Blizzard seems to have made it a point in the past few seasons to continually mix the tank meta up by making regular balance changes to a number of different heroes, and the season six mid-cycle patch is not different.
This time around, the hero design team seems to have targeted Zarya as a tank that needed a little bit of love as they substantially buffed her Projected Barrier today.
Season 6 mid-cycle Zarya hero changes
Projected Barrier
- Health increased to 225, up from 200.
- Cooldown decreased to eight seconds, down from 10.
- Size increased 15 percent.
The buff was among the most notable changes to come in the season six mid-cycle patch, and it will almost assuredly result in an uptick in her pick rate, as well as her winrate. However, the game’s lead hero designer Alec Dawson made sure to post to social media to clarify some things about the buffs. This is only for Zarya’s Projected Barrier—not her personal one.
“This change is only to Zarya’s Projected Barrier (the one she uses on allies),” he said. “Her Particle Barrier (the one she uses on herself) still is at 200 Health, cooldown of 10s, and original size.”
In the notes, the devs added that this change is intended to encourage Zarya players to use their barrier on other players instead of just on themselves. With Overwatch 2 being a team-based game, it makes sense that the devs might want to convince players to work together and support one another.
“Zarya often spends both barrier charges on herself as it is usually more consistent for building energy,” the notes said. “The change to Projected Barrier incentivizes using the barrier for her allies more often.”
Earlier this year, numerous other tanks received substantive changes to their kits including Junker Queen in the season four mid-cycle patch, and Orisa more recently in the season five mid-cycle patch. Clearly, the tank meta will continue to see some tweaks moving forward with these changes to Zarya—not to mention the ever-present Roadhog questions.
