If Jeff Kaplan’s New Year resolution was to do some serious hero reworkings, then he’s really sticking to it. Since the start of the new year, fans have been hit with constant nerfs, buffs, and bug fixes. Some hero changes have been major (R.I.P the Mercy meta), some not so much, but with only two months into 2018, it looks like the development team has already got even more big game changers heading to the PTR.
The New Hanzo
Yes, its official now. Hanzo’s scatter arrow is getting replaced, but not with what you think. It has been confirmed that to supplement the loss, Hanzo will be receiving two new abilities. His first ability will allow the beloved archer to jump in “a similar manner to his brother”. However, in retrospect, the ability is more similar to tracer, as Hanzo will be able to jump a certain distance in the direction dictated by the controls, not the direction he is facing. Development believes that this will allow Hanzo players to take more risks as it increases their evasiveness.
In addition, the older Shimada brother will be given a new type of arrow ability. Currently titled “volley”, it will allow players to shoot up to six arrows in rapid succession with a shorter damage count that his original arrows at full strength (going from 120 – 80). Players will be able to shoot between one to three arrows at a time until reaching the six maximum before activating the cooldown. It is suspected that the volley arrow will give Hanzo some assistance in short range combat as we see with other snipers (i.e. Widow’s rifle and Ana’s biotic grenade).
Whether these will be the finalized replacements to Hanzo’s scatter arrow is still not entirely confirmed, however, players can expect these changes to be patched into the PTR soon.
Sombra becomes OP
We’re calling it now because her buffs are definitely going to be a game changer.
Not only will Sombra’s hacking have a reduction in cast time (from 0.8 seconds to 0.65) but now it will impact passive abilities (abilities include Lucio’s wall riding and speed/healing boosts, Hanzo’s wall climb, Pharah’s hover jets, Mercy’s angelic glide, and Genji’s agility). Meanwhile, her own passive ability “Opportunist” is getting a touch-up, allowing the hacker to see enemy health bars that drop below 100 %. Whether it relates to being seen through walls is still unclear.
Patch notes have also described a bug fix that would allow small items to block the impact of her EMP (i.e. stop signs, etc). Another major buff to the “Shadow” will be to her translocator, which duration time is increased to 20 seconds. To balance out the buffs, the development team is adding some slight nerfs. Her machine gun spread is being reduced from 3 to 2.7 while Sombra no longer gains ultimate charge from health pack healing.
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Doomfist Tweaks and Adjust-Mei-nts
Any lover of the regal Talon operative will know all too well the struggles of timing their combos just right, and it looks like the development team is trying to make it a little easier for them to manage. Doomfist’s Hand Canon is expected to receive a slight reduction in recovery time, from 0.8 to 0.65 seconds per bullet.
Alongside Doomfist, Mei is also getting some tweaks. While the ammo cost from her alternate fire has been reduced from 25 to 20, the slowing ability of her Ethodermic Blaster has been increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds. All reworkings, including those listed above, have confirmed already been released as a patch on the PTR. It is predicted that finalized versions will be patched in at the end of the Lunar New Year Event (estimated March 1st)
What do you think of the upcoming changes? Will the stigma of the Hanzo main be no more? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
