The Overwatch test patch includes new Zenyatta and Lucio nerfs

In addition to the original changes, lead designer Geoff Goodman has shared another bunch of changes that are being tested along with new hero Baptiste.

Junkrat does more damage

Frag Launcher’s impact damage has been increased from 40 to 60, which ups Junkrat’s damage and makes him more deadly.

Lucio skates slower

Lucio’s speed aura’s effect has been lowered by 10%, from 30% to 20%. Amp it up affects the speed aura at 50% now, down from 70%. These are pretty heavy nerfs, but his boop now counts as a kill assist, so that’s nice.

Reaper drains less health

Reaper’s life drain off attacks is down to 40% from 50% — still an overall improvement from the earlier Reaper, but a little more manageable for his opponents.

Symmetra fire buff

Symmetra’s weapon ramps up in speed 20% quicker, which is a nice little boost without dramatically increasing her power level.

Zarya alt-fire nerfs

Zarya’s alt-fire on her particle cannon’s radius has been reduced from 2-3 down to 1-2, depending on her energy level. This means that she has to be a little more precise; she can’t rely on splash damage.

Zenyatta Discord Orb is weaker

Orb of Discord now has a 25% effect, down from 30%. His Orb of Destruction does slightly more damage (from 46 to 48) to compensate.

This newest set of changes seems focused specifically at the GOATS meta, which has dominated the competitive scene for a significant amount of time. These changes are running along with the original set of changes put on the PTR, which are listed below.

---

The newest PTR update to Overwatch drew everyone’s attention toward Baptiste, the brand new combat medic, but there’s a whole host of changes that have rolled in along side him. We’re breaking down all of the changes currently being tested in Overwatch.

Armor

Beam-type damage (think Symmetra’s Photon Projector) now does 20 percent less damage when it hits armor. Damage over time effects are no longer mitigated by armor. The goal of these changes is to make damage against champions with armor more predictable, instead of varying wildly between different damage types.

Damage Boost

Damage boost is now applied when a projectile is fired, rather than when it hits a target. This rewards a clever Mercy who applies her damage boost to a Hanzo who’s recently fired an ultimate — the projectile still gets the benefit, despite being in the air.

Sound

When you are damage boosted and land a hit, you will hear a new sound. In addition, a new sound will play when you land an ability, but it does no damage. This will make it more clear how effective you are, whether you’re doing extra damage or attacking invulnerable targets being protected by Baptiste.

Nerfs for Ana

Ana’s Nano Boost has had the heal reduced from 300 to 250 — that’s still a big boon to her ally, but it’s a little easier for enemies to deal with a Nano Boosted target.

Blizzard Entertainment

McCree tweaks

McCree’s Fan the Hammer now does 50 damage, down from 55.

Deadeye’s damage per second has increased from 275 to 550 after locking onto targets for 2.5 seconds.

Because armor is less effective across the boards due to previous patches, Fan the Hammer’s damage is now lower to compensate. Deadeye, when locked onto stationary targets, does more damage to heroes over 600 health. Heroes under 600 health will take the same amount of damage.

Update 02/28/2019: Bonus damage ramp from the previous 1.34 change will now begin after 1.5s, down from 2.5.

Doomfist buffs

Both Seismic Slam’s and Rising Uppercut’s cooldowns dropped from 7 to 6 second. This isn’t a major change to Doomfist, but it’ll make it easier for him to chain abilities together, and he should feel a little smoother.

Hanzo’s Sonic Arrow gets a buff too

Sonic Arrow’s Detection radius has increased from 7 to 9 meters to give Hanzo an edge in dense environments.

Blizzard Entertainment

Mei does more damage, but her wall’s weaker

Mei’s primary fire damage has increased from 45 to 55 damage per second; this makes her freezing more potent and sets her up better for alt-fire icicle kills. Her ice wall now has 100 less health, down from 500 to 400, so players can work through it a little more. Allies can still block their spawn rooms with it, though.

Moira’s healing more

Moira’s Biotic Grasp healing timer is up from 3 seconds to 4, and that gives an increase in total healing to 65, from 50 before. It’s a minor change that will help Moira top her allies’ health pools off.

Orisa’s a little faster

Orisa has a movement speed penalty when she’s firing her primary fire, currently at 50 percent. That’s being tweaked up to 30 percent, making her a little more flexible.

Pharah’s hitting harder

Pharah’s rocket launcher’s minimum amount of damage went up from 16.25 to 20. Her direct hits will remain the same, but her glancing hits will be a little more in line with her previous iteration of her rocket launcher, before Blizzard tweaked it in September 2018 to do less damage but fire faster.

Blizzard Entertainment

Soldier: 76 is buffed across the board

Soldier 76’s pulse rifle does one more damage, from 19 to 20, which makes him a little stronger over prolonged periods. He can fire his weapon a little faster after sprinting, with that delay now lowered to .3 seconds. His tactical visor can target Junkrat’s RIP-Tire and Baptiste’s Immortality Field, making him a little more efficient against a crowded field.

Sombra’s hacks health packs more

Sombra’s hack cooldown is reduced by half when she hacks a health pack. Hacking heroes will remain a powerful, viable option to shut them down, but Sombra can sneak a health pack or two thanks to the lower cooldown.

Torbjorn has higher health, Overloads for less

Torbjorn’s new Overload ability gives him a chunk of armor. That now gives him 50 less armor, down to just 100, but his base health is up by 50. Torbjorn is a little chunkier and harder to kill consistently without dramatically changing his stats.

Widowmaker sees more (unless she dies)

Widowmaker’s ultimate reveals enemy health bars to give it more power, but when she dies, the effect ends. This makes her ultimate more useful for her team, but it’s riskier to use.

Wrecking Ball can shield while rolling

Wrecking Ball’s standard mode is how he tanks, and his Roll gives him mobility. Now, he can use his Adaptive Shields even when he’s rolling, since he can’t fire back when he’s escaping via Roll.

There are a bunch of small quality of life changes and bug fixes as well, which can be found on Blizzard’s official forum post. As always, these changes are subject to change until they hit live servers.