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What you need to know about Genji’s new PTR changes

Genji is getting a PTR change, but it’s not a massive ultimate buff.

By Cass Marshall
Blizzard Entertainment

While everyone’s arguing about the new Mercy changes to hit the Overwatch PTR, there’s another character who’s quickly becoming the topic of discussion. Genji has some PTR changes that are raising eyebrows. Take a quick look at this video that shows a change that seemingly buffs the heck out of Genji and gives him even more potent melee power.

Buffing a DPS (especially while nerfing Mercy) caused quite a few complaints from fans, including a thread on the official Blizzard forums. The changes that fans uncovered were two fold:

  1. Genji now instantly swings before/while drawing his blade, causing Dragonblade damage in a melee radius.
  2. Stuns no longer cancel Dragonblade, although they do CC Genji and prevent him from using it for the duration of the stun. After the stun wears off, he keeps the remaining duration of the buff.

Geoff Goodman stepped in to explain exactly what’s up with those PTR changes, and why they aren’t as alarming as they seem:

Genji being able to swing while he is pulling out his sword is a bug, though stuns not canceling his ult is an intended change. We did a consistency pass on a number of ults and in some cases changed some outliers so they work like other similar ults. For example, it has always been the case that if you stunned Soldier: 76, Winston, or Bastion right after they ult (while they are animating), it does not cancel their ult. This change makes Genji's ult work like other 'transformation' ults in this regard now.

We'll have some more details when the patch notes get updated for the patch that is currently on the PTR.

Genji and Mercy are among the characters who are receiving changes on the PTR. We’re currently waiting for the full notes, but its important to note that every PTR change and fix is a work in progress and is subject to change.

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