A Tracer buff that never appeared in the patch notes has allowed her to start dominating games, and she’s been taken from a niche pick to one of Overwatch 2’s strongest DPS heroes.
Tracer is arguably Overwatch’s most iconic character. She was the poster girl for the original Overwatch, and was one of the first heroes we saw in action on the leadup to the game’s release in 2016.
However, she’s now a niche pick. Her short range and small health bar make her useful for only the most skilled DPS players, and her requirement to get up close forced her to play on a knife’s edge.
But, with a hidden buff to Tracer almost doubling her range, she’s grown out of her niche and become a top of the table DPS hero.
Overwatch 2 patch notes didn’t mention the Tracer buff
It’s hard to tell the exact time this Tracer buff went live due to the fact it doesn’t have a mention anywhere in the patch notes, and the most recent patch was delayed by 2 days.
Her damage falloff range has gone from 13 to 20, allowing her to do max damage at almost double the distance. Having her range buffed so significantly has made it possible for Tracer to one-mag squishy DPS characters with ease.
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20 meters is a longer distance than you’d think, and what may seem like a small buff on paper is, in reality, a game changer for Tracer players. Overwatch streamer and pro player Danteh noticed this buff while doing some testing on stream.
tracer range got stealth buffed??? pic.twitter.com/3sUqPQye6U
— danteh (@danteh) November 17, 2022
That said, her damage falloff still drops off a cliff. At 20 meters and below, she shreds. Just beyond 20 meters, her damage gets halved. This could mean that this “buff” is actually an error in how her damage range is calculated, and that the dynamic damage falloff she had previously is now a linear drop from max damage to minimum.
Because there were no changes to Tracer in any recent patch notes, it’s hard to say whether or not this could have been connected to a bugfix or if it was a fully intentional change.
Either way, this change has brought Tracer to the strongest state she’s been in since the release of Overwatch 1.