Lifeweaver is getting buffs to healing and damage, Mei can produce a stronger slowing effect, and many more changes are coming.
Season 4 of Overwatch 2 should end on June 19th, and Blizzard Entertainment already has some nerfs planned for Season 5. In a new blog post, game director Aaron Keller confirmed that Junker Queen saw increased playtime since buffs to her healing. As a result, her Ultimate cost is slightly increasing while Commanding Shout will only grant 150 temporary HP.
Lifeweaver is also getting some buffs to his healing and damage, a slightly smaller hitbox, “quality of life changes” to Petal Platform, and even healing when using Life Grip. More details are coming, but additional changes will be made to both heroes “if necessary” afterwards.
As for long-standing heroes like Widowmaker and Hanzo, the former’s damage falloff will be 40 to 60 meters instead of 70 to 100 meters. The damage falloff scalar will also be 50 percent, instead of 30, but she can no longer one-shot kill 200 HP heroes that are over 50 meters away.
Hanzo’s damage is also getting a nerf to prevent one-shotting 250 HP heroes, and his Sonic Arrows will be “more recognizable by the enemy team – the intent here is to reduce his kills that feel like they come out of nowhere.” No more random logs, at least if the enemy team is paying attention.
Finally, while CC isn’t returning to dominance, some characters are getting heftier crowd-control effects. Specifically, Mei’s Endothermic Blaster will create a stronger slowing effect for 1.5 seconds after some build-up. Cassidy’s Magnetic Grenade will also slow and silence movement skills at the cost of dealing less damage.