Overwatch 2 Lifeweaver rework: Controls, abilities, and more

When Lifeweaver first entered Overwatch 2, players weren't happy about his controls and passive. Game director Aaron Keller discussed the Lifeweaver rework in terms of the changes made since then, what he's still missing, and what players can expect in the future.

In the past few weeks, Lifeweaver received buffs and tweaks. Overwatch 2 updated his control scheme to make it more fluid. Lifeweaver also had an increase in healing ammo capacity, a decrease in weapon spread, and a buff to his Tree of Life ultimate.

"As a result, his win rate increased across the game, with the lowest skill tiers seeing a win rate of around 45%, but the win rate quickly dropping off at higher skill ratings," Keller said.

He also stated that determining the impact of Lifeweaver's changes was challenging because they coincided with updates to his controls. Keller noted how estimating the effect of a better control scheme proved more difficult.

"The team was uncertain of how much the control scheme change would affect the hero's win rate, but they have a solid foundation to build upon," he explained in an official post. "The next step is to analyze the results of the changes."

Lifeweaver's increased ammo capacity on his healing and his Tree of Life ultimate buff resulted in higher healing outputs. Meanwhile, tightening his weapon spread led to marginally-increased kills and eliminations.

"Along with these stats, another piece of the puzzle is that Lifeweaver has one of the lowest, if not the lowest, death rate for support heroes in the game," Keller noted.

"So, we have a support hero that has one of the highest healing rates and one of the lowest death rates in the game. That should be good, right?" Keller said. He then acknowledged how Lifeweaver still needs to be appealing to players beyond raw numbers.

Lifeweaver stands out in Overwatch 2 because of his Life Grip and Petal Platform utilities. However, their impact is inconsistent since players are either waiting to use them or they're not being used well by Lifeweaver himself or his teammates, according to Keller.

As for future Lifeweaver updates, Keller said that the Overwatch 2 team wants players to have more incentive to pick him. He hinted at a light Thorn Volley buff alongside reduced hit volumes. The ultimate goal will be to give Lifeweaver a defined team role.

"This could be leaning harder into his healing effectiveness through a new passive or bringing additional benefits to some of his utility-focused abilities," Keller noted. "With a defensive-based hero, we have to be careful how far we go in terms of buffing raw healing and defensive abilities — too far can negatively disrupt the overall flow of an engagement."

Keller said his team hopes to have the next set of changes ready for Overwatch 2 Season 5.

That's all for now. Stay tuned on esports.gg for more news and updates!