Overwatch principal designer Geoff Goodman has finally opened up about Roadhog’s potential defensive buffs.
In a post on the Overwatch forum, Goodman said that the development team is testing a buff to Roadhog’s Take A Breather ability—his self heal. The internal testing build has Roadhog taking around 50 percent less damage when healing, while also allowing him to move full speed while using the ability.
“These two changes combined certainly make him significantly more difficult to kill,” Goodman said, “while also allowing Roadhog players to be much more aggressive when trying to find a hook target, knowing they can survive a lot more easily.”
Roadhog players were upset when Blizzard nerfed Roadhog seemingly into oblivion. Bullet damage was decreased by 33 percent, with his fire rate increased by 30 percent and his clip size increased from four to five. While on paper the changes appear to level out, they felt like nerfs to many players. These adjustments ultimately changed the way Roadhog was played, and took away his ability to one-shot the majority of Overwatch’s heroes.
“We plan on throwing this up on the PTR as soon as possible (along with some other hero changes) so you guys can play with it as well,” Goodman said. “It’s possible it’s actually too strong right now, but we’ll have time to iterate on it.”
Roadhog can still deal a ton of damage, but his one-shot hook combination was a huge draw for many Overwatch players. Should this change go through, his damage will be unaffected, but it could change some folks minds about his usability.
The adjustment will likely come once Patch 1.13—the one with Doomfist—is moved from the Overwatch PTR to the game’s live server on July 27.
