Roadhog is getting a nerf to his weapon. The latest Overwatch patch toned down the off-tank’s primary fire, changed shotgun spread patterns across the board, and tweaked Torbjörn’s kit. The adjustments hail straight from last week’s Experimental Card when Blizzard let players try out the changes by themselves.
Roadhog has become a frequent pick in the meta and Blizzard is trying to water down his impact against tankier targets. The projectile damage on his Scrap Gun dropped to six points per pellet, down from seven, to a total of 150 damage.
“We’re reducing Roadhog’s Scrap Gun damage to address his effectiveness against high HP targets, but keeping his Chain Hook combo consistency with this experimental change,” Blizzard said in the Experimental Card patch notes.
The patch also tweaked shotgun spread patterns to make them more reliable by “removing the random rotation applied to each shot,” according to the patch notes. The updated pattern “will provide significantly more control over aiming these weapons.” The change affects a total of six heroes: Ashe, Doomfist, D.va, Reaper, Roadhog, and Torbjörn.
But the upgraded spread pattern isn’t the only change to Torbjörn’s kit. His secondary fire gained increased damage per pellet, but at the cost of a higher the delay between shots—ultimately a drop in DPS. Blizzard hopes that the changes will make each shot “feel more impactful” and give Torbjörn’s secondary fire “a stronger role at close range.”
Roadhog rose into the spotlight after a series of balancing adjustments. Following the nerfs to shields, off-tanks such as Roadhog gained more room for play and his deadly hook combo made him a more than viable choice, even at the pro level with a 33.6 percent pick rate in the Overwatch League Playoffs.
