Surprise Overwatch 2 balance patch reduces power of Doomfist and Sojourn, helps damage of Orisa and Ana

If you’ve also been terrorized by the prevalence of Doomfist since the launch of season two of Overwatch 2, don’t fret—Blizzard has stepped in just before the holidays to gift players a new balance patch.

A handful of buffs and nerfs directly targeting some of the strongest and weakest heroes in Overwatch 2 have gone live today without prior notice, many of which completely shake the state of the current meta. Many of these changes directly target a few of the game’s tanks, though heroes across all roles are receiving substantial changes that may force players into gameplay strategies.

Doomfist was the recipient of massive buffs at the start of season two to compensate for his rocky shift over to the tank role at the game’s launch—but this has made the hero incredibly oppressive across all levels of play. Therefore, this hotfix directly nerfs the cooldown of his Rocket Punch and some of the sustain granted through Power Block and his passive to make him more counterable.

Despite her rework, Orisa has struggled to jump to the top of the tank leaderboard. Blizzard is attempting to remedy this by allowing her ultimate to pierce shields, as well as allow her damage to remain consistent from a farther range. The newest hero, Ramattra, is also being buffed to put him in line with the sustain that other tanks have, such as more armor in his Nemesis Form.

As for damage heroes, Sojourn is taking another big hit, while Tracer’s damage is being toned down gently. Sojourn is still a very powerful pick following adjustments across her kit at the start of the season, particularly through the use of her abilities, so Blizzard is taking the slow away from her Disruptor Shot and increasing the cooldown of Power Slide. In compensation, however, her primary fire spread has increased exponentially.

Players have remained adamant that the support role still feels rather weak and inconsequential in most cases, with Blizzard not having tuned much of the role for the new season. In this hotfix, however, Ana will now deal more damage and have an increased duration of her anti-heal, while the invulnerability with her Invulnerability Suzu has been lowered slightly. No further changes to support heroes have been detailed at this point or are expected at any time in the near future.

This balance patch is now live for all players in Overwatch 2 and will likely be the last set of changes released for the game for a number of weeks. Players are also able to enjoy the festivities in the ongoing Winter Wonderland event, in which they can earn rewards such as the Epic-tier Ice Queen Brigitte skin.