Overwatch 2 is giving DPS heroes some significant buffs in Season 17 to better compete with supports and tanks.
Season 17 of Overwatch 2 is set to arrive on June 24 and the devs have revealed an assortment of global buffs coming in a patch once S17 is live.
In a blog post, former Overwatch pro turned dev, Scott ‘Custa’ Kennedy, delved into how the team plans to adjust certain characters and how some of the data from hero bans will influence their decisions.
The DPS role in particular is getting some upgrades that should greatly switch up how the game is played.
OW2 DPS heroes getting global buffs in Season 17 patch
According to Kennedy, the damage hero role passive in which dealing damage to enemies lowers the amount of healing they receive is getting increased in the upcoming patch.
“One big adjustment heading to Season 17 is increasing the damage role passive healing reduction from 25% to 30%, which should help damage dealers better contend with the amount of healing that support Heroes are churning out,” he explained.
Furthermore, the global passive in which health regenerates after not taking damage after a certain amount of time is getting increased from 5 seconds to 6.
These two changes combined mean that heroes will be far easier to eliminate when DPS deal damage to them and make the role more impactful.
That’s not all, though. Kennedy also revealed that on an individual level, Bastion is getting some improvements to make him more survivable.
Instead of increasing his armor or health, the devs are reducing his size by 10%. Originally, they wanted him to be 15% smaller, but this apparently made the Omnic too “cute.”
Blizzard EntertainmentBastion is getting his size reduced by 10% in Season 17.
“It’s a testament to the many different ways we can change and balance the game for every hero,” he noted.
Furthermore, while it’s not coming when Season 17 debuts, the devs have taken note of how often Sombra is banned in matches and are planning yet another rework with discussions ongoing.
“She’s a complex case that can’t be solved overnight, but know the balance team has her in their sights.”
We’ll have to see exactly how the devs adjust her kit yet again, but don’t expect to see it anytime soon, as reworks can take a lot of time, especially if new abilities or VFX are required.
Season 17 is also set to introduce map voting, a long-awaited feature that will finally put more control in players’ hands as to what map and mode they compete on.
More balance updates are expected to be revealed ahead of Season 17’s launch on June 24, but a full trailer for all of S17’s offerings is scheduled to be unveiled on June 17.
