Overwatch 2 beta May 5 update buffs Zenyatta, nerfs Soldier 76, Lucio, more: patch notes

A major Overwatch 2 beta patch went live on May 5 with tons of buffs and nerfs for many of the game’s cast.

The Overwatch 2 beta has been lived for over a week now and players have been having a blast with numerous hero reworks, new abilities, and the revamped 5v5 gameplay.

Amid complaints that support heroes, particularly Zenyatta were too weak when compared to others such as Lucio, the devs have implemented a series of sweeping changes.

Of note, Soldier 76 has seen his Heavy Pulse rifle damage nerfed, likely due to how lethal he has proven to be without so many shields in the way.

Blizzard Entertainment

Sombra has been nerfed a bit in this patch.

Roadhog has also been buffed quite nicely. His Wholehog ultimate now will not be canceled by stuns and he can even use standard abilities during it.

Lucio’s nerfs are directed towards his survivability, targeting his self-heal by increasing the penalty from 30% to 60%.

•  Read More: Overwatch 2 devs promise “significant overhaul” to competitive modes 

The biggest change in this patch, however, is likely Zenyatta’s as he now has a new passive called “snap kick.” With this, his quick melee damage has been buffed by 50% meaning it will now deal 45 damage. Additionally, it has received some nice knockback, which should help him while being dove on.

It’s not clear how many more balance patches we will see for this first beta period, but it will be fun to see how they affect the meta and the Overwatch League in due time.

Blizzard Entertainment

Sojourn received some minor changes this update.

Overwatch 2 PvP Beta Patch Notes – May 5, 2022

GENERAL

• Enabled Quick Play Open Queue
• Made adjustments to Kill Feed and Activity Feed UI
• Adjusted audio mix:
  • Reduced bass frequencies on 3rd person weapons
  • Fixed a bug in the reverb system that caused reverberation to play from all directions – now should be fully directional towards the sound’s source.

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a bug where the “Thank you for reporting” message would not clear
• Fixed a bug where names in the friends list would appear alphabetically regardless of game status
• Fixed a bug where heroes that killed themselves would show incorrectly in the kill feed
• Fixed a bug where health packs would sometimes be missing timers
• Fixed a bug where Reaper would sometimes be auto selected on hero select
• Fixed a bug where the control progress bar would sometimes be the wrong color
• Made several adjustments to sound volume and mix
• Fixed several crashes

Heroes

Wrecking Ball

• Fixed a bug where Wrecking Ball could crash other players

Doomfist

• Fixed a bug where Melee attacks would not deal damage to Doomfist during Power Block

Roadhog

• Fixed a bug where Roadhog’s hook cooldown would start on return instead of cast

Soldier 76

• Fixed a bug where Soldier’s Heavy Pulse Rifle might snap awkwardly during Tactical Visor
• Fixed a bug when Soldier 76 would have a slanted UI when wearing his Ugly Sweater skin

Symmetra

• Fixed a bug where shooting Symmetra’s turrets into the horizon would cause turrets to be unusable

Hanzo

• Fixed a bug where Hanzo’s White Wolf skin would appear invisible

Brigitte

• Fixed a bug where Brigitte’s shield did not block damage from above

Ana

• Fixed a bug where using Nano Boost on Doomfist would overwrite his damage reduction

Lucio

• Fixed a bug where Sonic Amplifier could jam and not reload

Maps

Midtown

• Adjusted some geometry on top of the train to prevent players from staying there indefinitely

Colosseo

• Adjusted some geometry that could be abused by players

HEROES

DAMAGE

Sojourn

We saw a lot of players at varying skill levels struggling to land shots with her Alt Fire, so we are making the projectile width wider.

Sojourn is all about mobility, and we wanted her to move around the maps more freely. We think this will help increase her effectiveness and make her even more fun to play.

Railgun Alt Fire

• Projectile width increased from 0.05m to 0.1m

Power Slide

• Cooldown reduced from 7 to 6 seconds

Soldier: 76

We believe Soldier 76 was over tuned during the first week of the PvP beta. He was extremely mobile with the new damage passive that increases movement speed by 10%. We brought his Sprint ability down a bit with the new passive in mind.

Soldier 76 has always been a high damage output hero, but we are seeing fewer counters to him with one less tank per team. We lowered the damage of his Heavy Pulse Rifle to fit with 5v5.

We wanted to make Tactical Visor a more interesting ultimate for players who want to push their aim skills through the ability. The point of this change isn’t purely to buff him or counterbalance the nerfs. We wanted to make Soldier 76 more fun to play while rewarding mechanical skill.

Heavy Pulse Rifle

• Damage reduced from 20 to 18

Sprint

• Movement speed reduced from 50 to 40%

Tactical Visor

• Now allows for critical hits, if a shot would have been a critical hit without it running
• No longer removes damage falloff from his Heavy Pulse Rifle

Sombra

After a week of testing the new damage passive, we decided to balance Sombra’s Stealth speed with the 10% movement speed increase in mind.

Stealth

• Movement speed reduced from 65 to 50%

TANK

Roadhog

We saw Roadhog underperforming, so we are making his ultimate more interesting, effective, and fun. Roadhog was dying frequently while using Whole Hog, so we are trying to give him more options and flexibility in his ult.

Whole Hog

• This ability has changed from a ‘Channeled’ ultimate (e.g. Pharah, Reaper, Cassidy), into a ‘Transform’ ultimate (e.g. Soldier: 76, Genji, Winston). This is what that means:
  • The weapon no longer automatically fires, and you must press Primary Fire to use the ultimate
  • You can use normal abilities during Whole Hog without canceling the ultimate
  • Stuns will no longer cancel the ultimate

Winston

The change to Winston’s secondary fire enables him to use it more often without sacrificing as much of his primary fire. We want his secondary fire to feel less restrictive to use and more fluid like his kit.

Tesla Cannon

• Secondary fire ammo cost reduced from 20 to 12

Wrecking Ball

We are reverting Roll’s knockback to the original value from when Wrecking Ball was launched. We wanted to give Wrecking Ball a more unique role as a dive tank that can split up enemy teams. We made this change with the Tank passive of 30% knockback resistance in mind.

Roll

• Knockback increased by 36%

Zarya

There are less counters to Graviton Surge with one less tank per team and phase effects no longer escaping Zarya’s ultimate. We observed the ultimate over-performing, so this change brings it in line with 5v5 gameplay.

Graviton Surge

• Duration reduced from 4 to 3.5 seconds

SUPPORT

Lucio

Lucio had incredible survivability with Crossfade stacked with the new support role passive, so we reduced the amount it heals himself.

Crossfade

• Self-healing penalty increased from 30% to 60%

Baptiste

Baptist is under-performing because teams aren’t playing as grouped up right now. Increasing his healing ammo will let him heal more targets who aren’t necessarily grouped up.

Biotic Launcher Alt Fire

• Healing ammo increased from 10 to 13

Ana

Ana’s Biotic Grenade was too effective with one less tank and more infrequent barriers, so we are reducing the duration of the ability. We also saw Ana using her grenade less frequently on herself because of the new support passive ability. To help compensate for her grenade, we wanted to give her power back through increasing her Biotic Rifle’s ammo.

Biotic Rifle

• Ammo increased from 12 to 15

Biotic Grenade

• Duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds

Zenyatta

Zenyatta has trouble fighting at close range, so he was at a disadvantage if an enemy flanked or jumped on top of him. His new passive, Snap Kick, will help him create space and put enemies at his fighting range.

We think this new passive will be a fun adjustment to his kit, but we also want this change to acknowledge community concerns. We understand 5v5 has made support heroes feel more vulnerable, and we wanted to give Zenyatta tools to help create space between him and enemies.

• Base shields increased from 150 to 175

Snap Kick

• New Passive Ability
• Increases Quick melee damage by 50% and significantly increases its knockback

Brigitte

It’s difficult to tell when Brigitte lands a Shield Bash because the impact of that ability was not easily noticeable. This is a subtle change that will make the ability feel more satisfying.

Shield Bash

• Knockback doubled