A new Overwatch patch has just hit the Experimental Mode on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, bringing with it a slew of changes to multiple heroes.
The big change this time around comes in the form of a nerf to Brigitte’s base health, dropping it from 175 to 150. The nerf completely voids a buff the hero received back in October which made her slightly tankier.
However, after community outrage, Blizzard has decided to undo the buff, bringing her health pool back to where it was previously.
The next change is actually a pretty big buff to Ana where her Biotic Grenade will now function just like her primary fire and pass through allies when they’re full health. This will completely prevent the awful feeling of teammates running in front of you when you use the cooldown ability.
However, it also now means you cannot pre-nade an ally unless you aim at their feet. Keep in mind, Biotic Grenade increases the healing allies receive by 50%, so it’s important to land it in key moments.
Moira is also getting a little buff with a lowered healing consumption rate. This should allow her to heal a little bit more, which may come in handy in certain situations.
Next, a nice quality of life change for Hanzo lets him manually cancel Storm Arrows. In the event you want to switch back to the normal bow and don’t want to spam Storm Arrows, you can now do so right away.
Finally, Mei, Symmetra and Torbjorn can all cancel abilities despite being dead on the battlefield. This means that teleporters, walls and turrets can all be destroyed, giving players the option to get their cooldowns back up faster when respawning.
Of course, these changes are all experimental so there is a chance they don’t go through to live, but be sure to keep your eyes peeled for a new update in the future. Here are the full patch notes:
EXPERIMENTAL MODE
The next experiment begins! This time we’re hoping to get your feedback on some balance and quality of life changes. 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.
GENERAL UPDATES (ONLY IN EXPERIMENTAL)
- Support heroes no longer say “Group up with me” when they are missing health and request healing
HERO UPDATES (ONLY IN EXPERIMENTAL)
Ana
Biotic Grenade
- Projectile now passes through allies with full health
Brigitte
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General
- Base health reduced from 175 to 150
Hanzo
Storm Arrows
- Can now be manually canceled
Mei
Ice Wall
- Can now be manually destroyed while dead
Moira
Biotic Grasp
- Healing resource consumption rate lowered from 14 to 12.5
Pharah
Hover Jets
- Can now crouch mid-air to accelerate downwards
Symmetra
Teleporter
- Can now be manually destroyed while dead
Torbjörn
Deploy Turret
- Turret can now be manually destroyed while dead