Season 18 of Overwatch made some major changes to the game, but just a few weeks into the latest competitive season, it seems more are on the way. Blizzard recently pushed a major patch to the PC Public Test Realm (PTR) server, and once these changes go live, Overwatch players from casuals to veterans could see some major balancing changes to the hero shooter.
In August, Blizzard overhauled the team composition strategy by completely revamping the way hero selection works in Overwatch. The addition of role queue forces each team to commit to two healers, two tanks, two DPS characters. This is obviously a move that spurs monumental change to an online game's meta, so the information that Blizzard is going hot and heavy on patches and character balancing right after role queue is integrated should not be surprising to anyone. But just how could the PTR changes affect the current meta?
As a quick run down, in the current season 18 Overwatch meta, a handful of characters are showing their dominance. Sigma has been the winner of the tank game, but Orisa and Zarya are top tier tanks as well. Most dominant of all characters, after making a huge comeback, is Symmetra who is now a damage character. Reaper and Doomfist are among the other damage characters giving her a run for her money.
The support characters are a bit more balanced, and as a result, it will be a bit harder to predict how the latest balance patch will affect that group of heroes. For now, Moira, Lucio, and Zenyata are consistently ranked the top three healers. Of these, Lucio is the only one who got re-balanced. Here is the full list of predictions for how this update could change the Overwatch season 18 meta.
Doomfist May Not Be Viable Anymore
After some PTR playtesters on the Overwatch reddit ran some side by side comparisons of character changes, it became clear Doomfist's nerf was significant. The melee focused damage dealer's Rocket Punch Attack was given a longer charge up time, with the time to reach max charge being 1.4 seconds, as opposed to the previous 1 second charge up. In practice this change slows down the move to a degree that may render Doomfist no longer viable.
On top the this major nerf, Blizzard has also brought down Doomfist's shield health gained per hit from 35 to 30. With so many potential damage characters in the mix like Reaper, Mei, and Symmetra, and now Tracer getting buffed from the PTR update, Doomfist's days may be numbered.
Sigma Will No Longer Be OP
Ever since scientist tank Sigma launched, he has been dominating the tank game. As a result, he is the most nerfed and reworked character in the new PTR update. His Kinetic Grasp no longer blocks Roadhog's Chain Hook and Brigette's Whip Shot. The duration of his Gravitic Flux (high gravity field) move was reduced from 1.2 to 0.9 seconds. Both these changes are significant and will make Sigma more vulnerable to a handful of other heroes.
Sigma was given a more neutral update to his Experimental Barrier, which appears to be more for general balancing and less intended as a nerf. It now has a 1 second cooldown after recalling the barrier, but the initial 0.2 second cast time has been removed.
D.Va Could Make a Comeback
D.Va has been a fan favorite since the launch of Overwatch, so any excuses to get her up and running competitively again will be embraced by many players. In the PTR patch, her Defense Matrix shields were given a huge boost. The regeneration rate increased from 12.5% to 16% per second and the delay before it begins again was lowered from 1 second to 0.75 seconds. This significant upgrade to D.Va's defenses could give her a chance to make a comeback and be one of the most dominant tanks in the game, especially as Sigma and Moira get nerfed.
Symmetra's Nerf Could Dethrone Her
Season 18 made Symmetra matter when it went a live due to a rework that transformed her from a support into a damage class hero, but this was just the beginning. Now with what Blizzard has done to her in the PTR, maybe her time will be up too soon.
For starters, her Photon Barrier was powered down. The duration of its effect was reduced from 15 to 12 seconds and its overall health was reduced from 5000 to 4000. It's not just her defensive abilities that were nerfed, but her attack too. Symmetra's Sentry Turret is seeing reduced DPS, taking it back from 50 to 40. And finally, in a serious attempt at balancing for accessibility, Blizzard has "buffed" an audio cue to help players avoid taking more damage from Symmetra. Players hit by the primary fire beam should now hear a louder impact sound. Combine all these nerfs together and it seems like Symmetra players are going to have a tougher time getting into their grove when the PTR changes make their way over to the live server.
Overwatch is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Switch port set to release on October 15.
