In the latest Overwatch developer update, game director Jeff Kaplan revealed the changes for Sombra, Mei, and Doomfist that have arrived to the Overwatch PTR for testing.
In addition to the three heroes, Kaplan also said that the Overwatch development team is planning future adjustments for Hanzo, Symmetra, and Torbjörn. The update comes as the Overwatch League takes a quick break before stage two.
Overwatch PTR Hero Changes: Sombra, Mei, And Doomfist
In the video, Kaplan detailed the changes for the three heroes on the Overwatch PTR, where the tweaks will be tested before they are rolled out to the main game. Kaplan apologized for an error that rolled out the changes to the main game in the latest Overwatch patch, but added that the mistake has been rectified.
The biggest changes on the Overwatch PTR are for Sombra, who will no longer fill up her ultimate gauge when teammates take damage and heal themselves with her hacked health packs. This would mean that her EMP will go online less often, but to compensate, her Hack ability will affect more skills, including the Cyber Agility of Genji, the Wall Climb of Hanzo, the Hover Jets of Pharah, the Wall Ride and current song of Lucio, and the Angelic Descent of Mercy.
The Hack cast time has also been reduced to 0.65 seconds from 0.8 seconds, her weapon spread was decreased, the duration of her Translocator was increased to 20 seconds from 15 seconds, and her passive Opportunist skill will detect enemies with health bars at less than 100 percent, compared to 50 percent previously
Mei, meanwhile, received a buff with the duration of her freezing abilities extended from 1 second to 1.5 seconds. She also now carries a few extra shots to her secondary icicle fire.
Lastly, there are also changes to the primary fire of Doomfist, allowing him to fire more bullets but do less damage each, maintaining his potential damage per second if all bullets hit. In addition, the recovery rate of the bullets was improved from 0.8 seconds to 0.65 seconds, which would make him shoot faster.
Changes Coming Soon For Hanzo, Symmetra, And Torbjörn?
In addition to the current changes, Kaplan also discussed planned tweaks for three more heroes. The focus was on Hanzo, for which the development team is testing a rapid fire ability to replace his Scatter Arrow skill, as well as a horizontal leap. However, the abilities, named Volley and Lunge, are not yet ready to be tested on the Overwatch PTR.
Kaplan also mentioned that there are plans to tweak Symmetra and Torbjörn so that there will be more teams that would enjoy having those two heroes on their side.
