The first Overwatch 2 patch is live, making adjustments to some of the best – and worst – performing heroes. Essentially, it’s good news if you like Roadhog, and even better news if you main everyone’s favourite monk Zenyatta.
Chief among the hero changes is Zenyatta’s new kick attack. It’s officially called Snap Kick, but the Overwatch community instantly dubbed it the ‘Zen Boop’ while experimenting to see just how far the healer can now kick other heroes. The answer is pretty darn far, leading some to predict a nerf in the next patch.
Snap Kick makes up for Zenyatta’s close-range failings by letting him push enemies back and increasing the healer’s quick melee damage by 50%. It makes the murderous monk more well-rounded while fulfilling a previous promise Blizzard made. In an earlier blog post, the dev team said they planned on experimenting with new abilities for existing support heroes to make playing as them more fun, while giving them a fighting chance in PvP as well.
“We think this new passive will be a fun adjustment to his kit, but we also want this change to acknowledge community concerns,” Blizzard explains in the latest patch notes. “We understand 5v5 has made support heroes feel more vulnerable, and we wanted to give Zenyatta tools to help create space between him and enemies.”
The team has also made a small, but significant change to Roadhog. The burly brawler found himself at the bottom of most fan tier lists after the beta went live, with fans and the PCGN team saying his limited range and even more restrictive ultimate attack made him almost unplayable.
THE MAD LADS GAVE ZEN A SUPER KICK LMAO pic.twitter.com/dSC0lgiWsc
— Stylosa (@Stylosa) May 5, 2022
Blizzard acknowledges that Roadhog dying while using his ultimate skill was rather a big problem. The new update tries addressing those issues by letting players control the skill’s range and use other talents while the ultimate is active. Fans are eagerly embracing the change so far, with several videos on the Overwatch subreddit showcasing new combos the tweak makes possible
The patch also gives Soldier 76’s ultimate, Tactical Visor, a new buff, despite reducing his overall damage and movement speed to fix what the devs call being “over tuned.” While Tactical Visor is active, hits landed on an opponent’s critical zone will automatically count as critical hits.
Finally is Sojourn’s ultimate, Railgun, which now has a wider projectile range after the devs noticed players struggling to land hits.
You can check out the full list of patch notes on the Overwatch 2 website. If you’re new to Overwatch and still figuring out how to play each hero, our Overwatch 2 role explainer should help make things easier.