojourn, and Soldier: 76 were all powerful enough without being overwhelming, and for the most part, picking between the four heroes was more about comfort than anything else.
Now, it seems like we’ll just be seeing a whole lot of Soldier: 76 in our competitive matches until a new slew of hero balance changes come through to start season six in August.
