Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller’s regular post to the game’s blog on Friday was jam-packed with information and teasers for a number of different facets of the game, but one thing that stood out as having an impact on players sooner rather than later was comments on hero balance.
Discussing some of what players should expect from the approaching mid-cycle balance patch for season five, Keller noted upcoming changes for at least six different heroes on June 30—with the most significant mentioned coming for everyone’s favorite Omnic healer Zenyatta.
In the upcoming season five mid-cycle patch, Blizzard will “weaken” Zenyatta’s Orb of Discord, which increases a hero’s damage received by 25 percent. While the change will likely hurt Zenyatta’s viability, it’s a boon to tank players everywhere that find the support hero’s kit difficult to play against.
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The last time we saw a change to the Orb of Discord ability was in May 2022, which saw the debuff effect drop off two seconds after losing sight of the target, as opposed to its original three-second timer.
With only one tank on each team in Overwatch 2, the importance of keeping the frontline alive has increased, and in the same vein, being able to swiftly take out a tank with an Orb of Discord and some focused fire is an effective strategy on the competitive ladder.
Zenyatta is by no means the most powerful support hero in the game. His healing throughput makes him incapable of being a “main healer”, but the utility of Orb of Discord is such that he is still played at a reasonably frequent rate. Additionally, his hitbox and lack of mobility make him tough to play against a dive composition, and the prevalence of Tracer hinders his pick rate as well.
However, when he is selected, he is one of the most prolific support heroes in the game with one of the highest win rates among support heroes, according to Overbuff. This could be why Blizzard is looking to give him what Keller called “slight adjustments.”
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It’s still unclear exactly what the changes will be. It could be a nerf to the debuff it provides, but it could also be changed to how long it stays on enemies or how easily it can be applied. We will have to wait until around July 11, when the mid-cycle patch will likely go live, to find out for certain.
