Pharah gets her first major rework in Overwatch history with OW2 season 9

One of Overwatch’s original heroes is getting her first rework with Overwatch 2’s ninth competitive season, which introduces a slew of changes to fundamental aspects of the shooter.

Pharah, the queen of the skies, will feel a lot different in this patch, which goes live tomorrow, Feb. 13. She has a few new abilities and mechanics, and some significant updates to the old ones Overwatch players have been familiar with since 2016. The new rework will introduce horizontal movement to Pharah’s kit and also force her to potentially spend more time on the ground.

As one of the most unique heroes in Overwatch 2, Pharah makes her living in the sky, using her Hover Jets to float above the rest of the team. Due to this, she’s become a somewhat niche yet powerful pick and a polarizing hero who dictates not only her team’s composition but her opponents’ as well.

The infamous “Pharmercy” trope is still one of the most iconic duos in gaming: A DPS player pummeling rockets to the ground as Pharah with a Mercy flying in the skies to damage boost them. A Pharah without a Mercy pocket is basically useless and has been for years, creating a dynamic in which support players are forced to adjust around their DPS. Part of Pharah’s rework is aimed at making her less reliant on a Mercy pocket, Blizzard said in the season nine blog post.

Here are all of the changes coming to Pharah with the season nine patch.

• Base health increased from 200 to 250.
• Rocket Launcher recovery time reduced from 0.85 to 0.8 seconds.
• Rocket projectile speed increased from 30 to 40 meters per second.
• Self-damage from rocket projectiles reduced from 50 to 25 percent.
• New secondary fire ability, Jet Dash, gives horizontal movement with an eight-second cooldown.
• Hover Jet: Hover Jets will now require landing on the ground to begin to recharge fuel. Use of Barrage now instantly refuels all Hover Jet fuel. Use of Jump Jet to restore fuel can briefly overfill the maximum fuel capacity. You can now slow your descent to the ground by activating Hover Jets even with no fuel.
• Jump Jet: Jump Jet now restores 50 percent of Hover Jet fuel, with an increased cooldown from 10 to 14 seconds. Vertical boost height reduced by 20 percent.
• Concussive Blast: Cooldown decreased from nine to seven seconds, knockback reduced by 10 percent. Concussive Blast now deals damage to enemy targets, but the explosion range is reduced from eight to six meters.

One of the consequences of playing Pharah is that she’s extremely weak to hitscan DPS heroes. A large part of this is because her vertical, floating movement has become extremely predictable, especially after nearly eight years. Her new ability, Jet Dash, introduces a quick horizontal burst of movement into her kit, which players can use to vary their movement. The ability is introduced as a secondary fire ability, usable on right click or with the space bar as a double jump. Jet Dash should make Pharah a bit more difficult for Cassidy, Ashe, or Widowmaker to pluck out of the sky, adding an element of spontaneity.

The changes in Hover Jet fuel will require Pharah mains to make some adjustments to their fuel management techniques. The biggest change is that once Hover Jets are depleted of fuel, Pharah needs to land on the ground to recharge them. Jump Jet also has a significantly longer cooldown, which players will have to get used to. These changes will break the flow of many Pharah players’ gameplay but should overall allow her to make more of an impact on the ground level. Players shouldn’t shy away from firing rockets or Concussive Blasts while they’re on the ground.

Concussive Blast will now function as not only a displacement ability but a damage ability as well. The knockback has been reduced, but the ability will now deal 30 damage to targets caught in its radius.

The rework should introduce more varied elements to Pharah’s gameplay and she should see increased versatility in the number of situations where she can prove highly lethal. Who knows, maybe she’ll start traversing the skies without her loyal angel companion.