The latest Overwatch PTR patch saw some much-needed changes to a few heroes of the likes of Widowmaker, Junkrat, Orisa, and Roadhog. These changes could put these heroes in a much better place in the game and hopefully, for a few of them they would help them from being labelled a “Troll Pick”.These changes have come after the Summer Games Event went live.
Blizzard has also added a brand new game mode into the PTR, FFA Deathmatch, and Team Deathmatch, moving away from the team based game style for these modes.These games will heavily rely on individual work and in order to be victorious, you will need to perform well and manage to get eliminations to win the game.These new games modes will also allow the player to play a certain hero that they don’t consider to be good at and would like to practice them more.
Hero Changes
Orisa
Fusion Cannon
- 20% increased projectile speed
Protective Barrier
- Barrier size increased by 20%
- Barrier shape has been changed to allow for more coverage from enemies that are below the barrier
Her increased projectile speed and barrier size provide a well-needed change to Orisa, she will be able to output more damage much faster than before, while being protected by her 20% increased barrier size. The change also allows players to be able to track the enemy heroes much easier than before as you will not need to lead your bullets as much anymore.
Developer Comments: “The projectile speed increase helps Orisa’s consistency, especially at medium ranges (or further). Her barrier size has been increased to better protect her team, and the new shape makes the shield more effective when it’s used on slopes or on top of objects (such as a payload)”
Junkrat
Concussion Mine
- Concussion Mine can now hold up to 2 charges
RIP – Tire
- Riptire speed has been increased by 30%
- There is no time limit when wall climbing.
The change to Junkrats Concussion Mine allows players to output more damage more often while giving him more mobility to blast him into the air to get him out of those sticky situations. Junkrats increased speed of his RIP-Tire makes his ultimate last a whole lot longer than it supposed to especially when moving from wall to wall to postpone the time limit on it.
Developer Comments: “Giving the Junkrat the ability to store two concussion mines adds some much-needed flexibility and versatility to his kit, particularly when using the mines for mobility. RIP-Tire’s damage has always been very good, but it was often difficult to steer the tire into position before it was destroyed. Increasing its speed will allow players to effectively detonate the tire more often and decrease the amount of time that Junkrat is vulnerable while controlling it”.
Roadhog
Take A Breather
- Roadhog can now heal while moving at full speed.
- Damage taken while healing reduced by 50%
Probably one of the biggest changes on the PTR that everyone’s eyes are on at the moment. This buff to Roadhog allows him to truly fill the role of a tank instead of playing the typical game style that used to be the flanking hog before his hook combination was nerfed. roadhog at the moment in the live servers is in a bad place, currently, he is seen as an ultimate battery, especially for heroes like Tracer, Sombra, and mostly Reaper. With the ability to heal while moving at full speed combined with the 50% damage reduction when healing himself will hopefully be enough to make Roadhog viable again. I hope to see more of Roadhog and I’m sure many of you guys do too.
Developer Comments: “These changes help Roadhog be much more aggressive when looking for hook targets or blocking for his team. The combination of these effects significantly increases Roadhog’s sustainability and survivability”
Widowmaker
Grapple Hook
- Cooldown has been reduced from 12 seconds to 8 seconds
Venom Mine
- Affected targets are now visible through walls (to you as Widowmaker only)
Widowmaker received a straight up buff to her abilities, her grapple hook cool down received a 4-second knock off and this is a bigger change than a lot of people think it is, with this change she will be able to move across the map to different locations more often. Any good widowmaker player will be very happy with this change and will use it to its full potential.
Developer Comments: “Widowmaker is extremely powerful in the right hands, but her abilities often felt a little weak. The Grappling Hook cooldown reduction means she is more likely to have it available when she needs to escape. Venom Mine is intended to be an early warning system, uncovering enemies that are attempting to flank her or her team. With this change, she can see enemies when they trigger the mine, even if they’re on the other side of a wall”.
New Deathmatch Map: Château Guillard
Château Guillard is located near Annecy in southeastern France. For hundreds of years, it was the estate of the influential Guillard family, until it gradually fell into disrepair after the family’s power waned in the decades after the Revolution. Recently, the château has found a new owner: the Talon agent Widowmaker, who has returned to her family’s ancestral home.
Deathmatch
In this new game mode, 8 players will go head to head in a classic free for all deathmatch, players will earn 1 point each time they land a final blow on an enemy. players will lose 1 point for deaths by any self-inflicted damage or environmental deaths i.e falling off a cliff. The players will battle it out until one player reaches the score of 20 with all the scores being tracked by a new scoreboard.
Team Deathmatch
In TDM, 2 teams of 4 players battle it out until one team reaches the score of 30 points. The same as the Deathmatch, each player will score 1 point for their team when landing the final blow on an enemy player, and lose 1 point for their team whenever they die by falling off a cliff or accidentally killing themselves. If any player is resurrected before they respawn the point the enemy team received will be deducted as if the kill did not even happen.
We put together some gameplay footage of both the Deathmatch and the Team Deathmatch and I found the game mode to be a lot of fun and I could personally say that I would be spending a lot of time in these modes. The game mode rewards you for being a good individual player, and gives you the platform to showcase your skills against other people at your level, so get ready for battle as I feel that when this patch hits the live server it’s going to be a popular mode to blow off steam after a long day of competitive.
Take a look at some gameplay below as well as a showcase of the new hero changes. Let us know what you guys think about the game mode in the comments section.
