Overwatch’s newest hero Wrecking Ball—we prefer to call him Hammond—received a nerf today on the game’s test server.
Hammond was added to Overwatch’s PTR on June 28 after a week-long hunt for clues set up by Blizzard. Everyone kind of knew that Hammond was coming, but we didn’t realize that Hammond was, well, a hamster. A moon-dweller like Overwatch hero Winston, Hammond escaped attached to the space gorilla’s pod, but crash landed in Junkertown. There’s where he modified his escape ship/hamster ball into a fearsome mech unit. But apparently, it was too fearsome. Hammond’s pod has been nerfed.
Related: One Overwatch cosplayer already created a Hammond costume
Blizzard’s reduced the movement speed for Hammond’s Grappling Claw ability from 22 meters per second to 20 meters per second. It’s not a huge nerf, but considering how speedy his hamster ball was before, it’ll likely make him feel a bit more reasonable. (He was able to get around the map very quickly using his power boost from swinging.)
The Grappling Claw ability is a core part of Hammond’s movement kit, which allows him to swing around the map and launch himself into fights.
A new buff to Sombra’s EMP ability can also be called a nerf to Hammond; her EMP now disables Hammond’s Minefield proximity mines for 10 seconds. This slight adjustment will give enemy teams a brief moment to push past a minefield, thanks to Sombra.
Related: More Sombra changes are coming to the Overwatch PTR
But Sombra overall got a few changes, too—all of which were announced by Overwatch developer Geoff Goodman earlier in the week. Alongside the EMP buff, Sombra’s Hack ability can now interrupt her reload, and her Translocator can now be destroyed with the Interact key without looking at the device. Likewise, the sound cue heard by enemies had its level reduced. Basically, she’s not screaming anymore.
The last adjustment is to her infinite stealth ability. The detect radius for Stealth was reduced to two meters from four meters—she can get closer to heroes without them knowing.
As with most of Overwatch’s adjustments, there’s no timeline for when they’ll be uploaded to the live game. Hammond is still pretty new to the PTR, so we’re expecting at least a couple more weeks in testing.
