Overwatch releases ‘over the top’ Creator Cup Experimental Card

Every Overwatch fan knows there’s been a significant drought of content while the development team works on the game’s long-awaited sequel. Instead of letting players linger, however, the developers have turned to people who want to see the game succeed and also cause some chaos: content creators. 

The Nov. 30 Experimental Card is full of wild changes for most heroes put forth by some of the community’s most popular creators. Tank main Flats handled the tank changes, Somjuu took on the damage dealers, and Brigitte expert Violet put forth the support hero upgrades. The result is a chaotic medley of interesting, fun, and downright weird changes to Overwatch as we know it. 

These changes won’t be going to the live servers in any shape or form but they’ll be used in the Experimental Card Creator Cup, a Flash Ops tournament taking place from Dec. 10 to 12.  

You can check out the full, wild list of changes below. 

Tank changes 

D.Va 

• Pilot D.Va quick melee damage increased from 30 to 100.
• Defense Matrix size increased by 10 percent. 
• Booster duration increased from two to four seconds, speed increased by 25 percent. 
• Ejecting out of the mech now ejects you at 15 meters per second up, and 10 meters per second in the direction you are holding. 

D.Va will now zoom into the sky when she leaves her mech. And once she hits the ground, she can take out a Tracer with two punches to the face. That’s truly a dream for baby D.Va mains everywhere. 

Orisa

• Health changed from 200 health and 250 armor, to one health and 399 armor.
• Protective Barrier health reduced from 600 to 300, cooldown reduced from 10 to eight seconds.
• No longer slowed while firing. 
• Fortify duration increased from four to six seconds. Can now be headshot while using Fortify.
• Halt cooldown reduced from six to four seconds.
• Now wears a Christmas hat. 

Much of Orisa’s basic kit has been tweaked to be more powerful but controlled. But the important part is that she’s now 99 percent armor and the other one percent is a Christmas hat. 

Reinhardt 

• Armor health increased from 200 to 225; total health is now 525. 
• Barrier Field health increased from 1,600 to 2,000.
• Fire Strike damage reduced from 100 to 80, now has two charges, and projectile speed increased by 100 percent.
• Earthshatter knockdown duration increased from 2.5 to three seconds. Now deals 400 damage in a 1.5 meter radius around the impact point. 
• Steadfast knockback resistance increased from 30 percent to 40 percent. 
• Blocking an enemy Earthshatter now plays the voice line “You shame yourself” and it will show up in the kill feed. 

Amidst all this chaos, a few of Reinhardt’s perks from Overwatch 2 have snuck into the Experimental Card. Fire Strike has two charges with increased speed and the tank has more Steadfast passive, making knockback less likely. Players will also no longer have to type “MTD” in chat because Reinhardt will now do it for them when an enemy Earthshatter is blocked. 

Roadhog 

• Maximum health reduced from 600 to 500. 
• Scrap Cannon pellet damage reduced from 6.6 to five. 
• Chain Hook impact damage increased from 30 to 70, Cooldown reduced from eight to six seconds. 
• Take a Breather healing reduced from 300 to 250. 
• Whole Hog ultimate now lifts Roadhog while using it if he is pointed downward. 

Yeah, yeah, a lot of the Roadhog buffs we’ve seen over the past few months have been taken down a notch and Chain Hook can now finish off enemies on impact. But look on the bright side: Roadhog can now fly if he aims his ultimate downward. Imagine the possibilities for this pig.  

Sigma 

• Health increased from 300 to 400 for 500 health total with armor. 
• Sigma is now able to hold Jump while airborne to slow his descent. 
• Kinetic Grasp cooldown reduced from 12 to eight seconds. Now increases Sigma’s movement speed by 100 percent while active.
• Experimental Barrier is now disabled. 
• Accretion impact damage increased from 30 to 40, explosion damage increased from 40 to 50. Accretion is now susceptible to reflect or deflect abilities, such as Defense Matrix.
• Sigma now uses his “Yes” voice line after every use of Accretion. 

A big part of Sigma’s kit is his Experimental Barrier, which has given rise to the often-boring “double shield” meta. Why not just take the shield away and see what happens? Sigma no longer has a shield, but he’ll zoom at top speed when using Kinetic Grasp and will also spam voice lines as he hurls rocks into the enemy backline. 

Winston

• Knockback effects are now 30 percent less effective against Winston.
• Winston deals 100 percent more damage to deployable objects like barriers and turrets. 
• Jump Pack now deals up to 100 damage to enemies within four  meters of the launch location. Travel speed increased by 30 percent. 
• Primal Rage health bonus increased from 500 to 1,000. 

As a former resident of the moon, Winston has turned himself into a rocket ship with this Jump Pack change. His Primal Rage will also give a double boost to his health, so watch out for this very angry scientist. 

Wrecking Ball 

• Grappling Claw max duration is now 3.5 seconds. 
• Roll jump height increased by 100 percent. Full speed impact damage on collisions reduced from 50 to 40. Can now change directions more quickly and easily.
• Piledriver minimum damage reduced from 20 to 15, maximum damage reduced from 100 to 80. Cooldown reduced from 10 to eight seconds and can now be used from a slightly lower height.
• Adaptive Shields granted per target reduced from 75 to 50. Duration increased from nine to 12 seconds and cooldown reduced from 15 to 12 seconds. 

Flying hamster. That’s all we have to add. 

Zarya 

• Particle Cannon primary fire minimum damage increased from 75 to 85 damage per second. 
• Particle Cannon secondary fire explosions no longer hurt yourself and knockback increased by 150 percent. 
• Particle Barrier health increased from 200 to 250 and size increased by 50 percent. 
• Projected Barrier health increased from 200 to 250 and size increased by 50 percent. 

Bubbles will now be comically large with increased health and Zarya’s alternate fire, or her “grenades,” can now technically be used to throw people off the map if they’re aimed correctly. 

Support changes

Ana 

• Eliminating Sleep Dart affected targets resets the cooldown. 
• Nano Boost is now applied to Ana when used without a target. 

Ana mains no longer have to trust Nano Boost to a subpar Genji and can now just decide to delete the entire enemy team themselves. 

Baptiste 

• Biotic Launcher healing Grenades now affect Baptiste as well.
• Regenerative Burst now damages enemies instead of healing allies.
• Exo-Boots now deals 40 damage to enemies within four meters upon landing.

The normally-calm healer is going full “harmacist” in this Experimental Card with a DPS spin on Regenerative Burst and his Exo-Boost. 

Brigitte 

• Inspire no longer heals allies. Instead, triggering Inspire now reduces the cooldown of Repair Pack by 0.5 seconds.
• Repair Pack charges increased from three to five. 

While Brigitte may no longer be the “raid boss” in this Experimental Card, seeing a healer throw out repair packs at top speed during an ultimate will be absolutely hysterical to watch. 

Lúcio 

• Sound Barrier cost reduced by 30 percent. Now deals massive damage to enemies he lands directly on top of. 
• Sonic Amplifier fire rate increased by 15 percent while Wall Riding. After one second of Wall Riding, this bonus is reduced by 50 percent. 

When Lúcio says he’s dropping the beat, now he means he’s dropping it directly on someone’s head. These changes also reward going for wild Wall Rides, so enjoy never getting healing from your Lúcio player ever again. 

Mercy 

• Caduceus Staff healing now reduces from 55 HPS (healing per second) to 40 HPS over two seconds while connected. Healing returns to its normal HPS over two seconds while not active.
• Resurrect can now be canceled by using Secondary Fire while channeling, refunding 50 percent of its cooldown.
• Killing blows extend the duration of Valkyrie by three seconds.

The Caduceus Staff changes now reward Mercy players who consistently switch targets instead of pocketing one person for a long period of time. That’s all well and good, but every Mercy player has already skipped down to the part where eliminations during Valkyrie actually matter. 

Moira 

• Biotic Grasp primary fire healing now consumes Moira’s own health if used while out of energy. 
• Allies that receive at least 100 healing from the same Biotic Orb are cleansed of all status effects. 
• Enemies that suffer at least 100 damage from the same Biotic Orb are slowed by 30 percent for 1.5 seconds. 
• Fade now cleanses status effects from players Moira passes through and allied players that are around her when it ends. 

Moira’s Fade now holds a purpose besides getting her out of trouble: It can take away some offending status effects if used correctly. These changes also encourage enemies to get out of the way of Biotic Orbs or suffer movement-related consequences. 

Zenyatta 

• Discord Orb damage amplification reduced from 25 percent to 20 percent. Can now be applied to Barriers, Turrets, and other attackable objects. No longer reveals the position of its target through line of sight. 
• Line of sight return time reduced from three seconds to 1.5 seconds for both Discord and Harmony Orbs. 
• Transcendence total healing reduced from 1800 to 1200, but it now applies Discord Orb to nearby enemies. 

Zenyatta is one of the few heroes who gets a sizable nerf to his neutral game in this Experimental Card, with Discord Orb no longer providing enemy information or enabling as much damage. But his ultimate now doubles as a damage-dealer, giving Discord Orbs all around for Zenyatta’s team to capitalize on destruction. 

DPS changes 

Ashe 

• Coach Gun now has two charges.
• Dynamite cooldown increased from 12 to 14 seconds.
• The Viper (primary fire) hip fire recovery reduced from 0.25 to 0.22 seconds.
• Aim-down-sight movement penalty reduced from 30 percent to 10 percent.

These changes aren’t too wild, but Ashe’s Coach Gun can now get her twice as far away from danger and she can head into sniper mode with fewer obstacles. 

Cassidy

• Combat Roll now usable while airborne.
• Flashbang cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds.
• Deadeye now spawns more tumbleweeds. 

After months of teasing the aerial cowboy roll, Cassidy players will finally get to test it out in a setting rife with chaos. The developer notes also say “mind the thorns” in reference to the Deadeye tumbleweed changes. We’re terrified but also intrigued. 

Bastion 

• Configuration: Recon bullet spread reduced by 15 percent. 
• Configuration: Tank now grants 100 bonus armor.

These changes are just inching us toward that promised land of Overwatch 2 Bastion. 

Doomfist 

• Health reduced from 250 to 225. 
• Shields gained through normal abilities increased from 30 to 40.
• Meteor Strike landing time after confirmation reduced from 1 to .05 seconds. 

Doomfist players will still get to cause destruction in the backline but at a slightly greater cost.

Genji

• Wall Climbing speed increased by 50 percent. 
• Wall Climbing now refunds Double Jump’s availability. 
• Shuriken recovery reduced from 0.68 seconds to 0.6 seconds. 

If you’re hearing Super Mario music while reading these changes, so are we. Genji players will now be doing a platformer side quest as battles rage, gaining nearly infinite verticality by climbing walls. 

Hanzo 

• Storm Arrows sow ricochet off surfaces up to five times.
• Lunge cooldown reduced from five to three seconds.

Tell us Scatter Arrow is back without telling us Scatter Arrow is back. 

Junkrat 

• Grenade count dropped upon death (Total Mayhem) increased by 100 percent and grenades drop in a 30 percent wider area. 
• Frag Launcher impact damage reduced from 40 to 30.
• Minimum explosion damage reduced from 10 to eight. 
• Concussion Mine maximum damage increased from 120 to 125, minimum damage reduced from 30 to 25. 

Much of Junkrat’s damage has been reduced by a small margin, but there are now massively greater consequences when he’s eliminated. Total Mayhem now leaves double the grenades in his wake and they spread farther. 

Pharah 

• Holding crouch while airborne increases falling speed. 
• Concussive Blast cooldown reduced from nine to eight seconds.
• Jump Jet cooldown reduced from nine to eight seconds.

We appreciate that Pharah has been given a few minor buffs to better let her deal with all of the shenanigans the other characters will be starting. 

Reaper 

• Shadow Step movement Speed increased by 40 percent for six seconds after ending.
• Hellfire Shotguns pellet spread reduced by 15 percent. 

It doesn’t really fit Reaper’s edgy persona to be zooming around after Shadow Step concludes, but it’ll be extremely fun to watch. 

Soldier: 76 

• Sprint automatically reloads Heavy Pulse Rifle after three seconds of continuous use.
• Tactical Visor now increases Heavy Pulse Rifle damage by 10 percent while active.

Overwatch developers took a few cues from classic FPS games and sprint will now magically reload Soldier’s primary fire. 

Sombra 

• Hack affected targets now take 20 percent increased damage from all sources for three seconds. Cooldown increased from eight to 12 seconds.
• Machine Pistol bullet spread reduced by 10 percent. 

Once again, the Experimental Card changes are dipping a toe into the waters of Overwatch 2 with Sombra’s Hack looking a bit more like it will in the sequel. 

Symmetra 

• Teleporting now increases movement speed by 50 percent for 1.5 seconds.

Teams can now run even faster directly to the objective with a tactic they know works in the Overwatch League but won’t work in their ranked games. 

Torbjӧrn 

• Rivet Gun recovery time reduced from 0.6 to 0.45 seconds.
• Forge Hammer damage increased from 55 to 75.
• Overload now increases Forge Hammer damage to 125 while active.
• Turret damage reduced from 14 to 11.

One of Overwatch’s greatest legacies is the “hammer kill” and these changes make it much easier for players to go for the melee elimination. 

Tracer

• Recall now restores all Blink charges. Cooldown increased from 12 to 14.
• Pulse Pistols ammo increased from 40 to 50.

While these changes seem minimal, talented Tracer players will be taking full advantage of increased ammo and Blink recharges with Recall. 

Widowmaker 

• Widow’s Kiss automatic fire minimum damage after falloff increased from 3.9 to five. Automatic fire maximum damage increased from 13 to 15. 
• Infra-Sight now resets Grappling Hook’s cooldown.

For those of us who can’t hit direct shots on Widowmaker, these buffs to her submachine gun alternate fire are a fantastic sight.