Highlights
- Overwatch had a few overpowered abilities that were removed from the game to maintain balance, including Scatter Arrow (Hanzo) and Photon Barrier (Symmetra).
- Bastion's Remote Mine ability was too powerful and had a wide range of explosion, making it difficult to avoid.
- Torbjorn's Armor Pack ability was seen as too powerful and provided armor without a time limit, making it rare in the game.
Compared to most other hero shooters and competitive games in general, Overwatch was, for the most part, surprisingly well-balanced when it first launched back in 2016, but that isn't to suggest that a few overpowered abilities didn't still slip through the cracks. Since everyone was still figuring out the mechanics of the game and how each of the characters worked, it was hard to judge whether these abilities really were a little too strong, but developer Blizzard confirmed that this was the fact by removing them from the game entirely.
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This didn't just occur at the beginning of the game's life cycle. There were even abilities that were introduced alongside new updates and characters that also ended up breaking the game after people figured out their effectiveness. Longtime Overwatch fans who remember these classic abilities will either look back at them fondly or with disdain, but it's fair to say that they wouldn't have a chance of staying around for very long if they were introduced today.
5 Scatter Arrow (Hanzo)
Before Hanzo was finally reworked into the lethal precision-based sniper that fans know him as today, he used to have an ability that didn't require quite as much skill as his others, and that was the Scatter Arrow. The way this works is Hanzo would fire at a surface where he wanted the ability to go off before multiple arrows would fly around the room, dealing damage to anyone they made an impact with. It's clear that Blizzard intended for the ability to be used in a way to disperse enemies who were grouping up together in a small area of the map, but it would often just be thrown out to immediately kill anyone in a defensive position such as Bastion or Torbjorn for example.
Admittedly, each Scatter Arrow did only deal 75 damage and couldn't headshot, but despite this, it was far too easy to instantly wipe out an enemy character due to the staggering amount of projectiles that would travel their way. It also just didn't fit with Hanzo's whole playstyle of being a skilled marksman who needs to line up his shots to ensure he hits his target. Luckily, the Sonic Arrow which has since replaced it leans into this a lot more.
4 Photon Barrier (Symmetra)
Symmetra has received a handful of massive reworks since Overwatch first launched, all of which have gradually turned her more into an offensive hero as opposed to the support role she was assigned originally. While her turrets and teleporters have always remained an essential part of her kit, one ability that came and went was the Photon Barrier, a small oval-shaped shield that would move forward on its own once Symmetra threw it out.
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Not only did the shield provide an incredibly safe way for attacking teams to advance on a point, but where it proved to be effective was when being used against enemy ultimates. If a Symmetra player was skilled enough, they would be able to throw the Photon Barrier out at the last second to block pretty much any ultimate in the game, whether it's D.V.A's mech explosion, Soldier 76's rapid-fire, or even Pharah's rocket barrage, which would end up killing her instead. For a time, this became the go-to option for negating ultimates, and since there was no risk of using the shield since Symmetra could throw it from such a safe distance, it inevitably had to be cut out of the game entirely.
3 Remote Mine (Bastion)
Bastion's gimmick is that he is essentially an all-in-one killing machine who can transform in a multitude of ways to fit the situation, meaning all of his abilities come from his machinery. This wasn't always the case, as before Bastion was given his Tank and eventually Artillery ultimate abilities, he had a devastating Remote Mine during the pre-beta phase of development that was far too powerful for its own good.
The ultimate acted very similarly to Junkrat's in the sense that Bastion could guide the miniature device around before choosing an area for it to deal some serious damage, but the difference between the two is the range of the explosion. Once the mine is activated, a cluster of grenades would pop out in every direction, making it impossible to dodge the ability after it had been thrown out. Considering that Junkrat's Rip Tire is already hard enough to avoid, having an ultimate that was even stronger and harder to get away from might have been a little over the top in hindsight.
2 Armor Pack (Torbjorn)
While Torbjorn usually prefers hanging back and dealing sustainable damage from afar with his turret, he also had a unique but fairly puzzling ability where he could freely throw out armor for his allies to equip. Admittedly, Torbjorn did require 50 scrap for each pack he threw out, but despite this, it was an ability that was ultimately seen as far too powerful, especially since there was also no time limit on the armor, meaning that it wasn't exactly "temporary."
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Armor is already incredibly hard to come by in Overwatch, with the tank and support hybrid Brigitte being the main hero who can provide it through her Rally ability, but even this is an ultimate that has an extremely long cooldown, making it a rare occurrence in a match. Torbjorn is definitely still a force to be reckoned with when used by players who understand his more passive and strategic style of play, but he was most definitely a lot more intimidating when he had his trusty Armor Packs.
1 Old Reconfigure (Bastion)
Technically, Reconfigure is still in the game, but it's a far cry from what it used to be, with many players considering it one of the most overpowered and even game-breaking abilities that has ever been seen in the game at one stage. During Overwatch's beta, Bastion had a 1000 HP shield that would protect him when turning into his turret form. Considering that modern-day Reinhardt's Barrier Shield has 1400 health overall, it's easy to see why Bastion having this protective shield would be such a problem, especially since he would be spitting out bullets at the same time.
Luckily, this ability was modified very early on in the game's life due to the amount of complaints being thrown Blizzard's way, though it did take a while before the chirpy robot was able to hold his own again after the nerf. Considering how much CC damage is present in the game today, and the issue of power creeping which has always plagued Overwatch, it has led some Bastion players to actually request this version of the ability to come back, but this is very unlikely considering how much chaos it's caused in the past.
