Overwatch 2 balance patch nerfs Zarya, Sombra next month

Stay tuned for the next update Overwatch 2 will attempt to address some currently overpowered characters, which should be relief to any tank facing down a double-bubble-powered Zarya or a support player being regularly harassed by Sombra. Blizzard’s mid-season balance patch for Overwatch 2 — which also includes tweaks to D.Va, Genji, and Kiriko — is coming Nov. 15, ahead of the game’s second season, when the developer is expected to roll out further changes.

Blizzard detailed the game’s upcoming changes on its official Overwatch forums, explaining next month’s specific adjustments and the reasoning behind them.

Zarya is being hit hard. Her Barrier duration has been reduced from 2.5 to 2 seconds and she’s now getting hit very badly. Barrier’s cooldown time is also increasing from 10 seconds to 11. Opponents should have more time to do damage to Zarya, while she’ll have less time to build up energy from enemy fire.

Hacked damage multiplier for Sombra has been lowered from 40% to 25%. Sombra hacks players for only 1.5 seconds. This is a decrease from 1.75 seconds. Also, Sombra users will no longer be able hack into an opponent who has been hacked. That’s all pretty good news for support heroes without great escape capabilities, like Zenyatta and Ana.

Genji’s nerf is a bit more slight: He can hold a maximum of 24 shurikens (down from 30), and will do less damage (27, versus 29) when the balance update goes live. D.Va will also see a minor nerf. Her Boosters damage has been reduced to 25 from 15, while her Fusion Cannon’s spread increased from 3.5 to 3.75. Kiriko’s getting just one minor nerf: Her teleport ability, Swift Step, will make her invulnerable for just 0.25 seconds, down from 0.4.

Alec Dawson, Overwatch’s lead designer said this in an interview Twitter Spaces conversation on Friday that the dev team is also looking at adjustments for Doomfist to “find a bit more of an identity” for the tank-class character and at Sojourn, whom Dawson said was over-performing in higher competitive ranks, but under-performing in ranks below Master level.

Overwatch 2’s second season is slated to arrive in early December.