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Overwatch’s Torbjorn rework removes salvage, armour packs, and turret upgrades

The new Overwatch PTR is here to reveal what's coming with the Torbjorn rework

September 21, 2018 A new Overwatch PTR is here, and the Torbjorn rework comes with it.

Some big changes are in store for Overwatch’s turret jockey, as Blizzard confirmed months ago that a Torbjorn rework is on the way. Now we know exactly what form those changes will take, as the newly refactored Torb is now live on the PTR for you to play with and pick apart. As always, Jeff “from the Overwatch team” Kaplan is here to tell us what to expect.

Kaplan says Torbjorn won’t be radically different – that may be an understatement – but he is going to do “a few new things.” Torb’s no longer going to drop armour packs for teammates, which also means that whole scrap system is getting scrapped.

In their place is a new ability called Overload, which will provide a 30% bonus to movement speed, firing rate, reload speed, and hammer attack speed, as well as 150 points of temporary armour.. This is intended to make him more viable as a direct damage dealer.

Those parameters overlap with parts of Torb’s current ultimate, and that ability changing entirely. It’ll still be called Molten Core, but will now allow him to fire out ten globs of molten lava. They form pools wherever they land, making them effective sources of AOE pain. Plus, the lava does extra damage against armour.

The trusty turret is also changing. You won’t level the turret anymore, and it will effectively deploy at level two. Torb can toss the the emplacement – letting you get it to previously inaccessible locations – and it now automatically builds after a short deployment time. You can even mark enemies for the turret to focus on by firing at them with the Rivet Gun.

The Rivet Gun itself is getting some changes, most of them aimed at making the weapon more effective. Projectile speed is increasing from 60 to 70 and reload time will be .2 seconds faster. Secondary fire is getting a minor damage reduction from 150 to 125, but with recover time lowered .2 seconds and random spread getting reduced by 50%, it should be more effective overall.

You’ll be able to test these changes for yourself when the new PTR goes live today.