Genji has been dominating ranked play ever since he was buffed in a big way a few patches ago. Game Director Jeff Kaplan did hint that Genji would be getting some adjustments, and now they’ve finally come through.
The big change is to his Shuriken damage, decreasing it from 30 to 28. This should keep the cyborg ninja from getting his Ultimate Dragon Blade online so quickly while still keeping him a massive threat.
Additionally, his secondary fire recovery has been increased from 0.65 to 0.75. It will be interesting to see how these changes affect Genji players and his dominance continues even after these nerfs.
Moira meanwhile received some huge adjustments. Biotic Grasp’s attach angle has been reduced by 37%, meaning Moira players will need to be a bit more accurate.
Plus, her Damage Orb and Fade abilities are getting completely revamped. The radius on the orb is decreased by one meter, but to compensate, it will deal more damage depending on how close an enemy is.
From zero to one meter, it will deal a whopping 150 damage per second. However, from one to three meters, it will scale down from 150 to 25 damage per second.
Currently, on the live version of the game, Damage Orb does a flat 50 damage regardless of the radius.
Finally, Fade is getting a big change with Moira and all allies within six meters becoming immune to all damage and effects for one second.
Only time will tell if these are the changes she needs to finally balance the controversial hero.
Full patch notes below:
GENERAL UPDATES
General
Echo
- Audio volume and distance have been reduced for an enemy Echo’s passive hover sound
- Audio directionality improvements have been made for an enemy Echo’s hover and tri-shot weapon fire sounds
Developer Comment:
After the initial release for Echo, we made some audio-level changes to address concerns that Echo was too quiet in combat. Those changes increased the enemy Echo’s volume and also increased the distance at which the hero could be heard pertaining to her passive hover. After more feedback, we feel like those initial attempts to adjust Echo were too drastic. In this patch, re-adjustments were made to lower enemy Echo’s passive hover sound in volume slightly, and reign in the distance at which the sound is heard to have more consistency with other Hero footsteps in the Overwatch roster. Additional adjustments were made to both the enemy echo passive hover sound and tri-shot weapon fire sounds to help pinpoint directionality.
EXPERIMENTAL MODE
The next experiment begins! This time we’re hoping to get your feedback on some balance updates. We’re using the 2-2-2 Role Queue ruleset so that you can get a feel for how these balance changes might affect the live game.
HERO UPDATES (ONLY IN EXPERIMENTAL)
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Genji
Shuriken
- (General) Damage decreased from 30 to 28
- (Secondary Fire) Recovery increased from 0.65 to 0.75
Developer Comment:
Recent Genji buffs made him see a lot more play. This is great to see, but some of these changes pushed him a bit too far. We’re pulling back on some of these changes, specifically with a goal of reducing some of his burst potential, and we’ll keep a further eye on him to make sure he lands in a good spot.
Moira
Biotic Grasp
- Attach angle reduced by 37%
Biotic Orb (Damage Orb Only)
- Damage radius reduced from 4 meters to 3 meters
- Projectile slow amount after a target is found increased from -72.5% to -80%
- Damage-per-second now scales based on how close the target(s) are to the Biotic Orb
- Between 0 – 1 meter: It will deal 150 damage per second
- Between 1 meter – 3 meters : Scales linearly down from 150 to 25 damage per second
- Note: The normal damage orb on live is always 50 damage per second
- The total potential damage the Biotic Orb can deal is unchanged: 200 damage total
Fade
- Now phases out all allies within 6 meters (and self) for 1 second after exiting Fade
- Phasing makes a hero immune to all damage and effects. It will work exactly like Reaper’s Wraith Form or Moira’s own Fade effect in this regard
Developer Comment:
The main goal of these Moira changes is to give Moira players a chance to make bigger plays and flex their player skill. Biotic Orb (damage) is now generally harder to hit all enemies in a large area but will now reward well-aimed shots with significantly increased damage per second. The Fade change is intended to directly offer Moira players a chance to make big plays, and potentially turn a fight around single-handedly if used well. For example, Moira can now Fade allies to save them against big ultimates, such as Self-Destruct or Graviton Surge. You can also Fade an ally that has already been pinned by Reinhardt to force them to be released, saving them. There are many powerful uses of this new Fade effect, we’re looking forward to seeing how players use it!
BUG FIXES
General
- Fixed a bug that displayed player presence as being in the Arcade while playing a Competitive Open Queue match
- Fixed a bug with the end of match and end of season UI displaying incorrect values for your career high SR
- Fixed a bug in custom games that caused forward spawn rooms to be active for players on Deathmatch maps such as Temple of Anubis, Hanamura and Volskaya
Heroes
Brigitte
- Fixed a bug that could cause continuous armor decay for heroes with inherent armor when receiving multiple Repair Pack charges
Wrecking Ball
- Fixed a bug where Wrecking Ball could hit an enemy much faster than intended with Roll Damage