Overwatch 2 support changes are at the forefront of Overwatch 2 Season 6, and they’ll see one of the game’s original and most popular heroes hit with a key nerf to her signature ability. Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller shares details of what balance changes to expect in the next set of Overwatch 2 patch notes and, ahead of the new support hero coming to the FPS game, the tweaks include a key Mercy damage boost nerf.
“Nearly half of our heroes are getting balance changes [in Season 6],” Keller remarks in his latest Director’s Take blog, with some of the most significant addressed here. With the arrival of a new Overwatch 2 support hero in the Invasion update, several other characters in the role are getting some adjustments.
Probably the most notable of these, especially given her long-standing popularity among players, is a Mercy nerf targeting her signature damage boost. “It won’t be a lot,” Keller says, “we’ll be reducing it from 30% to 25%. At this value we feel that it will still feel effective while giving us room to rein in certain damage spikes.” As an eternally contentious ability, such a change will undoubtedly split opinion, but Keller says the team is “doing our best to be receptive to the various community options.”
More Lifeweaver buffs are also on the cards, giving the healing from his Tree of Life ultimate up to 100 Overhealth to make it feel more impactful, while his Rejuvenating Dash will now restore more of his own health, and some of his base health is being converted into shields to give him more long-term sustainability.
Kiriko’s Protection Suzu will be changed – it’ll now heal less by default, but with an additional burst if it cleanses a negative effect, encouraging players to use it more reactively to trouble. The team is also removing its knockback effect, to emphasize its focus on being used defensively. Keller teases that other support heroes will also see some changes.
Elsewhere, Cassidy’s Magnetic Grenade gets a 1.5 second cap on its flight, shortening its potential maximum range, while the cowboy himself gets another health buff and changes to his damage falloff range. The increased focus on Torbjörn’s primary weapon continues with a buff to his primary fire rate, while increased weapon swap speed will make it easier for him to keep his turret patched up.
The recent Soldier: 76 buffs are getting wound back a touch, and will see his Helix Rocket damage lowered and the cost of his ultimate increased. Orisa’s Fortify will now grant her 125 bonus health, and her range before damage drops off has been extended. Bastion will also see several changes “to help him feel more fluid and increase the potential for his Tactical Grenade.”
A small tweak to damage calculations against armor should make its natural damage reduction a little less potent on certain heroes such as Ramattra and Orisa, although Keller reassures us that “this shouldn’t be a big change.” Both Ramattra and Doomfist get a bit more survivability, too, as their block abilities will now reduce the damage taken from objects that are stuck to them.
That’s all for now, although Keller explains in closing that the previously discussed Sombra rework, which will include a new ability, will be held until Overwatch 2 Season 7. The stealthy Overwatch 2 DPS hero does get some tweaks this time around, but we won’t find out what those are until the full patch notes release, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, keep your eyes locked to our Overwatch 2 tier list of the best characters to play as in the current meta. You also won’t want to miss our recent Overwatch 2 Mercy interview with Lucie Pohl, the voice behind the Swiss savior.