Overwatch: Balanced Edition

This mode is still a WIP as not all heroes have been balanced yet. I will continue to add regular updates when possible.

This is my attempt to balance Overwatch in a way that I believe fixes many problems the game has, mainly:

• Double barrier meta leading to all barrier tanks either being nerfed into the ground or unable to get value without lots of support
• Off tanks having no particular role, leading to them either being unviable or overpowered beefy DPS heroes (cough Roadhog cough)
• Too many DPS heroes; not enough variety in tank role, leading to inflated DPS queue times

I would appreciate people testing these changes with others, as it is more helpful to test them in more real situations to judge their balance. Included in the workshop settings (turned ON by default) are rules to add stationary dummy bots from either team, and to damage allied bots and yourself to test healing.

If you test the changes, please leave a comment giving feedback on whether you think they are good, bad, balanced, not balanced etc. The only way for me to know whether the changes are good is for people to test them and feed back their thoughts, so comments would be greatly appreciated. Please do not leave trolly comments saying that all of the changes are rubbish without justifying it, or your commemt will be ignored.

Changes:

Tank role split into Main Tank and Off Tank
In order to allow barrier tanks out from the hole in the ground that Blizzard have nerfed them into without risking double barrier meta reigning supreme again, tanks have been split into Main Tank and Off Tank, as their drastically different roles made the tank role hard to balance. The new team composition will be 1-1-2-2, with the player in slot 1 of the team on Main Tank, slot 2 on Off Tank, 3 and 4 on Damage, and 5 and 6 on Support. I have also moved some DPS heroes into different roles to even the spread more.

Main Tank

• Heroes: Brigitte, Orisa, Reinhardt, Sigma, Symmetra, Winston
• General role: Protecting the whole team
• In order to compensate for there only being 1 main tank per team, I have increased each main tank's defensive capabilities, whilst making them all more dynamic and unique, making the choice of which to pick more important.

Off Tank

• Heroes: Bastion, D.Va, Mei, Roadhog, Torbjörn, Wrecking Ball, Zarya
• General Roles: Bodyguard (protecting individual allies through peel), creating space for the Main Tank to control, Zoning/Area Denial
• Now that there is always an off tank on the team, I have balanced them to give them more defined and beneficial roles on the team, instead off them just being DPS heroes with more health.

Hero Changes

Ana

Biotic Rifle

• Ammo increased from 12 to 14

Biotic Rifle (Scoped)

• Damage increased from 70 to 110
• Healing increased from 70 to 110
• Ammo cost increased from 1 to 2

Biotic Grenade

• Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds

Nano Boost

• Ultimate generation reduced by 10%

Comments
These changes are meant to allow more flexibility and adaptability in Ana's kit and allow better players to capitalise on good decision making. With these changes, Ana's unscoped shots will deal more damage/healing over time, whereas her scoped shots are better for burst healing.

Ashe

The Viper

• Ammo reduced from 12 to 10

Coach Gun

• Damage per pellet increased from 6 to 18 (total damage now 270)
• No longer knocks back enemies or Ashe
• Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds

Dynamite

• Now explodes immediately on contact with the floor

B.O.B.

• Duration increased from 10 to 16 seconds
• Ultimate generation reduced by 40%

Overall Comments
One way in which I am balancing the tank roles is to give more heroes effective ways of dealing with them. One of these was Hanzo's tankbuster overhaul, and this is another. I have given Ashe the ability to deal extreme amounts of damage up close, whilst removing her crowd control and her movement option in order to stop her from just having free reign from any high ground.
The change to Dynamite turns it into more of a molotov type ability and improves its consistency, while the changes to B.O.B. make him a more serious threat that must be dealt with, as he should be (FEAR BOB).

Baptiste

General

• Health increased by 50 shields (total health now 250)

Biotic Launcher (Primary)

• Damage reduced from 24-12 to 21.6-10.8
• Ammo reduced from 45 to 36

Biotic Launcher (Secondary)

• Projectile speed increased from 60 to 72 metres per second
• Projectile gravity increased by 30%
• Ammo reduced from 10 to 8

Immortality Field

• Projectile speed increased from 60 to 72 metres per second
• Projectile gravity increased by 30%
• Cooldown reduced from 25 to 22.5 seconds

Amplification Matrix

• Duration reduced from 10 to 9 seconds

Comments
These changes are meant to reign in Baptiste's general power, whilst boosting his strengths as a durable, defensive healer. His healing has been made more reliable, but less abundant, and I have reduced the power of his weapon a little (with it now requiring one extra shot to kill a 200 health enemy) without making it useless.

Bastion

General

• Moved to the Off Tank role
• Health increased from 200 to 300
• Armor increased from 100 to 200 (total health is now 500)

Configuration: Recon

• Ammo capacity reduced from 35 to 30

Self-Repair

• Healing per second increased from 90 to 135
• Maximum duration reduced from 3.33 to 2 seconds
• Recharge rate reduced by 80%

Reconfigure

• Now incurs a 8 second cooldown upon switching from Sentry mode to Recon mode

Configuration: Sentry

• Ammo capacity reduced from 300 to 255
• Bastion can no longer reload manually or automatically within Sentry mode

New Ability 2 (Configuration: Recon) - ARDOS (Automatic Reactive Defence/Offence System)

• Places a mark on the closest ally to your reticle
• The marked ally cannot be brought below 1 health while the ARDOS is on them, and 50% of damage received by the ally is also dealt to the attacker e.g. If Soldier: 76 hits the ally dealing 19 damage, the Soldier: 76 will also take 9.5 damage
• Lasts for 5 seconds
• 12 second cooldown

New Ability 2 (Configuration: Sentry) - Mortar Strike

• Marks the targeted area for a mortar strike. After a short delay, the area is bombarded, dealing damage to all enemies in the area and lighting them on fire
• Damage: 100
• Damage per second (burn): 34
• Duration (burn): 3 seconds
• Area of effect radius: 6 metres
• Casting time: 3 seconds
• Cooldown: 24 seconds

Note: The cooldown of ARDOS/Mortar Strike is shared between both abilities, so if you use Mortar Strike and immediately switch to Recon, you will have to wait 24 seconds before you can use ARDOS.

Configuration: Tank

• Projectile speed increased from 60 to 120 metres per second
• Explosion knockback increased by 50%
• Ultimate generation reduced by 10%

Comments
Bastion has always felt frustrating to deal with in lower ranks, while also being unviable in higher ranks. As a character who already has more health than all other heroes in his class, and takes less damage in his most powerful forms, I decided to simply make him an Off Tank to solidify his role of area denial and front line defence. I also added a new ability that changes depending on his current configuration, in order to make him more engaging, as well as allow him to fill two different Off Tank roles: ARDOS allows Recon mode to protect individual allies as an indirect bodyguard, while Mortar Strike allows Sentry mode to be very effective at laying siege to tightly grouped team compositions through zoning. Because Bastion now has limited firepower in Sentry mode, he will be dealing less damage overall, so to compensate, I have buffed his Tank form to make in more worth the high cost.

Brigitte

Comments
Brigitte has never been a particularly balanced hero as a support. First she was the most overpowered and meta-defining hero ever released, then she was nerfed into obscurity and now she floats somewhere in between. I have decided that, in order to make Brig viable and useful without being OP is to make her a main tank. Brig's new playstyle can be thought if easily when compared to other main tanks. On a spectrum from very brawly to very dive-focused, Brig sits right at the brawly end, with Winston at the dive end and Reinhardt in the middle. She is extremely durable and has many tools to maximise the survivability of her allies, but lacks in the damage department. Note: This rework is more experimental and ambitious than the others in this mode, so feedback is even more important.

General

• Moved to the Main Tank role
• Max health increased from 200 to 600 (health to armor ratio remains the same)
• Size increased by 25%

Rocket Flail

• Range increased by 25%

Inspire (Passive)

• Healing per second reduced from 15 to 10.5

Repair Pack

• Healing reduced from 110 to 77
• Cooldown per charge increased from 6 to 12 seconds

Comments
I was originally going to remove all of her healing, but I realised that if I kept it and just lowered it, it could be a useful tool to mitigate damage. Due to these changes, neither her Repair Packs nor her passive can do the job of a healer, but can greatly increase the survivablity of either a single target, or the whole team (but less), by mitigating damage.

Whip Shot

• Knockback reduced by 75%
• Cooldown reduced from 4 to 2 seconds

Comments
Whip Shot is now used similar to Reinhardt's Fire Strike, but with a few differences: It has less range, less damage and can only hit one target, but it has a much shorter cooldown, allowing it to be used to poke and pressure enemies within its range.

Barrier Shield

• Health increased from 250 to 750
• Regeneration rate increased from 85 to 119 per second
• Size increased to 250%

Note: Technically the barrier size is only increased to 200%, however this compounds with her character size increase and therefore results in a 2.5x larger barrier. Any references to barrier size from now on will be compared to her normal barrier size.

Comments
In order for Brig to be a main tank, I had to make her barrier larger. At this size, it is about half as wide as Reinhardt's but much taller, allowing heroes like Echo, Pharah etc. to use it more easily when flying near the ground.

Shield Bash

• Distance increased by 25%
• Knockback reduced by 75%
• Cooldown reduced from 7 to 5.6 seconds

Rally

• Max self armor increased from 100 to 300
• Now increases barrier size from 250% to 700%
• Now reduces Brigitte's move speed by 50%
• Now disables all abilities except Barrier Shield and Shield Bash
• Ultimate generation reduced by 10%

Comments
Brig's ultimate now turns her into a slow moving titan of a tank, with the largest barrier in the game (apart from Symmetra's ultimate). This ultimate is meant to be a powerful defensive ultimate, whilst reducing its offensive impact. It allows her to make space and gain ground on an almost unmatched scale. Obviously, due to this ultimate's immense power, it now charges very slowly, amd limits what Brigitte herself can do, whilst giving her team the freedom to make brave decisions, knowing they have an enormous barrier protecting them.

D.Va

General

• Total health reduced from 600 to 550 (ratio of health to armor remains the same)
• Pilot form health increased from 150 to 200

Fusion Cannons

• Now blocks the use of Micro Missiles

Light Gun

• Projectile speed reduced from 50 to 40 metres per second

Defense Matrix

• Maximum duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds
• Recharge rate reduced by 30%

Boosters

• Move speed increased from 12 to 19.2 metres per second
• Knockback increased by 120%
• Cooldown increased from 4 to 12 seconds

Micro Missiles

• Now blocks the use of Fusion Cannons
• Projectile speed reduced from 40 to 32 metres per second
• Cooldown removed

Self-Destruct/Call Mech

• Ultimate generation (Combat) reduced by 40%
• Ultimate generation (Passive) reduced by 10%
• Ultimate generation reduced by 10%

Comments
These changes are intended to make D.Va an adept bodyguard who can create space for vulnerable allies and displace enemies away from their targets. They also allow her to get to allies in danger faster, whilst also requiring the player to think more carefully about the best time to use Boosters, as they can't escape easily if used unwisely.

Doomfist

Hand Cannon

• Projectile speed reduced from 80 to 48 metres per second
• Ammo increased from 4 to 8
• Ammo regeneration rate increased by 37%

The Best Defence...

• Shields per ability hit reduced from 30 to 20
• Shields per ultimate hit reduced from 75 to 50

Rocket Punch

• Move speed penalty while charging reduced from 50% to 25%
• Move speed increased from 45 to 67.5 metres per second
• Maximum range increased from 20 to 30 metres
• Knockback reduced by 30%
• Cooldown increased from 4 to 6 seconds

Rising Uppercut

• Knockback reduced by 10%

Meteor Strike

• Duration increased from 4 to 5 seconds
• Ultimate generation (Combat) reduced by 20%

Overall Comments
Doomfist is my most played hero of all time, and over time I have seen him be nerfed over and over again, because people fear a hero who has the potential to cause so much disruption. I know his strengths and weaknesses, as well as what annoys players about him, and I decided that the best option was to give him more potential and fluidity, whilst reducing his crowd control and durability. With these changes, Doomfist is more mobile overall, and can output more consistent damage, however, his annoying one-shot ability has been rebalanced to give it more potential power at a lower frequency.

Echo

General

• Base health reduced from 200 to 125
• Shields increased from 0 to 50 (total health now 175)

Tri-Shot

• Projectile speed increased from 75 to 90 metres per second
• Ammo increased from 12 to 15

Sticky Bombs

• Projectile speed increased from 50 to 60 metres per second
• Cooldown increased from 6 to 7.8 seconds

Flight

• Cooldown reduced from 6 to 4.8 seconds

Duplicate

• Ultimate generation (Passive) reduced by 20% Note: The duplicated hero will have their health pool from the base game, and may have their cooldowns affected by Echo's changes.

Comments
Recent changes that Blizzard made to reign in Echo were necessary but I think they were in the wrong direction. Instead of reducing her damage output, I believe that the best option is to make her more fragile, therefore rewarding skillful use of her mobility (which I have also increased a little). I have reduced her durability overall whilst replacing some health with shields to allow her to be more self-sufficient. I have reduced the frequency of her crazy burst combo a bit, whilst making her more reliable from range, so she can use her flight more effectively.

Genji

General

• Health reduced from 200 to 175

Shuriken

• Projectile speed increased from 60 to 78 metres per second
• Ammo increased from 30 to 36

New Passive - Assassin's Knowledge

• Upon an elimination, Genji gains a small buff depending on the role of the victim. These buffs are designed to slightly increase his edge, and allow him to use target priority to adapt to the fight as it happens.
• Main Tank - Gains 75 temporary health (does not expire but does disappear once damaged) - Denoted by pale green health
• Off Tank - Genji becomes unkillable (health cannot drop below 1) for 3 seconds - Denoted by orange particles
• Damage - Damage increased by 20% for 3 seconds - Denoted by blue particles
• Support - Heal for 75 health over 3 seconds
• Assassin's Knowledge has a 3 second internal cooldown which prevents multiple effects from stacking. This prevents bugs but also prevents Genji's power from building too high.

Swift Strike

• Cooldown reduced from 8 to 4.8 seconds

Deflect

• Cooldown increased from 8 to 9.6 seconds

Comments
To me, Genji has always felt underpowered becuase he doesn't really stand out enough amongst the other dive characters like Tracer and Doomfist. These changes aim to give Genji something unique: the ability to actively adapt to the fight. Genji can gain bonuses based on his target prioritisation, allowing good players to choose their fights in order to gain the best advantage. I believe that these changes will increase Genji's potential and allow him to pick off important targets for his team, and for himself.

Hanzo

Storm Bow

• Projectile speed reduced from 110 to 88 metres per second
• Projectile gravity reduced by 60%

Sonic Arrow

• Projectile speed reduced from 110 to 88 metres per second
• Projectile gravity reduced by 60%

Storm Arrows

• Ammo increased from 5 to 7
• Projectile speed reduced from 110 to 88 metres per second
• Projectile gravity reduced by 60%
• Cooldown increased from 10 to 15 seconds

Lunge

• Distance increased by 80%
• Cooldown increased from 5 to 9 seconds

Dragonstrike

• Ultimate generation reduced by 10%

Comments
With these changes, I wanted to make Hanzo into somewhat of a long-range tankbuster. With his increased storm arrows, he can apply immense pressure to tanks from a longer distance, and can now reposition much more easily. I have offset this by increasing the skill required to hit long range shots, as well as by increasing the cooldowns of his new improved Storm Arrows and Lunge in order to keep them in line with other abilities.

Lúcio

Sonic Amplifier

• Projectile speed increased from 50 to 60 metres per second
• Ammo increased from 20 to 40

Soundwave

• Knockback increased by 30%
• Cooldown increased from 4 to 6 seconds

Crossfade

• Healing per second increased from 16 to 19.2
• Self-healing per second increased from 12.3 to 14.77

Amp It Up

• Healing per second increased from 52 to 62.4
• Self-healing per second increased from 40 to 48

Comments
Many Lúcio players tend to spend a lot more time using his speed boost song than his healing song. Boosting its healing a little should incentivise using the healing more, whilst keeping speed boost as viable as normal in preferable situations.
The changes to his weapon will give Lúcio a little more flexibility at medium ranges.
Finally, the changes to Lúcio's boop will make it more effective but less irritating to go against.

Mei

Comments
When players talk about reworking certain DPS heroes into other roles, one hero that comes up very often to be moved to the Tank role is Mei. She is already much tankier than most other DPS heroes and has a lot of crowd control, which makes her a perfect candidate for an Off Tank. This rework aims to turn Mei into a zoning-based off tank with powerful area control abilities, whilst making her much less annoying to play against.

General

• Moved to the Off Tank role
• Health increased from 250 to 325
• Armor increased from 0 to 150 (total health now 475)
• Character size increased by 50%

Comments
Finally, Mei has used her endothermic technology for something other than walls and icicles! Using her cryotechnology, she has constructed durable ice armor! (obviously it isn't there in game, but just use your imagination)

Endothermic Blaster

• Ammo increased from 120 to 150

Endothermic Blaster (Primary)

• Now slows enemies hit for a flat 50% and no longer freezes

Comments
The main thing that makes Mei annoying to play against is how she can completelt take away your control of your character. Because she is no longer focusing on getting headshots to kill people very quickly, I allowed her to have a greater immediate impact on enemies that get too close, while removing the most irritating aspect of her kit.

Endothermic Blaster (Secondary)

• Projectile speed reduced from 115 to 69 metres per second

Comments
Mei's primary focus should be close to medium range, so I have reduced her projectile speed to stop her from being too mich of a sniper.

Cryo-Freeze

• Cooldown increased from 12 to 14.4 seconds

Ice Wall

• Size increased by 50%
• Cooldown increased from 12 to 18 seconds

Comments
Ice Wall is Mei's main area control tool, and I wanted it to be able to split entire teams, to really make Mei a prominent zoning character. Obviously, due to it now being much bigger, I have increased its cooldown to offset its greater impact.

Blizzard

• Now slows by a flat 90% and no longer freezes
• Projectile speed reduced from 20 to 12 metres per second
• Ultimate generation (Passive) reduced by 10%

Comments
These changes were made for the same reason that her primary fire changes were: to make Blizzard more impactful generally, whilst removing the factor that makes it annoying to be trapped in. Enemies within Blizzard now have a chance to fight back, however they will find it overall harder to escape the area. This therefore makes Blizzard more of a zoning tool rather than a way to get free kills.

Mercy

Caduceus Staff (Primary)

• Healing per second increased from 55 to 60.5 (now 66 per second during Valkyrie)

Caduceus Blaster

• Damage increased from 20 to 22
• Ammo increased from 20 to 22

Regeneration (Passive)

• Healing per second increased from 20 to 22

Guardian Angel

• Cooldown increased from 1.5 to 2.1 seconds

Resurrect

• Cooldown reduced from 30 to 24 seconds

Comments
Mercy has not been the best support recently, as she simply can compete with other main supports due to her lack of multiple target healing. In order to keep her unique but make her more viable, I have increased the strength of her healing and reduced the cooldown of Resurrect to let her strengths shine. I have also slightly increased her offensive potential to give her a better chance at defending herself.

Moira

Comments:
Moira is often regarded as both a boring healer to play as, and an annoying healer to play against. However, one of Blizzard's original concepts for her may have been a better option.
Introducing: Moira's Support-Tank Hybrid rework! This version of Moira sees her with a tank-sized health pool, however, instead of healing resource, she spends her own health in order to heal allies. The use cases of her Biotic Orbs are now vastly different as well. Here are the changes:

General

• Health increased from 200 to 500

Biotic Grasp (Healing)

• Now drains 62.5 health per second whilst in use
• Maximum energy increased to 500%
• Recharge rate increased to 500%

Comments
The idea of using her own health to heal allies makes Moira a much more difficult character to play, as she needs to balance healing her team and keeping herself alive. Although she has a lot of health, she lacks a tank's proper defensive capabilities, so she should still be relatively easy to kill. The maximum energy and recharge rate have been maxed out so that the energy is no longer a factor to how long you can heal for.

Biotic Orb

• Max damage reduced from 200 to 100
• Max healing reduced from 300 to 150
• Projectile speed reduced from 20 to 10 metres per second (now 2.75 metres per secind when tethered)
• Cooldown reduced from 10 to 6 seconds

Comments
The main problem with Biotic Orb was that the damage orb could kill you out of nowhere, and the healing orb combined with Biotic Grasp could mitigate an extreme amount of damage. For this new version of Moira, her orbs both fill completely different roles than before. Her damage orb is no longer for dealing damage to multiple enemies at once, but is primarily used together with Biotic Grasp to increase your DPS in a one-on-one fight. Her healing orb is now not very useful at healing multiple teammates, but instead can be used to heal one ally if you are running low on health, but more importantly, is now Moira's most effective self-sustain tool, to provide a quick burst of 150 healing to allow her to heal her team more safely. The cooldown of Orb has been drastically shortened to allow it to be used more effectively in its new roles.

Fade

• Cooldown increased from 6 to 9 seconds

Comments
Because Moira is much more survivable, Fade's cooldown has been increased to prevent her from just escaping death in every fight.

Orisa

General

• Health increased from 200 to 300
• Armor increased from 250 to 350 (total health now 650)

Fusion Driver

• Damage reduced from 11 to 9.9
• Ammo capacity reduced from 150 to 105
• Move speed penalty reduced from 30% to 15%
• Projectile speed increased from 120 to 152 metres per second

Halt!

• Projectile speed increased from 25 to 32.5 metres per second
• Cooldown increased from 8 to 12 seconds

Fortify

• Cooldown increased from 10 to 11 seconds

Protective Barrier

• Health increased from 600 to 840
• Projectile speed increased from 25 to 32.5 metres per second
• Projectile gravity increased by 30%
• Cooldown reduced from 10 to 9 seconds

Comments
These changes aim to make Orisa more survivable on the front line, and allow her to move with her team more easily while suppressing the enemy, making her more dynamic and better at reliably protecting her team. The Halt! changes reduce its frequency whilst making it more accurate and reliable at medium ranges. The changes to Protective Barrier allow it to have less downtime whilst deploying quicker, and the projectile gravity increase keeps the projectile on a similar arc to how it is in the base game, making it feel familiar yet more effective.

Pharah

General

• Health increased from 200 to 225
• Armor increased from 0 to 50 (total health now 275)

Rocket Launcher

• Projectile speed increased from 35 to 49 metres per second
• Ammo increased from 6 to 8

Hover Jets

• Vertical speed reduced by 20%
• Maximum duration increased from 2 to 3.4 seconds
• Recharge rate increased by 150%

Jump Jet

• Cooldown increased from 10 to 11 seconds

Concussive Blast

• Projectile speed increased from 60 to 84 metres per second
• Knockback reduced by 20%
• Cooldown reduced from 9 to 7.2 seconds

Barrage

• Projectile speed increased from 45 to 63 metres per second

Comments
These changes to Pharah have 3 main purposes:
1) Make Pharah a more viable pick without the need of a pocket Mercy
_2) Increase the skill floor and skill ceiling of Pharah (increasing the skill required to use her effectively, but increase her maximum effectiveness for higher skill players)
3) Separate her role from Echo's role (also helped by Echo changes in previous version)
_Here is a good analogy for Pharah and Echo's new roles:
Echo's role is like a fighter jet (fast but smaller) while Pharah's role is more like a bomber (slower, but much bigger and with a more widespread effect).
Also, why is she covered in armor, yet has no armor health? Well that was one of the main inspirations for this revised playstyle for Pharah. She now requires more skill to use effectively, as if you can't consistently stay in the air, it's much harder to get back up, but with enough skill, you can stay higher for longer.

Reaper

General

• Health reduced from 250 to 225

The Reaping

• Lifesteal reduced from 30% to 24%

Hellfire Shotguns

• Ammo increased from 8 to 10

Wraith Form

• Now leaps Reaper up and forward
• Speed: 37.5 metres per second
• Cooldown increased from 8 to 12 seconds

Shadow Step

• Cooldown reduced from 10 to 8 seconds

Death Blossom

• Move speed penalty removed

Comments
The thing that many people find frustrating about trying to fight a Reaper is that with his increased health and lifesteal, he can be very difficult to kill once he closes the gap. Therefore, I wanted to make Reaper less durable, whilst making him much more dynamic and fun to play, whilst opening up more opportunities and options, especially for higher skilled players. Finally, the buff to Death Blossom is to make it more viable when compared to other damage based ultimates, as it now is more flexible and less punishing if you mess up its usage a bit.

Reinhardt

General

• Armor increased from 250 to 300 (total health now 600)

Rocket Hammer

• Damage reduced from 85 to 76.5
• Knockback increased by 20%

Barrier Field

• Health reduced from 1600 to 1400
• Size reduced by 10%
• Regeneration rate increased from 200 to 220 per second
• Move speed penalty removed

Charge

• Damage reduced from 50 to 45
• Wall damage reduced from 300 to 270
• Knockback reduced by 20%
• Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds

Fire Strike

• Damage reduced from 100 to 90
• Projectile speed increased from 25 to 40 metres per second

Earthshatter

• Damage reduced from 50 to 45
• Ultimate generation (Combat) increased by 10%
• Ultimate generation (Passive) reduced by 10%

Comments
These changes are intended to allow Reinhardt to feel less stale and more dynamic to play, less reliant on other heroes to get maximum value, but a little less frustrating to play against with his new capability to close gaps more quickly.

Roadhog

General

• Health reduced from 600 to 500
• Size reduced by 10%

Scrap Gun

• Projectile speed increased from 80 to 128 metres per second
• Ammo increased from 5 to 7

Take a Breather

• Now additionally heals the closest ally to Roadhog within 10 metres
• Healing per second (ally): 70
• Duration: 2 seconds
• Cooldown increased from 8 to 12 seconds

Whole Hog

• Knockback reduced by 20%

Comments:
The changes to Take a Breather allow Roadhog to fulfill his role of protecting individual teammates whilst not being almost unkillable without the whole enemy team focusing him. The changes to his weapon allow him to be more effective at medium range while stopping him from being a killing machine up close. The Whole Hog change was meant as a quality of life change, to help his ultimate deal a little more damage whilst still displacing the enemy team a great amount.

Sigma

General

• Total health increased from 400 to 600 (health to shields ratio remain the same)
• Movement gravity reduced by 40%
• Jump vertical speed increased by 80%

Hyperspheres

• Projectile speed increased from 50 to 55 metres per second (max range increased from 22 to 24.2 metres)
• Projectile gravity reduced by 10%

Experimental Barrier

• Barrier size increased by 20%
• Health increased from 700 to 1050
• Regeneration rate increased from 80 to 120 health per second
• Cooldown removed

(NOTE: Because of how the workshop code for this change works, you cannot simply hold the button upon recalling the barrier to immediately send it out, as the cooldown is only set to 0 when the barrier is not in use and the button is not held)

Kinetic Grasp

• Shields gained increased by 50%
• Cooldown increased from 12 to 18 seconds

Accretion

• Projectile speed increased from 37.5 to 41.25 metres per second
• Projectile gravity reduced by 10%
• Knockback removed
• Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds

Gravitic Flux

• Move speed increased from 7.15 to 10 metres per second
• Ultimate generation (Combat) reduced by 10%
• Ultimate generation (Passive) reduced by 10%
• Ultimate generation reduced by 10%

Comments
Sigma was originally intended to be a main tank however, through constant nerfs to his defensive capabilities, he now fits the role of underpowered off-tank with a clunky, paper-thin barrier, which, as a Sigma main, annoys me a lot. These changes are not only intended to make him a main tank again, but specifically make him a flexible main tank rather than a bunker-style anchor tank. This is due to his barrier providing little protection from the sides. Consequently, I have made his barrier much more durable than Orisa's to allow him to use it to its full potential. I have also reverted what I believe to be the worst balance change in the history of Overwatch by removing the obnoxious cooldown upon recalling the barrier to make it flexible and fluid like it used to be. As a hero who controls gravity, I have allowed him to use this power to access certain high ground that other main tanks may not be able to, further making him more flexible. To compensate, I have made Accretion less annoying to go against, as well as less frequent, to stop Sigma from being good at everything, as it now must be used more sparingly. Lastly, the changes to his ultimate are intended to make him more dynamic and survivable during the cast, whilst stopping it from being too powerful.

Soldier: 76

After much thinking, I believe I have found a way to make Soldier not only feel more powerful, more impactful and like he has a more defined role, but also make him more complex and require more skill to use effectively. This comes mainly in the form of a complete rework and overhaul to his Heavy Pulse Rifle, or should I say: Heavy Pulse Machine Gun.

General

• Health increased from 200 to 225

Heavy Pulse Rifle

• Damage increased from 19-9.5 to 22.8-11.4
• Now has infinite ammo
• Now slows Soldier by 30% while firing
• New heat mechanic:
• Soldier's weapon now has a heat meter (ranging from 0% to 100%). Firing the weapon will build up heat, whereas stopping firing will cause heat to start falling after a short delay. If the weapon reaches maximum heat, it will be unusable for a short time and will damage the player.
• Heat increase per second: 17%
• Post-firing delay before cooling: 1 second
• Heat decrease per second: 22%
• Overheat damage per second: 50
• Overheat duration (burn damage and weapon lock): 2 seconds

Comments
While I was thinking of ideas of how to balance Soldier, I thought about how no hero has a proper LMG type weapon. Although heroes like Orisa have a high-capacity, heavy-feeling weapon, I didn't think that her weapon really felt like a classic LMG, as it is quite unreliable from long range. Soldier's new weapon not only feels heavy, but also hits hard, is hitscan so it is more consistent at long range, and due to its recoil and new heat mechanic, requires discipline in timing and skill at controlling the weapon.

Helix Rockets

• Damage increased from 120 to 144
• Projectile speed reduced from 50 to 40 metres per second
• Cooldown increased from 6 to 9 seconds

Comments
Due to Soldier's damage increase, I didn't want Helix Rockets to be too powerful, so I have tuned back some other aspects of the ability.

Sprint

• Move speed bonus increased from 50% to 75%

Comments
I have increased the speed of Sprint to allow it to be better used to move defensive positions and to rejoin a team after respawning.

Biotic Field

• Healing per second reduced from 40 to 32
• Cooldown reduced from 15 to 12 seconds

Comments
I wanted Biotic Field to feel less like a quick heal and more like a survivability tool when holding down a position. Therefore, I reduced its healing, but increased its uptime a little.

Tactical Visor

• Duration increased from 6 to 7.5 seconds
• Ultimate generation reduced by 30% Note: The heat mechanic still applies during Soldier's ultimate.

Comments
Because of Soldier's damage increase and its extended duration, I have increased its cost in order to keep it in check.

Sombra

Comments
After reworking Brigitte into a Main Tank, I decided that there needed to be a new support (preferably an off healer) to replace her. I have seen quite a few suggestions for Sombra to be reworked into a ultility-based support, as she is not very popular as a damage character. The route I decided to take was to keep Sombra's kit intact, whilst reworking her current abilities to fit a support character. Her new role is as an aggressive support who specialises in debuffing the enemy, gathering information and using these to open up opportunities for her team. As an off-healer, she has less healing capabilities than main healers such as Baptiste or Moira, however the ways in which she can heal are quite unique and encourage an aggressive, opportunistic playstyle.

General

• Moved to the Support role

Machine Pistol

• Damage reduced from 8-2.4 to 6.4-1.92
• Dealing damage with Machine Pistol now heals allies within 5 metres of the victim by 2.5 health per shot (maximum of 50 hps) Note - Although Machine Pistol has damage falloff, the healing per shot is always 2.5
• Ammo increased from 60 to 75

Comments
Machine Pistol is Sombra's main way of healing her allies, and I believe that it really encourages an offensive playstyle, as she has to deal damage to consistently heal her team. To offset this, the maximum healing per second is actually quite high, especially since it can apply to multiple allies. This rewards a Sombra player for being aggressive.

Hack

• Cooldown increased from 8 to 9.6 seconds

Stealth

• Now heals Sombra by 30 health per second during Stealth
• Cooldown increased from 6 to 9 seconds

Translocator

• Projectile speed increased from 25 to 50 metres per second
• Cooldown increased from 6 to 9 seconds

EMP

• Now resets the cooldown of all abilities of allies within range
• Now heals allies within range by 25 hps for 10 seconds
• Ultimate generation reduced by 40%

Comments
I wanted EMP to both debuff enemies and benefit allies in some way. I tried to find what I beleive to be the closest to the good version of hack as a buff to her allies to allow EMP to be a powerful tool in swinging team fights when used wisely.

Symmetra

Overall Comments
I felt like 5 main tanks wasn't enough, but no other heroes have a barrier. Therefore, I had to come up with a viable kit for a main tank without a barrier, that still fills the main role of protecting the whole team. I believe I have found a good way to not only protect the whole team, but to do it in a unique way that requires the Symmetra player to play within her effective range, rather than just throw orbs from a distance. With her new Photon Battery passive and Photon Wave ability, Symmetra can drastically increase the survivability of all nearby allies, and therefore this ability still requires her team to stay with her to be protected, just like how most barriers function. Symmetra already had an ultimate that perfectly fits a main tank, so I thought she was the best option. Also, she's found little success in the Support and Damage roles, so why not move her into the third to really take advantage of her hard light powers.

General

• Moved to the Main Tank role
• Health increased from 100 to 250
• Shields increased from 125 to 250 (total health now 500)
• Size increased by 40%

Photon Projector (Primary)

• Damage reduced from 60/120/180 to 50/100/150
• Range increased from 12 to 16.8 metres
• Now charges up Photon Battery

Photon Projector (Secondary)

• Damage reduced from 120 to 100
• Projectile speed increased from 25 to 65 metres per second

Comments
The changes to Symmetra's primary fire allow her to fight at a slightly longer range whilst keeping her damage out of the DPS role as much as possible. The changes to her secondary fire allow her to pressure enemies at longer range, while the nature of the orbs stop it from being her best option in all cases.

New Passive - Photon Battery

• Symmetra now has a Photon Battery that charges up slowly overtime, and much faster when Symmetra deals damage with her primary fire. The battery's charge is used by Symmetra's new Photon Wave ability.
• Passive charge per second: 1.5
• Charge per second when damaging using primary fire: 17
• Note: The higher charge rate lingers for 0.5 seconds after Symmetra has stopped dealing damage with her primary fire - This is to eliminate bugs and to make the charging smoother.
• Maximum charge: 500

Sentry Turret

• Damage per second reduced from 40 to 33.3 (from 30 to 25 - Console only)
• Projectile speed increased from 15 to 39 metres per second
• Cooldown per charge reduced from 10 to 7 seconds

Teleporter

• Cooldown reduced from 10 to 9 seconds

New Ability 3 (bound to interact) - Photon Wave

• Symmetra releases the photons within her Photon Battery to grant extra shields to all nearby allies and herself.
• Upon activation, all allies within range gain extra shields (which can be healed whilst they are still active) equal to Symmetra's current Photon Battery charge. The battery's charge is then reset. The extra shields disappear after a short while.
• Radius: 10 metres
• Duration (of shields): 11 seconds
• Cooldown: 15 seconds
• Note: If going through a teleporter while Photon Wave is off cooldown, both will activate, and Photon Wave will activate after the teleport (effect will apply from the position of the second teleporter)

Comments
Although Photon Wave doesn't provide complete protection, the combined extra health that it can give a team can be much more than the health of any barrier - if the maximum shields are applied to the whole team, the team gets a combined extra shields of 3000, more than double the health of the strongest barrier. It also doesn't require the team to remain nearby in order to continue receiving protection, which gives Symmetra's allies a lot more flexibilty, in exchange for less direct protection.

Torbjörn

General

• Moved to the Off-Tank role
• Character size increased by 50%
• Health increased from 200 to 225
• Armor increased from 50 to 225 (Total health now 450)

Rivet Gun

• Ammo reduced from 18 to 15

Rivet Gun (Primary Fire)

• Damage reduced from 70 to 63
• Projectile speed increased from 70 to 119 metres per second
• Projectile gravity increased by 30%

Rivet Gun (Secondary Fire)

• Damage per pellet reduced from 12.5 to 11.25 (damage per shot reduced from 125 to 112.5)
• Projectile speed increased from 120 to 204 metres per second

Forge Hammer

• Damage reduced from 55 to 49.5

Deploy Turret

• Projectile speed increased from 17 to 28.9 metres per second
• Projectile gravity increased by 30%
• Damage reduced from 14 to 12.6 (damage per second reduced from 56 to 50.4)
• Cooldown reduced from 5 to 3.5 seconds
• Cooldown upon destruction reduced from 10 to 7 seconds

Overload

• Duration increased from 5 to 6 seconds
• Cooldown increased from 10 to 14 seconds

Molten Core

• Impact damage reduced from 25 to 22.5
• Damage per second reduced from 160 to 144
• Projectile speed increased from 40 to 68 metres per second
• Projectile gravity increased by 30%
• Maximum duration to deploy pools increased from 5.5 to 11 seconds
• Ultimate generation (Combat) reduced by 10%
• Ultimate generation reduced by 10%

Comments:
Torbjörn has always felt to me like a prime candidate to be moved to the Tank role due to his excellent area control capabilities as well as his high survivability. These changes reduce his overall deadliness while increasing his ability to guard a larger area by allowing him to move his turret more frequently, and block more areas with his ultimate.

Winston

General

• Health increased from 350 to 400 (total health now 550)

Tesla Cannon

• Damage per second increased from 60 to 72
• Ammo capacity increased from 100 to 140

Jump Pack

• Damage increased from 50 to 60
• Acceleration reduced by 10%
• Knockback increased by 10%

Barrier Projector

• Cooldown reduced from 13 to 9.1 seconds

Primal Rage

• Health increased from 850 to 900 (total health now 1050)
• Damage increased from 40 to 48
• Duration increased from 10 to 11 seconds
• Ultimate generation (Combat) reduced by 10%

Comments:
These changes are intended to make Winston more adept at protecting his team as well as make him a little more threatening to discourage dives onto the team. Because his barrier protects from the most angles, I have kept it as the weakest in terms of health, but it now has much less downtime, allowing him to fulfill his role alone.

Wrecking Ball

General

• Total health reduced from 600 to 550

Quad Cannons

• Ammo capacity increased from 80 to 100

Grappling Claw

• Cooldown increased from 5 to 6 seconds

Adaptive Shield

• Shields gained reduced by 8.3%
• Cooldown reduced from 15 to 12 seconds

Piledriver

• Cooldown reduced from 10 to 8 seconds

Minefield

• Projectile speed increased from 12 to 14.4 metres per second (mines will spread out more)
• Maximum duration increased from 20 to 30 seconds
• Ultimate generation (Combat) reduced by 10%
• Ultimate generation (Passive) reduced by 10%
• Ultimate generation reduced by 10%

Comments:
Wrecking Ball seemed to be relatively balanced already but the changes I have made are intended to allow him to commit to dives more fully without as much fear of dying, and to allow his ultimate to be a more potent area denial tool that needs more attention from the enemy in order to open up the area again.

Zarya

General

• Shields increased from 200 to 250 (total health now 450)

Particle Cannon

• Ammo increased from 100 to 125

Particle Cannon (Secondary Fire)

• Explosion knockback increased by 10%
• Projectile speed increased from 25 to 42.5 metres per second
• Projectile gravity increased by 50%

Particle Barrier

• Cooldown increased from 10 to 11 seconds

Projected Barrier

• Cooldown reduced from 8 to 5.6 seconds

Graviton Surge

• Projectile speed increased from 25 to 42.5 metres per second
• Projectile gravity increased by 50%

Comments:
Zarya was the closest to my idea of a bodyguard off-tank, so I didn't think she needed many changes. However, I decided to change the cooldowns of her bubbles to make Zarya players prioritise allies over themself. To compensate, I have slightly increased her general survivability and reliability at medium range.

Zenyatta

General

• Health to shields ratio changed from 50/150 to 100/100

Comments
This change stops Zenyatta from being completely destroyed by EMP. Yay!

Orb of Destruction

• Projectile speed reduced from 90 to 81 metres per second

Orb of Harmony/Orb of Discord

• Projectile speed reduced from 90 to 81 metres per second
• Now incurs a 0.65 second cooldown upon arrival at target

Comments
This change is mainly to stop accidental misplacement of your orbs when spamming the button, especially at long range where the targets are harder to select.

Orb of Harmony

• Healing per second increased from 30 to 36

Transcendence

• Healing per second increased from 300 to 360
• Ultimate generation reduced by 20%

Known Bugs

• Switching from Reinhardt to Sigma may cause Experimental Barrier to stop regenerating at 919 health (this is linked to Rein's health changes in the workshop. To fix, simply swap to a different hero before swapping to Sigma)
• Health changes may duplicate between rounds (to fix this, just swap hero and swap back again)
• Switching to D.Va may cause her health to remain at the value from the main game if switching from a hero whose health has been changes by the Set Max Health action (includes Roadhog and Wrecking Ball). To fix this, switch to a hero such as Zarya, Bastion, Mei or Torbjörn before switching back to D.Va.