It’s time to test some more potential big changes in Overwatch.
Nearly a week after a comprehensive patch was added to the live servers, bringing Genji buffs and a priority queue system, a new Experimental Card has popped up today with more proposed tweaks.
Support hero Brigitte is the focus of multiple changes relating to armor and barrier reductions. Tank hero D.Va also receives shifts in her cooldowns and movement penalties.
Brigitte
- Repair Pack no longer grants an additional armor health pool when healing full health targets.
- Barrier Shield maximum health increased from 200 to 250. Regeneration rate decreased from 100 to 85 health per second. Cooldown when destroyed increased from three to five seconds.
In current high-level and professional play, Brigitte is considered a must-pick hero for enabling dive compositions with quick heroes like Genji and Tracer. Many players have complained that the armor she provides is too much of a boon to these heroes, who often have a low health pool that allows them to be eliminated quickly.
With this Experimental Card, those days might be over. Brigitte’s Repair Pack currently adds armor instead of health if a hero is full HP, making a low-health DPS hero much more difficult to kill. This change gives a cap to the armor given, prioritizing the actual healing of targets instead of shielding them for planned dives.
This is an extensive nerf for Brigitte, but the changes don’t stop there. Her shield gains an extra 50 health, making her able to survive on her own for slightly longer. The regeneration rate is decreased and cooldown increased, meaning Brigitte players have to be more strategic with their use of Barrier Shield. If the Shield is destroyed, a player can’t use Shield Bash, a critical part of Brigitte’s kit.
Ashe
- Dynamite cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds.
Ashe, another must-pick hero at high competitive levels, often uses her Dynamite to inflict wild amounts of damage on the enemy team. This two-second cooldown addition means that Ashe players will have to be more mindful of when to use this powerful ability.
D.Va
- Fusion Cannons movement penalty reduced from 50 to 40 percent.
- Defense Matrix cooldown reduced from 1.5 to one second.
- Micro Missiles activation delay reduced from 0.5 to 0.25 seconds.
These days, D.Va is often overshadowed by Sigma as a critical pick in the off-tank position. Changes like these are meant to make her a more viable option in the future. With a lower movement penalty and activation delay, D.Va can hunt down and finish eliminations with incredible ease in ways Sigma can’t. The biggest change is the reduction in Defense Matrix cooldown, giving D.Va more opportunities to absorb damage and ultimates.
Junkrat
- Concussion Mine trigger delay reduced from 0.156 to 0.1 seconds.
- RIP-Tire time to take control of Junkrat post detonation has been reduced from 1.5 to 0.9 seconds.
Bomb expert Junkrat got a few important buffs to his passive ability and Concussion Mines in a previous patch, but more changes are being tested in this Experimental Card. His Concussion Mines will now explode nearly instantly upon detonation. After using Junkrat’s ultimate ability, RIP-Tire, players will now regain control nearly twice as fast, allowing them to get back into the action more quickly.
The Experimental Card will be available for at least a week and can be found on Overwatch’s main game page. This particular experiment will use the 2-2-2 role queue rules to mimic the competitive experience. As usual, keep in mind that none of these changes are guaranteed to make it to the live servers and the developers will alter them, if needed, based on testing and feedback.
