Blizzard has started revealing some more information on what changes fans can expect when Overwatch 2 launches. Overwatch 2 is poised to make a lot of changes to the online hero shooter. It will bring two new game modes, new heroes, new and redesign old maps, and, perhaps most of all, it will be taking the game from teams of six to teams of five. The shrinking team size, as well as the new and updated heroes, will drastically change the game's meta going into the future.
Overwatch added its role queue system in 2019, three years after its initial release. Role queue saw players choosing which of the game's three hero roles they wanted to fill in their matches. The system made sure even teams of random players had a balanced composition of two heroes in each role, helping ensure that matches would be more balanced and even. However, teams in Overwatch 2 will only be able to have a single tank. This change within itself will greatly change how Overwatch 2 plays and will be a particularly big adjustment for tank players that will have to adjust to bearing all of the role's responsibilities by themselves.
How Overwatch Approaches Tanks
Currently, Overwatch tanks fit into two categories: main tanks and off tanks. Main tanks include the heroes Reinhardt, Winston, Orisa, and Wrecking Ball. Their primary responsibility is protecting their team and creating space. To do this, they soak up the enemy team's damage and draw out their abilities, allowing their team's DPS heroes to get the kills that they need to. To do so, all main tanks, excluding Wrecking Ball, utilize barriers to protect members of their team and block enemy sightlines. This allows their team to set up in a way that is best for their team's composition. Main tanks also have abilities that help break up the enemy team, such as Reinhardt's charge, Wrecking Ball's ground pound, and Winston's jump pack.
Overwatch's off tanks, also known as flex tanks, on the other hand, have a more varied role depending on the individual hero being played. They largely are responsible for filling in when the main tank goes down or helping rescue their teammates that find themselves in sticky situations, known as peeling. Zarya does so by protecting teammates with barriers while Sigma can briefly cover angles with his projected barrier. Off-tanks also often have more offensive capabilities than their main tank counterparts to help them better punish enemy players who make mistakes. Roadhog has a hook that can be combined with a shot from his main gun to quickly off low health heroes while D.Va has an ult that can wipe an entire team if they are poorly positioned.
How Overwatch 2 Is Changing Tanks
However, all of this is going to change with the launch of Overwatch 2. Blizzard has confirmed that many of its tanks are getting reworked on top of the role's new passive ability of decreased damage if even slightly, to better help them fill the tank role by themselves. Tanks are now going to have to carry the responsibilities of the main and off-tank roles currently in Overwatch by themselves. One tank that Blizzard has detailed the changes for is Reinhardt. Reinhardt will be able to hold two Fire Strike charges as well as being able to cancel his shoulder charge. Reinhardt's changes do not completely change his playstyle, but it does give him more utility and allow players to react to the enemy team faster as well.
Blizzard has also shown off a new ability for fellow main tank Winston that is coming in Overwatch 2. Winston's new ability is a ranged rail-gun-like shot that allows him to hit enemies from much further away and for much more damage than he currently can in Overwatch. Again, this is a smaller change, but it also opens up Winston's kit to allow him to be played with more effectiveness across the battlefield. The shot will require Winston players to be fairly accurate, but it allows them to cover ground and create space where Winston would require an off-tank to do so in Overwatch. Winston and Reinhardt are both main tanks, however, and the off tanks are more likely to require larger reworks to be able to fill the tank role in Overwatch 2's meta.
How Tanks Will Play in Overwatch 2
With teams only having five players in Overwatch 2 tanks will become very important. Team fights already revolve around tanks in Overwatch, but only having one on a team makes it even more so as a team with their tank alive will easily wipe out a team whose tank just fell. This will lead to Overwatch 2 teams having to focus on their tank to ensure that they are properly supported and kept alive. This will centralize a team's play around its tank even more so than it currently does in Overwatch, especially in Overwatch 2's new game modes.
Of course, this also has a large impact on how tanks will have to play in Overwatch 2. Blizzard's changes to tanks revealed so far indicate that tanks in Overwatch 2 will have to play more aggressively, as they will be the only member of their team capable of creating the space for their team to advance and hold the objective. This will also likely leave any peeling responsibilities to the support heroes on a team, as a tank leaving their positioning to save one team member could spell disaster for the team as a whole. This will also lead to tank players likely stepping into the leadership role of the team more frequently, as a team's coordination will be much more tightly connected to the tank's movements and abilities.
Of course, how well Overwatch 2's changes are received will only be clear with time. Blizzard undoubtedly has much more to reveal about what new features and hero changes will come with Overwatch 2, so it will be great to see what players can expect as the details are released. It will be very interesting to see how Overwatch 2's meta will shake out, but either way, it will definitely be quite the change for all of the game's tank players.
Overwatch 2 is in development for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
