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Overwatch experimental patch tests out over-the-top hero changes that come directly from content creators – Patch Notes

Symmetra goes full support with healing turrets.

Michael Stoyanoff

Published: Feb 10, 2022 10:04 pm

Overwatch has introduced a new limited-edition Experimental Card that features many over-the-top balance changes coming directly from Overwatch content creators. This experimental mode allows players to test out possible changes made to character abilities without introducing them directly into the core game modes.

CREATOR EXPERIMENTAL UPDATE

In this limited-edition Experimental Card, we will feature over-the-top balance changes coming directly from Overwatch content creators. Each creator ideated on changes for heroes within their role. Here are the Creator Experimental Card participants behind each of the role changes:

ML7—Support Heroes
LemonKiwi—Tank Heroes
Jake—Damage Heroes
Wanted— Damage Heroes

Be sure to read up on the patch notes, jump into the game, and practice with your team to prepare for the Creator Cup tournament! Hop on over to the Overwatch Flash Ops: Experimental Card Creator Cup page to learn more and sign up!

HERO UPDATES

General

Maximum hitscan fall off range increased to 50% from 30%
There is now a +75% global cap for movement speed buffs applied to allies. Previously this would have only affected Lucio but several other heroes can now increase ally movement speed
Added a global 75% cap to movement speed buffs applied to allied heroes (Orisa, Zarya, Lucio, Symmetra

TANK

All tank weapon, ability, and ultimate damage reduced by 50% Crowd control durations applied to tanks are reduced by 50% for the following types – stuns, sleep, knockdowns, knockbacks, slow/freeze, root/trap The following crowd control abilities are still full duration for tanks- Mei Blizzard, Reinhardt Shatter, Zarya Graviton Surge, Winston Primal Rage

REINHARDT

Armor increased from 200 to 400

Fire Strike

Enemies hit by Fire Strike now receive 50% less healing for 4 seconds

Charge

Can now pin multiple targets
Movement speed is increased by 40% for the first 2 seconds of the charge
Can now be canceled by pressing the ability input again

ORISA

Armor increased from 250 to 500

Fortify

Now grants 40% increase to movement speed
Allies within 8 meters have 20% increased movement speed and 20% damage reduction

Halt!

No longer fires a projectile
Now attaches a Halt tendril to the nearest enemy target within 5 meters and tethers them to Orisa for 1.5 second

Supercharger

No longer grants allies a damage buff
Now slows all enemies within 10 meters by 40%

ZARYA

Health increased from 200 to 300 Armor increased from 0 to 300 Shield health pool removed

Particle Barrier

Provides up to 50% movement speed boost to Zarya, based on current energy with 0.5% movement speed per 1 energy

Projected Barrier

Provides up to 50% movement speed boost to allies, based on current energy with 0.5% movement speed per 1 energy

SIGMA

Armor increased from 0 to 200
Shield health pool removed

Hyperspheres

Now fires 1 projectile per shot, down from 2
Recovery reduced from 1.2 to 0.5 seconds

Accretion

Now receives an additional charge on a successful hit Spending additional charge puts the ability on cooldown

Kinetic Grasp

Sigma is now immune to crowd control while Kinetic Grasp is active

Experimental Barrier

Cooldown reduced to minimum 0.1 seconds

WRECKING BALL

Grappling Claw

No longer automatically detaches after 6 seconds
Can no longer reach maximum speed, deal damage, or knockback enemies if Grappling Claw has been active for more than 6 seconds

Minefield

Minefield now blinds enemies for 2.5 seconds when damaging enemies. When blinded, the player is unable to see anything except for their HUD

Piledriver

Piledriver now reduces the cooldown of Adaptive Shield by 1 second for each enemy hit

ROADHOG

Health decreased from 600 to 300 Armor increased from 0 to 300

Chain Hook

Now pulls enemies 75% faster

Take a Breather

No longer heals for a flat value of 300
Now heals 100 health, plus an additional 100 health per nearby ally
Roadhog gains 25% damage reduction when near allied damage heroes
This buff is shared with all allies within 5 meters
Roadhog gains 50% damage reduction when near allied tank heroes

Whole Hog

No longer knockbacks opponents Now cancelable

D.VA

Passive: Holding the jump key allows the mech to fall slowly

Fusion Cannons

Primary Fire damage reduced from 2 to 1 damage per pellet

Defense Matrix

Now grants 30% ultimate charge for blocking an enemy Ultimate projectile

Boosters

Cooldown reduced from 4 to 2 seconds

WINSTON

Armor increased from 150 to 300

Jump Pack

Now slightly launches nearby enemies into the air upon landing

Primal Rage

Health granted increased from 1000 of 1700
Health decays by 75 per second to a minimum health of 350
Holding primary fire input now charges up a punch, which can increase the knockback by up to 100%

DAMAGE

GENJI

Swift Strike

Now has two charges
Refund one Swift Strike charge per elimination
Activating Dragonblade also refunds one charge
Damage reduced from 50 to 30

Dragonblade

Duration reduced from 6 to 3 seconds
After Dragonblade ends, Genji gains 40% faster attack speed for 6 seconds

DOOMFIST

New additional passive: using a basic ability that dealt no damage to enemies reduces the current cooldowns of the other two abilities by 1 second

Seismic Slam

Can now be canceled after a 0.2 second delay by pressing the ability input again

ECHO

New Passive: Assimilation

Echo heals for 30% of her current missing health when she gets a final blow
This healing generates Ultimate charge
This passive also affects her Duplicate copy

Glide

Speed increased by 15%

MEI

Fully frozen targets take 100% increased quick melee damage from all sources

Ice Wall

Now launches heroes into the air when built underneath them

Cryo-Freeze

Size increased by 50%

PHARAH

Rocket Launcher

Rocket impacts now apply a 25% movement speed reduction for 0.5 seconds
Rocket impact knockback increased by 100%

Concussive Blast

Now has 2 ability charges
Enemies knocked back by a Concussive Blast become immune to all knockbacks for 1.5s

JUNKRAT

No longer has audible footsteps

RIP-TIre

Increased movement speed when detaching from walls

SOMBRA

Machine Pistol

Weapon spread reduced by 20%
Shots per second increased from 20 to 24

Hack

Cooldown when interrupted increased from 2 to 3 seconds
Hack duration reduced from 5 to 3.5 seconds

Stealth

Now has an 8 second maximum duration
No longer plays an audio cue if the ability reaches its full duration

BASTION

Character size reduced by 15%

Configuration: Recon

Ammo increased from 35 to 100
Weapon spread reduced by 20%

Self-Repair

Can now be channeled while firing

HANZO

Dragonstrike

The dragons now spawn immediately if the arrow impacts terrain

Storm Arrow

No longer fires the next 5 arrows instantly
Now grants a 6 second buff with the following effects:
Lunge cooldown reduced from 4 to 1 second
Storm Bow movement penalty removed
Storm Bow draw time decreased from 0.75 to 0.45 seconds

TORBJÖRN

Rivet Gun

Dealing damage with primary fire adds a stacking buff that increases its damage by 5
Each buff lasts for 5 seconds

ASHE

The Viper

No longer reloads ammo individually
Now reloads all ammo in 2.25 seconds

Coach Gun

Cooldown increased from 10 to 13 seconds

Dynamite

No longer deals self-damage
Explosion no longer has damage falloff

CASSIDY

Health reduced from 225 to 200

Peacekeeper

Weapon recovery reduced from 0.5 to 0.42 seconds

Secondary fire removed

Combat Roll

Cooldown increased from 6 to 8 seconds
Can no longer be used in the air

Deadeye

Reduced visual effects around Cassidy while active

REAPER

Shadow Step

Cooldown decreased from 10 to 5 seconds
Can now be used during Wraith Form

Wraith Form

Cooldown reduced from 8 to 4 seconds
No longer reloads your weapon
No longer applies a movement speed buff

SOLDIER: 76

Tactical Visor

Reduced visual effects around Soldier: 76 while active

Helix Rockets

No longer deals self-damage
Cooldown increased from 6 to 8 seconds

WIDOWMAKER

Grappling Hook

Cooldown increased from 12 to 15 seconds

Venom Mine

Can now place up to 3 active mines
Cooldown reduced from 15 to 10 seconds
Damage reduced from 15 to 10 per second
Effect duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds
Projectile speed increased from 20 to 30

TRACER

Pulse Bomb

Ultimate cost reduced by 50%
Explosion damage reduced from 350 to 190
No longer deals self-damage

SUPPORT

ANA

Biotic Rifle

Reload time decreased from 1.5 to 0.75 seconds

Sleep Dart

Slept targets now appear in kill feed
Allies now see an icon above the slept enemy
Turrets can now be slept
Sleep Dart can now stop D.Va’s mech from flying during Self-Destruct

Nano Boost

Now instead of granting increased healing received to the target, it now causes the target to also heal for 50% more
Casting time reduced from 0.15 to 0.05 seconds
Final blows dealt by allies affected by Nano Boost now decrease Ana’s current cooldowns by 1 second

BAPTISTE

Exo Boots

Maximum jump height increased by 50%
Time to fully charge increased from 1 to 2 seconds

Immortality Field

Duration decreased from 5 to 1.5 seconds
Cooldown decreased to from 25 to 23 seconds
Now prevents allies from dropping below 20% of their maximum health up from 10%

Amplification Matrix

Baptiste can now deal self-healing with the Biotic Launcher while the Ultimate is active
Duration lowered from 10 to 8 seconds

BRIGITTE

Inspire

Healing effect expires immediately if Brigitte dies

Shield Bash

Distance covered increased by 15%
Now retains more velocity when colliding with terrain

Whip Shot

While Rally is active, Whip Shot functionality changes to the following:

Damages and knocks back all enemies within a 7 meter radius
Restricts Brigitte’s movement for 0.75 seconds
Increases the cooldown by the remaining duration of Rally plus 4 seconds

LUCIO

Sonic Amplifier

While Wall-Riding, damage increased from 20 to 25

Sound Barrier

Enemies that are in the area of effect are now knocked back 6 meters

MERCY

Valkyrie

Is no longer an Ultimate ability
Is now Ability 2
Healing increased from 55 to 70 health per second
Caduceus Staff beams no longer attach to additional allies
Duration reduced from 15 to 3 seconds
Cooldown is now 20 seconds
Flying movement speed decreased from 7 to 6
Guardian Angel movement speed reduced from 25 to 20

Resurrect

Is now an Ultimate ability
Can resurrect up to 5 people at once
Maximum range increased from 5 to 8 meters

MOIRA

New Passive

Quick melee now slows enemies by 30% for 1 second
This effect has a 10 second cooldown per enemy

Biotic Grasp

Primary fire maximum resource increased by 12.5%

Biotic Orb

Orbs no longer change speed when near valid targets
Orbs now moves at a constant 5.5 meters per second
After activating the ability, holding primary or secondary fire for 1 second will cause you to fire faster Orb that moves at a constant 20 meters per second

Coalescence

Channeling on an enemy target continuously for 2 seconds will now also lift them off the ground for 3 seconds
This effect can happen once per enemy

ZENYATTA

New Passive: “Elevation”

Zenyatta can jump higher if he holds the jump button

Orb of Destruction

Ammo increased from 20 to 25

Orb of Harmony

Grant an additional role-specific effect if attached to the ally for at least 2 seconds:

Tanks: 20% damage reduction
Damage: 10% movement speed increase
Support: healing received increased from 30 to 40 health per second

Orb of Discord

Damage amplification reduced from 25% to 20%

SYMMETRA

Moved from Damage to the Support role
Now sees ally health bars by default like other Support heroes

Photon Projector

Primary Fire damage per second decreased from 60/120/180 to 40/80/120
Secondary Fire damage reduced from 120 to 80
Secondary Fire deals up to 50% increased damage to non-heroes like turrets and barriers
Ammo increased from 70 to 80

Sentry Turret

Health increased from 30 to 50
No longer deals damage
Now heals allies
Heals 20 health per second per turret
Maximum range increased from 10 to 12 meters
Building time reduced from 0.75 to 0.5 seconds
Cooldown reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
No longer slows target movement speed

Teleporter

Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds
Allies that take the teleporter receive a 40% movement speed increase for 2 seconds
This effect has a 10 second cooldown per ally

Photon Barrier

Health reduced from 4000 to 2500 health
Duration reduced from 12 to 10 seconds
Ultimate cost reduced by 9%

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Author

Michael Stoyanoff

Michael Stoyanoff is a Freelance Writer for Gamepur. He holds vast knowledge on Final Fantasy XIV and World of Warcraft among other MMO's. Bioware RPGs are also a passion. In his free time you can find him lounging with his pug or working on his fitness.