Overwatch 2 Update Significantly Nerfs Roadhog

Game ZXC

Overwatch 2

By Dalton Cooper

Published Jan 25, 2023

Overwatch 2 has significantly nerfed Roadhog in its latest update, available to download across all consoles now. Roadhog has long been a controversial hero in Overwatch 2, with many players complaining that his ability to one-shot heroes and heal himself made for an extremely overpowered combination.

Blizzard has been teasing a Roadhog nerf for some time, and now it's finally pulled the trigger. As of the latest Overwatch 2 update, Roadhog's ability to one-shot opponents has been significantly reduced. The impact damage from Roadhog's hook itself has been reduced from 30 to 5, and enemies will now be 4 meters away from Roadhog instead of 3 when they're pulled in with the hook. The damage of Roadhog's Scrap Gun has been reduced from 6.6 to 6 per pellet as well, though its maximum ammo has been increased from 5 to 6, and it will reload in 1.75 seconds instead of 2. Blizzard has also teased that a more significant Roadhog rework is in the works beyond these nerfs, so fans will have to stay tuned for more information on that front.

The Roadhog nerf in Overwatch 2 is a significant one, and it remains to be seen how big of an impact it will have on Roadhog's pick rate. In the meantime, Roadhog is not the only hero that was adjusted in the latest Overwatch 2 update. Blizzard also nerfed Tank hero Orisa by reducing the health bonus she gets from her Fortify ability from 125 to 75. Sojourn's Railgun has been tweaked as well, making it so she gets energy for every hit she lands as opposed to how much damage she does, though her primary fire damage has been scaled back from 10 per projectile to 9.

The fourth hero Blizzard changed in the latest Overwatch 2 update was Support hero Kiriko. Blizzard felt as though Kiriko was too efficient as a healer, and so it has decided to increase the recovery time for her Healing Ofuda from 0.85 seconds to 1 second. Blizzard hopes this will result in more Kiriko players utilizing her kunai to damage enemy players instead of focusing 100% on healing.

While most Overwatch 2 players will be most concerned with the hero balance changes that have come about from the latest update, others will be interested in other changes made to the game. The latest Overwatch 2 update has addressed some lingering bugs and technical issues plaguing the hero-shooter, changing footstep audio so enemies are more audible, and fixing various glitches like Wrecking Ball's Adaptive Shield being incorrectly applied before the cooldown was complete.