The Tank role is set for big changes in Overwatch 2 Season 2, with a Doomfist buff and Zarya nerf high on the agenda at Overwatch HQ.
Overwatch 2 Season 1 is now firmly underway, and the Overwatch team at Blizzard is working hard to continually refine and balance the meta tier. Sombra is already facing some changes following a period of dominance — and arguably her strongest position in the meta in years — and also in Blizzard’s sights are two Tanks high on the winrate scale.
The shift to 5v5 has prompted an enhanced focus and prioritisation of the Tank role. With only one Tank filling the team composition, DPS and Support picks are often shaped around the style of the selected tank, such is the increased importance of the role in role queue modes.
D.Va is firmly on the minds of Overwatch 2 players, as multiple buffs through the different betas, namely to her Defense Matrix and Micro Missiles, have seen her be one of the more sustainable heroes in the game. She’s also one of the toughest to battle against and defeat. It’s immediately obvious that you’re “out of mech” far less often than you would have been in Overwatch, mostly due to the boosted effectiveness of her Defense Matrix and HP.
However, interestingly, she isn’t even amongst the most successful Tanks in the game, with Reinhardt, Sigma, and Zarya outranking her on the win rate scale.
A new blog post by the Overwatch team indicated that the aforementioned trio share a 53% average unmirrored win rate, which puts them firmly in Blizzard’s sights for some changes, and potential nerfs. Having three Tanks split effectively half of all matches as wins is perhaps a little too unbalanced, and while the game can never be quite perfect, Blizzard was probably hoping for shield Tanks to be more aligned with other Tanks. It’s certainly no surprise that Orisa isn’t included in the list of most successful tanks.
Zarya looks primed for some changes, with her new ability to choose where to place each of her Particle Barriers leading her to building up her energy much faster than usual.
“[This] is something we’re currently keeping a close eye on for potential changes next season,” the team explained.
Interestingly, and perhaps as a means to help boost his place in the meta, Doomfist is being continually assessed, as his shift from the DPS to the Tank role has seen both his usage fall down significantly — unsurprising given there’s only one Tank per team — but also his overall success as a hero.
“As we look to Season Two, we think it makes sense to evaluate his overall tanking ability and potentially make improvements to Power Block and Meteor Strike,” Blizzard explained.
It seems like we have quite a bit on the horizon for the Tank role in Overwatch 2 Season 2.
