Although the beloved franchise has seen a fruitful six-year lifetime, devoted fans have suffered some intolerable hero abilities, ultimately forcing the development team to intervene and rework numerous charismatic characters. From total re-iterations, to minor buffs, the balance of the title was in the hands of Blizzard.
Despite various removed abilities being dearly missed by cherished fans, these chosen few had players around the globe relieved, finally knowing they never had to face such unfairly overpowered characters again.
5 Self-Healing - Bastion
Within Overwatch's lucrative launch, players were incessantly poised with joy in playing the omnic life-form that is Bastion. The thought of wielding a robotic walking machine-gun had fans enthralled with his kit, alongside being keenly eager to discover the history to his personality. However, some were left dumbfounded by Blizzard's decision to include a Self-Healing ability, determining this as an unbalanced advantage to enemy teams that possess this hero.
Judging by the rate at which this healed him, being that of 70 HP (health points), it is evident as to why some felt they were facing an unfair fight. Paired with this would be his ability to Self-Heal while moving, authorizing Bastion fans to mend their pierced hero during battle, consequently enraging certain individuals trying to pick him off. Although eventually removed, Blizzard's choice to include this within the lovable robot's skill set still baffles players to this day.
4 Latch On Beam - Symmetra
Oftentimes seen as a hero pick for those who intend to purposefully lose, Symmetra's role within the renowned Overwatch cast has always been a controversial one. If harnessed correctly and strategically, Symmetra's play-style within matches can ultimately pose a detrimental threat to the enemy team, however, some fans would argue her kit created an unfair and overpowered advantage to team compositions that utilized her.
Although not an ability, Symmetra's Photon Projector was able to latch onto her unsuspecting victims, practically enabling an aim-bot. Similar to that of her playability now, her beaming Sentry Turrets would also charge her main weapon with further power when locked onto enemies, adding to her already unethically advantageous skill set. Contrasting that of Bastion's rework, Symmetra's ability to latch on was her maximum punishment, definitively being removed from the franchise as a whole.
3 Armor Packs - Torbjorn
In terms of character lore, personality, and dialogue, Blizzard's Torbjorn takes a seat among some of the most iconic characters in gaming. Despite this, some fans have grown an insatiable hatred towards this hero, regarding his abilities has an extra enemy to face within battle. Prior to his over-due rework, the Swedish Viking Torbjorn was able to drop Armor Packs, granting his fellow teammates a tenacious upgrade to their health while simultaneously frustrating the enemy team.
With the ability to drop 10 of these packs, players were able to add 75 amor to their hero, further irritating the enemy team by creating an unfair advantage. Adding fuel to the fire, Torbjorn was also able to collect these armor packs for himself, creating an un-killable character, yearned to be reworked by the majority of fans.
2 Freeze - Mei
Argued by many players as one of the most bothersome heroes to face in the franchise, Mei's abilities pose room for rage-induced matches. Permitting her to block enemies off from their teammates with her Ice Wall ability, alongside her healing ability Cryo-Freeze, Mei's elemental skill set has served as an exemplar for adding unfair characters within a decorated title.
Similar to that of Symmetra's kit, Mei's deservingly removed ability resided in her main weapon, Endothermic Blaster. This frosted shooter allowed her to freeze enemies entirely, causing a complete restriction to movement and a much anticipated death. However, after a plethora of time, Blizzard's final decision was to remove freezing from her skill set as a whole, balancing the title in terms of DPS (damage per second) hero selection.
1 Scatter-Arrow - Hanzo
Member to one of the most influential families in the lore, Hanzo's capabilities stretch far and beyond the battleground. From his enemy-revealing arrows to his penetrating ultimate ability, Hanzo cements himself as a highly-technical hero within the award-winning title. However, his initial skill set angered fans day-in, day-out, persistently falling to the hands of his Scatter Arrow Ability.
This ability not only allowed the sharp-eyed assassin to eliminate multiple enemies at once but also granted him authority to utilize peculiar angles in order to hit his targets, oftentimes leaving his attackers clueless and bitter in the way they died. If used correctly, Hanzo's Scatter Arrow ability, paired with his prolific movement system, allowed talented players to dominate the enemy team with his bow's abilities, dooming his competitors to an inevitable rage-quit. However, Blizzard's intervention was enough for Hanzo's playability to decrease in popularity, locking this cherished and despised ability away forever.
Overwatch 2 is available to play on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.