Ana’s Bastet challenge is live in Overwatch now with patch 1.32, but apart from that, the game’s last patch was a small one. Patch 1.33 is spinning up on the PTR now, and though it hasn’t picked up a lot of changes yet, the ones it includes are set to be pretty impactful.
The big headline is a nerf to armour. Previously armour would reduce all incoming damage by up to five, maxing at half the normal amount – now the former value is down to three, while the cap of half is still in place. This will be far more noticeable on heroes that fire quickly or in a burst of shots than those who deal high single-shot damage. Thus, it’s an indirect buff to heroes such as Reaper and Soldier: 76, who will now to 16 damage per shot to armour – up from 14.
So far, only three heroes have got specific changes. Brigitte gets another in a series of nerfs, this time capping the duration of her Rally ability, while D.Va’s defence matrix is nerfed with a higher cooldown to encourage more considered use. Reaper gets another buff, this time to his lifesteal passive, enabling him to heal more effectively when doing his main job of busting tanks.
OVERWATCH PATCH 1.33 RELEASE DATE
In a break from form, patch 1.32 was applied to the live game in three pieces over January 8 and 9. Since a new PTR has gone up for patch 1.33 Blizzard are going to add another chunk of changes, it’s out now and laid out below in its entirety. Get stuck in to Ana’s Bastet challenge!
Hero updates
Overwatch patch 1.33 hero updates
General
- Damage reduction from armor reduced from -5 to -3
Developer comments: Before this change armor reduced all incoming damage by up to 5, maxing at half of the normal amount. This change reduces the damage reduction to 3, while still capping at half. This change will be mostly noticeable on heroes that fire quickly or in a burst of shots (such as shotguns), and which do more than 6 damage per shot. For example, Soldier: 76’s Heavy Pulse Rifle will now do 16 damage per shot to armor, up from 14, an increase of 15%.
Armor was a bit too strong overall, especially when being healed quickly and often. This change will help more heroes fight against higher armored enemies.
Brigitte
Rally
- Now has a maximum duration of 30 seconds
Developer comments: Sometimes Rally could cause a snowballing effect where it was too difficult to deal with the increased health of Brigitte’s allies before she built up another one. This change puts a cap on how long her Rally effect can last to make it a bit more manageable in those situations.
D.VA
Defence Matrix
- Cooldown increased to 2 seconds (from 1 second)
Developer comments: This change allows D.Va’s enemies to try to play around her Defense Matrix by increasing its downtime between uses.
Reaper
The Reaping (passive)
- Life steal increased to 50% (from 30%) of damage dealt
Developer comments: Reaper’s passive is one of the main tools he has which allow him to play aggressively when near his enemies. This change allows him to keep the pressure up as long as he can stay near his enemies enough to keep dealing damage. This change is particularly effective versus tanks, as they tend to do less damage than damage heroes, and also take more damage from his Hellfire Shotguns due to their larger hit volumes.