Overwatch fans were expecting balance changes to come with the mid-cycle season seven patch after BlizzCon, but Blizzard surprised them by dropping a patch just days before the convention. The patch, released on October 31, includes balance changes for 15 heroes and aims to widen the combat window between impactful cooldowns.
In a recent developer blog, Blizzard’s lead hero designer Alec Dawson mentioned that the team was planning to adjust the utility of support heroes based on player feedback. As a result, six of the 15 heroes affected in this patch are support heroes.
The changes mainly consist of minor nerfs to ability cooldowns for various support heroes. Lifeweaver’s Life Grip, Kiriko’s Protection Suzu, Ana’s Biotic Grenade, Illari’s Healing Pylon, and Baptiste’s Immortality Field all received slightly longer cooldowns. Zenyatta, despite not being the most popular support hero, received the most significant nerf. To address complaints from tank players about the Orb of Discord debuff, Blizzard made it so the ability cannot be reapplied to the same target for seven seconds once it has been removed.
Other heroes also had their crowd control and utility abilities nerfed, including Cassidy’s Magnetic Grenade, Mei’s Endothermic Blaster slow, and Doomfist’s Rocket Punch.
More details about the philosophy behind these changes are expected to be revealed during BlizzCon, which takes place from November 3 to November 4.
| Hero | Ability | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Lifeweaver | Life Grip | Slightly longer cooldown |
| Kiriko | Protection Suzu | Slightly longer cooldown |
| Ana | Biotic Grenade | Slightly longer cooldown |
| Illari | Healing Pylon | Slightly longer cooldown |
| Baptiste | Immortality Field | Slightly longer cooldown |
| Zenyatta | Orb of Discord | Cannot be reapplied to the same target for seven seconds once removed |
| Cassidy | Magnetic Grenade | Reduced effectiveness of crowd control ability |
| Mei | Endothermic Blaster | Reduced effectiveness of slow ability |
| Doomfist | Rocket Punch | Reduced effectiveness of utility ability |
Source: DOTESPORTS
