A long awaited Overwatch 2 patch addressing the overwhelming power of Roadhog and Sojourn is out. Let’s look at the changes.
The day is finally here: An Overwatch 2 patch that brings Roadhog and Sojourn back down to earth. Silver rank players, rejoice, for your day has come!
In reality, Roadhog was one of those Heroes that's always been one or two steps away from being busted. His ability to drag any enemy out of position and essentially delete them with one follow-up button press is fierce. However, that had always been tempered by the fact that the Hero has more weaknesses than almost anyone else in the game.
Enter, Kiriko. Her combination of Cleansing Ofuda and Ultimate removed and negated all of Roadhog's faults. Today's Overwatch 2 patch addresses those issues, while also providing some down-tuning across the board to some of the game's most popular Heroes in the meta.
Let's look at the specifics. Click here for the full patch notes.
Overwatch 2 patch notes: Makin' the bacon
ROADHOG
Chain Hook
- Impact damage reduced from 30 to 5
- The enemy final position distance from Roadhog after being pulled increased from 3 to 4 meters
Scrap Gun
- Damage per pellet reduced from 6.6 to 6
- Recovery time reduced from 0.85 to 0.8 seconds
- Reload time reduced from 2 to 1.75 seconds
- Maximum ammo increased from 5 to 6
Roadhog is going to see a severe damage reduction due to this Overwatch 2 patch. While his overall damage sees a nerf thanks to the pellet damage reduction, this could also be seen as a positive for the tank. The ammo increase and reload time reduction means your focus will move to landing right-clicks, one of the best shield-busting guns in the game. Likewise, the increase to how far away an enemy is from Roadhog when chained now makes it far easier to score environmental kills.
As a Roadhog player I'm choosing to see this as a positive, bringing the Hero in line with the rest of the game. Time to start thinking long and hard about who you hook and when, kids.
ORISA
Fortify
- Health bonus reduced from 125 to 75
This is fine. Fortify is such a big move, but the health increase from it almost feels like an afterthought. After all, I'm hitting that Shift button to become immune to crowd control, not to gain health. In a world where, at low levels, Orisa feels invincible, this may lead to more balanced play.
Truth time for Sojourn
SOJOURN
Railgun
- Energy gain is no longer based on damage done by primary fire. Each primary fire hit against an enemy player now grants 5 energy
- Primary fire damage per projectile reduced from 10 to 9
It's entirely possible that Sojourn so much isn't the issue here, as it was Heroes who could boost the DPS ace. "Previously, damage boosts and critical damage had an amplified effect for Sojourn since it reduced the time to build energy and lowered the threshold at which her Railgun secondary fire became lethal," says the Overwatch 2 patch notes.
And while Sojourn's ability to ramp energy gains was getting out of control, I still feel like this is a fair middleground. This also means that a Mercy boost or Kiriko Ultimate doesn't send an enemy Sojourn out on an unstoppable killing spree.
Speaking of...
KIRIKO
Healing Ofuda
- Recovery time increased from 0.85 to 1 second
This seems like a weird change to make, especially given the developer note on it. "We’ve seen players tend to get overly focused on maximizing her healing potential and only use primary fire for extended periods of time."
Well, gee: Nothing makes me want to not heal for extended amounts of time like nerfing the speed at which I can heal. It feels like a backwards adjustment, especially when Kiriko's healing output doesn't always feel as strong compared to the likes of Ana or Moira. But, hey: There's always next patch.
Stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Overwatch 2 patch notes and updates.