Overwatch Testing Risky Changes for Fan Favorite Heroes

A new patch brings a new round of nerfs and buffs to 5 heroes - Zarya, Baptiste, McCree, Moira, and Reaper.

Overwatch Testing Risky Changes for Fan Favorite Heroes

As Overwatch continues to be an ever changing environment of its own, changes are constantly coming in patches in the forms of nerfs and buffs. It seems Blizzard is ready to take the axe to a couple of fan favorites, including Baptiste, McCree, and Zarya.

As Baptiste, players are able to take full advantage of his mobility to outrun or escape damage from enemies. With his Exoboost able to launch him into the air in the blink of an eye, it has raised some concerns about his ability to thwart the opposing team's plans. With that in mind, Bungie is changing Baptiste's Exoboost charge time from 0.7 seconds to 1 second. While this may seem like a small change, in Overwatch's fast paced environment every moment counts.

McCree and Baptiste see significant nerfs 

As for Zarya, her popularity has seen a surge with the insane combos she's able to pull off. A Reinhart and Zarya duo or a Zarya and Winston (the bubble duo) comp has become a staple of Competitive play, allowing Zarya to charge her weapon to levels that can wipe a team just as quickly. Her base damage is being reduced from 95 to 75, and in combination with a nerf from March that sees her damage decay faster, players will need time her bubbles just right to take full advantage of the devastating abilities in her loadout.

As many players can attest, McCree has been a menace both in Competitive and Casual Overwatch modes. His ability to deal devastating damage and then quickly roll out of the line of return fire makes him difficult to pin down, and deadly if he gets the drop on you. That being said, McCree is seeing the most extensive of the nerfs this time around. The distance of his Combat Roll will be reduced by 20%, and Peacekeeper's reload time has increased from 1.2 seconds to 1.5.

The patch also includes some good news for players in the form of Buffs for Moira and Reaper. While Moira's ultimate ability Coalescence is active, her healing meter will now recharge 3x faster. This may come as a relief for many players who find frustration in the constant spamming of "I need healing!" from teammates while her healing meter has been tapped. Reaper is also seeing a significant buff, as his passive ability will now return 35% of damage inflicted to his health, up from the previous 30%.

Moira receives a nerf as her healing regenerates 3x faster while Coalescence is active

These changes are expected to go live on Overwatch servers as early as tomorrow, so players will want to keep a lookout for a new patch. Worried about how these nerfs may affect your game or need some Overwatch carrying while you adjust to these changes? Give the CarrySquad a call!

Source: Forbes by Kris Holt