Less than a week from the Season 11 mid-season update, Overwatch 2 has pushed a hotfix to tone down some of its changes. The latest update was focused on buffing the Tank role, which it heavily did, but lead hero designer Alex Dawson says they are still waiting for the long-term effects this has on the game. Now that a Overwatch 2 Season 11 balance hotfix is out, your games should feel slightly different.
In the balance patch update notes, the heroes that have been toned down include Ramattra, Zarya, Pharah, Lucio, and Illari. Here is what changed:
- Ramattra’s Nemesis Form had its health and cooldown nerfed
- Zarya’s bubble shields don’t last as long and take a second longer to cool down
- Pharah’s health was decreased to 225
- Illari’s Healing Pylon has a longer cooldown, and her ultimate takes longer to charge
- Lucio’s knockback on his Sonic Amplifier was reduced
While it’s nice to see some of the above changes, it is interesting to see Mauga not cooled down at all. There are definitely ways to counter Mauga’s Cardiac Overdrive since the life steal was upped to 100%, but the overall community has not taken kindly to his changes, in particular. That being said, the Tank role, in general, is a lot stronger in Overwatch 2. That hasn’t cooled the discussion of 6v6, which Blizzard is set to talk about in the near future, but they don’t feel like they get melted quite as fast as they did before the mid-season update.
Love or hate the direction that the latest update put in Overwatch 2; we are happy to see the team quickly revert some spots that needed it. The Overwatch 2 Season 11 balance hotfix isn’t huge, like most hotfixes, but it’s at least good to see the development team actively fixing things. Pharah is still very strong, particularly on console and lower ranks, so seeing her health drop a little bit should help ease those frustrations. We’re not quite sure if Illari’s healing needed a nerf, but overall, this hotfix looks good to us.
