Highlights
- Blizzard has revealed the long-awaited Roadhog rework for Overwatch 2, addressing the concerns of players who felt Roadhog was less viable in the game's 5v5 setup compared to other Tank heroes.
- The Roadhog rework includes significant changes to his abilities, particularly Take a Breather and the Scrap Gun. Additionally, a new ability called Pig Pen has been added, featuring a trap that can slow and damage nearby enemies.
- The rework introduces drastic changes to Roadhog's abilities, such as removing Scrap Gun's current secondary fire, assigning Take a Breather to the secondary fire, and implementing a resource meter for Take a Breather. Additionally, Roadhog's Take a Breather ability can now restore 450 health over 3 seconds if fully charged.
Blizzard has finally pulled the curtain back on the long-awaited Roadhog rework for Overwatch 2. Overwatch 2 players have been calling for a Roadhog rework for quite some time, as the game's switch to a 5v5 set-up has hurt Roadhog's viability compared to other Tank heroes. On the other hand, Roadhog can be a tricky hero to balance, as his hook used to be overpowered and his healing abilities have made him a frustrating character go up against in the past.
Blizzard has made a number of Roadhog changes over the years, updating the character in an attempt to make him better-balanced in the hero-shooter. These efforts have had mixed results, and so now the company has decided to implement a Roadhog rework. Fans have known for quite some time that the Roadhog rework would make its debut as part of Overwatch 2 Season 7, but they just now have the first details.
Overwatch 2: Roadhog is as Deadly in Lore as He is In-Game
Roadhog has been dominating Overwatch 2 lobbies since the game released, though the characters have a reason to fear him just as much as players.
The Overwatch 2 Roadhog rework will go live as part of an update coming on Tuesday, November 14. Roadhog retains the basic abilities that have defined him as a character, but with some significant changes to how they function, particularly Take a Breather and the Scrap Gun. Perhaps most notably, the Roadhog rework includes a brand-new ability called Pig Pen that will launch a trap that can slow and damage nearby enemies. Since Roadhog and Junkrat are closely tied together in the lore, it makes sense for Roadhog to have a trap ability similar to his companion's.
Overwatch 2 Roadhog Update Patch Notes
Scrap Gun
- Previous secondary fire functionality has been removed
- Total damage per shot increased from 150 to 160
- Shotgun pellet count reduced from 25 to 16
- Shotgun pellet damage increased from 6 to 6.25
- Now fires a shrapnel volley of 4 large projectiles in the center of the shot
- Each shrapnel projectile deals 15 damage
- Critical damage multiplier reduced from 2x to 1.5x
Take a Breather
- Now activated by holding Secondary Fire
- Cooldown for each use decreased from 8 seconds to 1 second
- A new resource meter has been added. This meter will deplete while Take a Breather is active and then recharge when it's not in use
- Take a Breather requires 12 seconds to reach full charge from empty
- At a full charge, Take a Breather can heal up to 450 health over 3 seconds
- Take a Breather will now remain active as long as its assigned hotkey is held
- An option to "Toggle Take a Breather" has been added under Options > Controls > Roadhog
- Damage reduction decreased from 50% to 30%
- No longer amplifies healing received upon ending
Pig Pen
- This is a new ability assigned to Ability 2 by default
- Launch a trap that slows and damages nearby enemies
- Deals 60 damage when triggered and 30 damage per second in an area
- 3-second duration once activated
- 40% movement speed slow
- Cooldown is 12 seconds
Full patch notes will be released on November 14, but in the meantime, a recent stream highlighting the Roadhog rework has given fans a glimpse at what they can expect in terms of changes to Roadhog's existing abilities. Scrap Gun's current secondary fire is being completely removed, with secondary fire now being assigned to Take a Breather. Take a Breather is also getting a massive change, instead operating on a resource meter and having its cooldown reduced from eight seconds to one second. If fully charged, Roadhog's Take a Breather ability post-rework can restore 450 health over 3 seconds.
These sound like rather drastic changes to Roadhog, and it will be interesting to see how the community reacts to them. The Roadhog rework will go live in Overwatch 2 on November 14, and so fans don't have to wait much longer to try it out for themselves.
Overwatch 2
Overwatch 2 is Blizzard's free-to-play team-based first-person shooter. The title features some new heroes like Junker Queen and Sojourn, as well as returning favorites.
