Cover-Credits:
Overwatch 2’s beta is now live and Blizzard has made some massive changes to heroes across the board. The entire DPS lineup had its passive (speed boost) removed and it has been changed to something completely new. DPS heroes who swap characters will now retain some ultimate charge, up to 30%. This makes counter-picking a lot more viable and you are not penalized as much for swapping characters. Tracer and Genji will continue to have higher movement speed (5.5 m/s) while the rest of the DPS characters have been reverted to 5 m/s.
Quick Play Changes
With Competitive Play currently unavailable in the Overwatch 2 beta, Blizzard has made a temporary modification to the Quick Play queue, providing both Role Queue and Open Queue as options. Quick Play games will also use competitive rulesets for each map’s game mode. For Hybrid and Payload maps, both teams play Offense and Defense in the same manner as competitive play, with the winner determined by which team performs better on offense. All other features of Quick Play are unchanged. This includes elements such as matchmaking, handling of leaves, and allowing players to backfill into games in progress.
New Hero: Junker Queen
Junker Queen is the newest hero in Overwatch and she is a tank.
Scatter Gun (Primary Fire)
Jagged Blade (Secondary Fire)
Active: Throw the blade and re-activate to pull it back, along with any impaled enemy
Passive: Wound enemies with Quick Melee or Throw, dealing damage over time
Commanding Shout (Ability 1)
Temporarily increase health and movement speed for yourself and nearby allies
Carnage (Ability 2)
Wound all enemies in front of you, dealing damage over time
Adrenaline Rush (Passive)
Heal from all damage over time dealt by wounds
Rampage (Ultimate)
Charge forward and wound enemies; dealing damage over time and preventing them from being healed
Scoreboard Changes
The game scoreboard has been updated in multiple ways based on all the feedback Blizzard received.
Completely reorganized layout, bringing the most important information together for an easier viewing experience
Improved ultimate progress indicators that now show numeric values
Increased transparency to allow you to see more of the game action while viewing the scoreboard
Balance Changes
General Updates
Support Role Passive
Time to activate healing increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds
Damage Role Passive (New)
Swapping to other damaged heroes maintains up to 30% of your new hero's ultimate charge
Previous movement speed passive has been removed
Heroes that previously had their movement speed adjusted due to the role passive have been returned to their original values
REINHARDT
Armor reduced from 350 to 300
Health increased from 300 to 325
WINSTON
Barrier Projector
Projector health reduced from 800 to 700
Primal Rage (Ultimate)
Ultimate cost increased 10%
D. VA
Mech Armor increased from 200 to 300
Mech Health decreased from 450 to 350
Doomfist
Seismic Slam: No longer slows enemies
Power Block: Damage reduction reduced from 90% to 80%
ORISA
Augmented Fusion Driver
Damage increased from 10 to 12
Projectile size no longer scales with distance
Projectile initial size reduced from 0.3 to 0.1
Critical damage bonus increased from 50% to 100%
Damage falloff at maximum range reduced from 70% to 50%
Maximum falloff range reduced from 15-35 meters to 15-25 meters
Fortify
20% movement speed penalty removed
Headshot immunity removed
Javelin Spin
Cooldown decreased from 10 to 7 seconds
Speed boost reduced from 65% to 40%
Knockback increased
Energy Javelin
Impact damage reduced from 80 to 60
Cooldown increased from 6.5 to 8 seconds
Terra Surge
Max damage increased from 275 to 500
Damage begins to ramp after the old 200 damage timing
BASTION
A-36 Tactical Grenade
Cooldown reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
CASSIDY
Combat Roll
Now grants 50% damage reduction for its 0.4 second duration
JUNKRAT
Steel Trap
Fully locks movement again
Projectile speed increased from 10 to 15
Frag Launcher
Projectile size increased from 0.2 to 0.25
PHARAH
Rocket Launcher
Reload starts 0.25 seconds sooner when out of ammo
Concussive Blast
Now deals 30 damage and deals additional knockback on direct hits
SYMMETRA
Photon Projector (Primary Fire)
Maximum ammo increased from 70 to 100
No longer generates ammo when damaging barriers
Photon Projector (Secondary Fire)
Projectile speed increased from 25 to 50
Max damage reduced from 120 to 90 (45 impact, 45 explosion)
Max charge projectile size reduced from 0.5 to 0.4
Ammo cost increased from 7 to 10
Charge time increased from 1 to 1.2 seconds
Teleporter
Build time reduced from 2 to 1 second
Now has a maximum lifetime of 10 seconds
Cooldown increased from 10 to 16 seconds
Cooldown starts when Teleporter is placed
Health reduced from 300 to 200 (50 health, 150 shields)
Sentry Turrets
Travel speed increased from 15 to 20
Movement speed reduction on targets reduced from 20% per turret to 15% per turret
TORBJÖRN
Rivet Gun (Primary Fire)
Fire recovery reduced from 0.6 to 0.55 seconds
Rivet Gun (Secondary Fire)
Fire recovery reduced from 0.8 to 0.7 seconds
ZENYATTA
Orb of Discord
Time to fall off target when not in line of sight reduced from 3 to 2 seconds
MERCY
Guardian Angel
No longer can be canceled using crouch for a big vertical boost
Now automatically launches you upwards if you reach the end of Guardian Angel
Angelic Descent
Angelic Descent will now additionally slow ascent speed if held, not just descent speed
This means you can dampen vertical knockbacks (such as Junkrat’s Concussive Mine) but also reduce the amount of height that the Guardian Angel vertical boost gives you.
