Overwatch patch notes: August 13 update nerfs Brig and shields, buffs Zenyatta

Zenyatta mains, rejoice: the buff you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived!

The patch notes for the latest Overwatch update lift the lid on a host of intriguing changes that are sure to change the dynamic nature of the shooter.

At the forefront of the latest update is a slew of nerfs to shields across the roster, namely Brigitte, who is probably the biggest loser from this update.

Her base health is been nerfed from 200 to 150, which stretches the usefulness of her shield but means she’s going to be relying on the buffer far more often than she’s used to.

Additionally, her Inspire passive ability has also been hit with a nerf, eating away at her healing ability to teammates nearby.

Brig has been in a strange place for quite some time, but the community has been calling out for some sort of change to the way she’s approached on the battlefield.

At higher ranks she appears to be shockingly OP, whilst on lower ranks she’s underutilised to such a level that these nerfs probably won’t impact the Bronze to Gold meta.

Orisa is another that appears to have been the cause of much focus in this update: her shield drops to 200 from 250, which is a big hit and makes her vulnerable given her cooldown hasn’t changed at all.

Additionally, the Halt ability has had its radius shortened, so you’ll need to be closer to an enemy if you want to pull off those illustrious environmental kills.

On the Damage front, Blizzard appears intent on giving the game a destructive edge.

Zenyatta, Symmetra, Roadhog and Pharah have all been nerfed in some capacity, with Zen’s update probably the cause for most celebration: his Orb of Destruction secondary has seen a charge rate increase to 15% — or 0.6 seconds down to 0.52 seconds per orb — while the rate of fire has been increased from 8.5 to 9 shots per second.

Roadhog stands to be a powerful foe (if he wasn’t already): his ammo has been reduced but overall damage per projectile has been buffed from 6 to 7. So a perfectly landed hook-chain-shot combo is all the more effective.

Check out the full patch notes below.

Brigitte

General

• Base health lowered from 200 to 150

Inspire

• Total healing decreased from 130 to 90 (Healing reduced from 21 to 15 health per second)
• Self-healing is no longer reduced by half

Developer Comments:

• After gaining multiple Repair Pack charges, Brigitte was enabled to play at safer distances while still having a powerful impact on her team. Combined with her personal barrier, she ended up not needing as much survivability in terms of raw health.
• Inspire has also had a powerful team impact despite being hard to feel due to its passive nature, so we are lowering its team-wide healing output while making it more useful for Brigitte herself.

Orisa

General

• Base armor reduced from 250 to 200

Halt!

• Radius reduced from 7 to 4 meters
• Projectile speed increased from 20 to 30

Developer Comments: The large radius of Orisa’s Halt! ability made it too effective in setting up combos against large groups of enemies on a relatively short cooldown. The changes to the projectile speed and radius are aimed at shifting its use to be more effective at catching single targets.

Pharah

Hover Jets

• Movement speed increased 20%
• Regeneration rate reduced from 50 to 35 per second

Barrage

• Duration reduced from 3 to 2.5 seconds

Developer Comments:

• We’re making some adjustments to Hover Jets that should increase her flight speed and make her more agile. To compensate for this change, we’re also lowering her hover uptime.
• Rocket Barrage has such immense damage output that the tail end of the duration was often more of a liability than a benefit, especially with fewer barriers around to blast through.

Roadhog

Scrap Gun

• (General) Ammo reduced from 6 to 5
• (General) Damage per projectile increased from 6 to 7
• (General) Recovery increased from 0.7 to 0.85 seconds

Developer Comments: These weapon changes are intended to make Roadhog’s Chain Hook combo more consistent and bring back some of the heavyweight feeling it had in the past.

Sigma

Experimental Barrier

• Health reduced from 900 to 700
• Regeneration rate reduced from 120 to 80 per second

Kinetic Grasp

• Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds

Developer Comments: Given Sigma’s offensive strength with Hyperspheres and Accretion, we have reduced some of his defensive tools to bring him more in line with other Tank heroes.

Symmetra

Teleporter

• Cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds

Developer Comments: We’re reducing the cooldown of the Teleporter to help lower the friction between needing to use it as both a personal and team-focused mobility tool.

Zenyatta

Orb of Destruction

• (Secondary Fire) Charge rate increased 15% (0.6 down to 0.52 seconds per orb)
• (Secondary Fire) Rate of fire increased from 8.5 to 9 shots per second

Developer Comments: Zenyatta has low healing and mobility outside of his ultimate but makes up for it with high potential damage output. With the recently lowered barrier uptime resulting in an overall faster pace of the game, we want to make sure Zenyatta still excels at his strengths. This change will make his charged attack flow a bit better in combat.