Overwatch 2: Heroes we want to see reworked

Of all the games I’ve played this generation, none have received as much attention, dedication and, at times, frustration, as Overwatch has. Safe to say I know a thing or two about the game, including what it does well, and what it does not so well.

Regardless of what your thoughts are on the current state of Overwatch, you have to give it to Blizzard for keeping the experience relatively balanced across a large character roster, more than four years, and 24 competitive seasons.

There’s no doubt that the game has changed a lot since season one way back in May 2016, but that’s to be expected for a game as old as Overwatch, and whether it’s changed for good or bad is still very much up for debate — I personally sit somewhere in the middle — but there’s still no doubting that it’s filled the void nicely while Blizzard works on the highly anticipated Overwatch 2.

That’s not to say that the lack of information and updates surrounding Overwatch 2 hasn’t been frustrating. In fact, I’ve already discussed this at length in this article, and I feel most dedicated Overwatch fans would agree that both a lack of content in the main game, alongside a lack of Overwatch 2 updates, has left the community in limbo, lingering between releases and with a new generation of consoles and PC hardware on the horizon.

Nonetheless, while Blizzard keeps Overwatch 2 under wraps, likely until Blizzcon 2021 in early 2021, we can still discuss, fantasise and debate what should or shouldn’t be included in Overwatch 2.

I’ve been playing a lot of Overwatch lately, particularly with the new Tracer event only recently going live, and so I’ve been thinking a lot about what can improve moving into Overwatch 2, namely for a few select heroes. So on that, I’ve put together a list of heroes I believe badly need a rework — at the very least — in Overwatch 2. What are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments below!

Symmetra rework

Symmetra is a hero I hold quite dear to my heart. Her initial kit was spectacularly over-powered yet weirdly underutilised by the community, namely at the competitive level

As with every major chance in Overwatch, Blizzard caved to pro requests to rework her, and what we ended up with — as we have now — is a Zarya-esque Support-DPS, with level damage capacity, but more agility and tactical variance on the battlefield.

Whether or not she’s actually in a better place now compared to at launch is up for much debate — I’d argue she isn’t, because she was much more fun to play initially — but I am uneasy about changing a hero simply because they’re difficult to counter and manage. That happened with Symmetra, and it still makes me sad.

With Overwatch 2, I hope to see a bit more respect given to Symmetra. Her backstory points to more than just a hybrid of other heroes, and so there needs to be more overall power in her abilities.

There’s been a lot of talk about her future rework stats, and I don’t mind the idea about her turrets healing teammates. Lead hero designer, Geoff Goodman, always one to engage the community across social media and the Blizzard forums, unearthed some interesting rework scenarios for the likes of Symmetra and Mei, and boy do they sound, erm, interesting.

Symmetra is perhaps the most intriguing hero in the game: she went from being an annoying and shockingly-OP “Support” hero, stacking a two-pronged Ultimate that could quite literally turn the match on its head in a matter of seconds. A well-placed teleporter or shield generator could provide a team with much-needed support during integral attacks or defenses, although her lack of genuine healing abilities — not to mention limited fire range — made her more and more undesirable the further up the skill ranks you went.

A rework in May 2018 saw her change from an opportunistic Support hero, to a Damage hero distinctively lacking in identity. She’s had her current kit now for longer than her OG kit, although ask any diehard Symmary fan and they’re likely longing for a return to her original kit.

The latest proposed changes by Goodman may actually see her brought further in line with her Support routes, although not by much.

“[We] tried Symmetra as a Support hero where her turrets healed instead of dealt damage,” Goodman said in a recent Reddit AMA. “This was sort of fun but was kind of frustrating as a Symm player because Overwatch moves so fast.

We started trying to tune the turrets to have super high range, or being able to have a ton of them out, etc. It ended up just feeling like a mismatch, but honestly I’d be up for taking another crack at it at some point.”

Blizzard has long teased the prospect of a major Symmetra rework, and it’s great to hear a key member of the development team is still actively considering such changes.

Mei rework

The thought of Mei as a tank has me majorly intrigued, and while it is extremely unlikely to occur, I still feel like there’s some major work needed to get Mei up to being the standard of hero we know she can be.

Mei has always been a fascinating Damage hero, even during her time in the Defense tier. Her secondary deals a ridiculous amount of damage, whilst her primary fire can cause havoc if utilised correctly alongside her healing and blocking abilities.

That said, something doesn’t feel “right” about her current place in the meta, and Goodman appears to agree.

“Mei as a tank comes up quite a bit, its something we can maybe try,” he explained. “She would have to get nearly reworked though, for example her secondary fire is far too much [damage] and long range to go on a Tank, but its a possibility.”

It certainly seems as though there is a lot of focus being put onto lesser-played DPS heroes heading into Overwatch 2. It’s a clean slate for Blizzard essentially, and so fingers crossed that the likes of Symmetra and Mei get a good look-in.

Reinhardt rework

Reinhardt has seen quite a few changes over the years as one of Overwatch‘s flagship tanks, albeit minimal overall change to his kit. That could change for the better in Overwatch 2, and it could help propel one of the game’s most popular characters back into the competitive meta.

Reinhardt has never really needed a rework because he’s always been so relatively well-placed. Some issues with his Ultimate and swing radius impacted his place in the meta in early competitive seasons, but for the most part he’s been fairly well represented.

Unfortunately, nerfs to the likes of Lucio mean Reinhardt is less appealing in faster metas, where the likes of Winston, DVa, Wrecking Ball can get to the point quickly, and Roadhog, while slow, has longer staying power. So he’s slipped down the meta ratings, but through no fault of his overall kit.

That said, I do think there’s a few ways to improve on what he has to offer.

Firstly, it would be great if his swing caused more pushback damage at the highest peak damage counter. For example, if you clip an opponent at the optimal moment of a swing, this should push them back, too. However, simply clipping them only causes slight damage output.

With his Firestrike, the Ultimate alone can do some significant damage if combo’d up with other Ultimates, but I like the thought of it doing ongoing damage output over time, similar to an Ashe dynamite blast. It doesn’t need to be fire, but maybe a longer “stun” damage bonus to any enemy players can in the line of the strike.

Overall what I’m looking for is a Reinhardt kit with strong overall power in thecore function of his powers.

What are your thoughts? And which heroes would you like to see rework for Overwatch 2? Sound off in the comments below!