It hasn't been long since we've last spoken about Overwatch patch notes, and more arrive! The latest Overwatch Experimental patch brings in some notable changes to Brigitte and D.Va!
"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."
Get your microscopes out, your lab coats on, and hop into Overwatch Experimental! Some changes have arrived that we need to discuss, so let's begin with Brigitte.
Brigitte
Repair Pack
- No longer grants an additional armor health pool when healing full-health targets.
Barrier Shield
- Maximum health increased from 200 to 250.
- Regeneration rate decreased from 100 to 85 health per second.
- Cooldown when destroyed increased from 3 to 5 seconds.
What does this all mean? Well, if you've been watching Overwatch League lately, or high-level competitive play, you'll know teams will often opt for Brigitte, and so with the removal of additional armor on full health targets, the dive-compositions might need to re-think before choosing her (should these changes go into the live server)
What's great about these experimental changes, is that Blizzard seemed to listen, finally, to the woes of fans, who were unhappy about DPS heroes being so damn tanky all the time during big team-fights, that often resulted in the team who picked Brigitte, winning that fight.
Also, her shield has had a slight nerf from 100 to 85, meaning you'll need to be careful with your positioning when playing Brigitte, but keep in mind these are experimental changes and not live right now, so test away! We'd love to know your thoughts on these changes.
D.Va
Fusion Cannons
- Movement penalty reduced from 50 to 40%.
Defense Matrix
- Cooldown reduced from 1.5 to 1 second.
Micro Missiles
- Activation delay reduced from 0.5 to 0.25 seconds.
D.Va hasn't exactly had the best of times in Overwatch at the moment, with some heroes just doing things better than her. These upcoming experimental changes from Blizzard could potentially ensure she becomes a part of the group, instead of the last rate pick.
The overall decrease in what D.Va can do might just put her back on top again, but hopefully not in a state where she's completely broken, like in prior patches.
We'll need to keep an eye on how this affects high-level competitive play as we know, not everything from experimental mode makes it into the live servers.
Ashe
Dynamite
- Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds.
Ashe's changes are relatively small but do impact her kit slightly. Overall she'll be throwing less TNT in your face, so use those extra seconds to take her down!
Junkrat
Concussion Mine
- Trigger delay reduced from 0.156 to 0.1 seconds.
RIP-Tire
- Time to take control of Junkrat post-detonation has been reduced from 1.5 to 0.9 seconds.
Junkrat recently received some changes to his passive upon death, and these additional changes, should they go in, will make him even more of a priority than he already is right now.
The delay in concussion mine may as well not even have a delay at all, with the ridiculous reduction that has been put into it. The further reductions to his ultimate, RIP-Tire, means you'll get back to blowing people up in no time.
That about does it for the changes! What do you think? Junkrat OP? Let us know! Overwatch Patch notes from Blizzard are here.
