Today’s Overwatch anniversary patch buffs Ana, nerfs Brigitte

UPDATE May 22, 2018: These balance changes have gone live with the Anniversary patch.

Now that Hanzo and Rialto are live, we’re entering a new era in Overwatch development. There are some more big reworks on the horizon: the latest Symmetra rework, another mystery hero’s rework, Torbjorn’s rework, and eventually our new Hero 28. The latest PTR patch doesn’t contain any of those, but they do contain some interesting hero tweaks and bug fixes.

The latest PTR patch updates player reporting slightly in the ongoing effort to battle toxicity

GENERAL UPDATES

Player Warnings

Added notes to the player behavior warnings that account closure is now possible if poor behavior persists

Changed the term “Griefing” to “Gameplay Sabotage” in the player warning popup text

These aren’t major changes, but they are a reminder that Blizzard is watching and following up on their Play Nice, Play Fair initiative. We can expect further changes to reporting to come, including more proactive punishment.

We’re also seeing some changes to the support roster.

Ana

Biotic Rifle

No longer impacts allies with full health
Magazine size increased from 10 to 14

Brigitte

Rally

Maximum armor per player reduced from 150 to 100
Shield bash cooldown up 20% (5 seconds to 6 seconds)

The Ana change is interesting; if there’s a full health Roadhog in front of you, your shots will now go through him to hit that Tracer on the front lines. It seems like a very minimal change, but it could push her over to being a better sniper support.

Brigitte, on the other hand, gets her second hit with the nerf bat. Her shield bash now covers a smaller area and has a longer cooldown over both nerfs, and if the PTR change goes through, she’ll give out less armor upon ulting.

GAME BROWSER AND CUSTOM GAMES

Free-for-All Deathmatch

Ana can now Nano Boost herself

This change is amazing news for Ana players in Deathmatch, but unless she goes “I’m powered up! I’m getting in there” it is nothing but ash to me. I care not for this half measure; let Ana go ham or let her go home.

Changes on the PTR are always subject to change as testing ensures. There are further bug fixes and other custom game tweaks that can be found at the full patch notes.