Tuesday’s Overwatch Anniversary patch brought a ton of new content as well as returning skins, emotes and brawls to the game. But the update wasn’t all just fun and games; it also brought some adjustments to a few heroes.
In addition to the eleven new skins and new Deathmatch map Overwatch players get in this update, Blizzard also made some tweaks to support heroes Ana and Brigitte, as well as recently reworked defense hero Hanzo.
Ana
Ana has received a buff, with her Biotic Rifle magazine size increased from 10 to 14. According to Overwatch developer Geoff Goodman, this change will help Ana “maintain healing uptime and allow her to more carefully choose when to reload as opposed to just healing until the reload is forced.”
Furthermore, Ana’s weapon will no longer impact allies with full health. In other words, she will shoot through heroes that don’t need to be healed, allowing her to reach and hit those who do need help (given that they are in range, of course).
Brigitte
In contrast to Ana, support/tank hybrid Brigitte has gotten a nerf in this patch. The maximum armor per player effect for Rally, Brigitte’s ultimate ability, has been reduced from 150 to 100. The cooldown for Shield Bash has also been increased from five seconds to six seconds.
Blizzard’s patch notes dive a little deeper into the reasoning and details behind this nerf.
“Brigitte’s ultimate is very powerful, especially when it gets stacked up to its maximum value on many allies. This change will reduce the maximum armor value of Rally, but does not reduce the overall amount of armor given by the ability over its duration. This means when used in combat while her allies are taking damage, it should feel about the same, but the lingering effects of the armor should have less of an impact. Her Shield Bash is a very strong ability on a fairly short cooldown, making it difficult for her opponents to play around. Increasing this cooldown allows for more options when battling against her.”
There has been some player outcry that Brigitte has too dominating and overpowering to counter, so these changes will likely be welcome among the community.
Hanzo
Hanzo’s new ability, Storm Arrow, has also received a nerf in Tuesday’s update. Its damage has been reduced from 80 to 70. Blizzard said that Hanzo’s arrows were doing way too much damage, considering his other adjustments like Lunge and increased projectile speed.
“This damage reduction will give Hanzo’s enemies a more reasonable chance to react and fight against him while using Storm Arrows,” Blizzard said.
While these changes are likely to stick around for a while, this patch’s special loot and game modes will only be available for a limited time. Overwatch’s Anniversary event will run from May 22 to June 11 and will also feature a free weekend starting on May 25.