MATCHMAKING UPDATES
- When a player is currently on a loss streak, the matchmaker will try to avoid putting the player on a team that is statistically calculated to have a lower chance of winning.
HERO UPDATES
GENERAL
- Armor health has been reverted to provide a flat damage reduction of 5 per projectile, up to a maximum of 50% damage reduction.
- Out-of-combat health regeneration changed from 20 health per second to 10 health per second + 5% of maximum health.
Developer comment: Armor is being reverted to its original functionality to better resistance rapid fire damage and shotgun-type weapons. Out-of-combat health regeneration has been a positive but subtle addition to the game, but had a much smaller impact for tank heroes due to their massive health pools, so we’re adjusting it to heal for a percentage of maximum health.
TANKS
Role Passive
- Tanks now have 25% damage reduction against critical headshot damage.
- Knockback resistance increased from 30% to 50%
Developer Comment: Although armor health will now be more effective in some of the more difficult matchups, it will also be losing potency against the typically slower, higher damage instances. To help reduce the feeling of tanks being taken out too quickly by high bursts of damage, the role-wide passive now provides improved defense against critical headshot damage.
Junker Queen
Commanding Shout
- Can now be activated while using other abilities.
- Cooldown reduced from 14 to 12 seconds.
Developer Comment: Junker Queen being able to activate Commanding Shout while swinging her axe or during her Ultimate ability will make it more responsive for when an additional burst of health or movement speed is needed.
Sigma
Gravitic Flux
- No longer requires line of sight to the center of the effect.
Developer Comment: Similar to how Graviton Surge functions, Gravitic Flux no longer needs line of sight to affect enemy targets in its area. There are a fair amount of counterplay options to deal with this ultimate so we’re making it more reliable to grab enemy targets within its area of effect.
Wrecking Ball
Grappling Claw
- Impact damage increased from 50 to 60.
Piledriver
- Movement lockout duration for enemies increased from 0.5 to 0.75 seconds.
Minefield
- Damage increased from 130 to 165.
- Explosion knockback increased from 5 to 10.
Developer Comment: Wrecking Ball has been performing much better after his recent update and these tuning changes will help his abilities feel more impactful.
Zarya
Graviton Surge
- Radius increased from 6 to 7 meters.
- Duration increased from 3.5 to 4 seconds
Developer Comment: We have been increasing the value of some tank ultimate abilities to account for the increased health pools and it helps to make the decision of when to counter-swap more of an interesting tradeoff. Graviton Surge was still very useful to set up combos with other ultimate abilities but we want to makes sure it’s powerful enough on its own.
DAMAGE
Junkrat
Frag Launcher
- Impact damage increased from 40 to 45 (Total damage increased from 120 to 125).
Developer Comment: Junkrat’s weapon has great damage output but is unreliable outside of close range due to its slow projectile speed, which is an intended drawback to its high output. The Season 9 health changes affected Junkrat more than most other heroes since it now requires one more shot to secure an elimination. We’re increasing the damage on direct impacts to return to 2 direct hits for an elimination, without making his combo with Concussion Mine as deadly as before since that one is much easier to execute.
Echo
Duplicate
- Ultimate gain multiplier while transformed increased from 4 to 4.5.
Developer Comment: While the main benefit of Duplicate is a second health pool and the utility of another hero’s abilities, it was often too difficult to charge an ultimate in the Duplicate time limit so we’re increasing the bonus multiplier slightly.
Hanzo
Dragonstrike
- Speed increased from 12 to 15 meters per second.
Developer Comment: The Dragonstrike ultimate hasn’t been very effective outside of being used in a combo with other abilities that restrict enemy movement, so we’re increasing its speed to help position it as less of a zoning tool and more likely to deal some damage.
SUPPORT
Brigitte
Rally
- Now resets Shield Bash cooldown upon activation.
Developer Comment: Resetting the Shield Bash cooldown on ultimate activation was too much potential burst damage for Brigitte when the average maximum health of everyone was lower, but it’s much more reasonable now that it won’t be as lethal.