The new Overwatch 2 hero, Lifeweaver, has left the community bewildered by his default controls, but the devs have a reason behind having his damage tied to a weapon swap.
Lifeweaver is finally out and already players have been impressed by his unique design, vertical mobility and powerful game-saving Life Grip capabilities.
Although the hero was pre-buffed before release to improve his healing, many players have expressed concern over the character’s controls, especially as they pertain to his damage-dealing secondary.
Like Mercy, Lifeweaver makes use of a weapon swap mechanic in order to do damage – something many players want changed and it turns out they will be getting their wish.
Lifeweaver control changes announced
In a post on Twitter, Overwatch 2 Game Director Aaron Keller confirmed that the team was looking into changing up Lifeweaver’s controls with “alternative control methods.”
According to Keller, the Thai hero’s Dash and weapon swap were being looked at “in order to make the transition from healing to damage smoother.”
The team is looking into alternative control methods for Lifeweaver's dash and weapon swap in order to make the transition from healing to damage smoother. Additional details and timing coming soon.
— Aaron Keller (@aaronkellerOW) April 12, 2023
Sadly, Keller didn’t explain more details relating to the changes or why the hero is only being adjusted post-release. However, in an interview with Dexerto prior to Lifeweaver’s launch, the devs revealed why his default settings are the way they are.
Overwatch 2 devs explain reasoning behind Lifeweaver’s weapon swap design
When asked if future Overwatch 2 heroes could use a similar weapon-swapping feature, Game Producer Kenny Hudson indicated this isn’t something the team plans.
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“I don’t think we’ve given much thought to if we’re going to roadmap how many have a secondary fire. It’s all about what works best with the kit,” he said.
According to Huston, with Healing Blossom having such a high charge-up time investment on primary fire, the team felt Lifeweaver “needed something to defend himself.”
As such, it seems like the devs don’t really find his Needler-like Thorn Volley to be as crucial to his kit, similar to Mercy’s pistol being used for self-defense or just wiping whole teams if you’re Dafran.
“It just fits best with being a secondary, but we’re always open to new ideas. It’s all about whatever makes the hero the most fun to play,” he added.
Despite Lifeweaver still being extremely fresh, hopefully, we’ll see some of the planned changes implemented early on in Season 4 before Lifeweaver ends up going live in ranked.
Until then, players can remap the controls to their liking with Twitch streamer ML7 even providing his ideal changes to give fellow supports an edge over the competition.