Overwatch’s Summer Games are here.
One of the more popular seasonal Overwatch events, Summer Games brings a wealth of fun skins and the return of Lúcioball for another year. Blizzard’s 2018 Summer Games event kicked off at 1pm CT on Aug. 9, just as promised. But beyond the summer activities, Blizzard also tweaked a bunch of Overwatch’s supports—everyone except Zenyatta.
Related: The state of Overwatch’s support heroes
The changes have been in testing on Overwatch’s PTR since mid-July. It’s essentially a bunch of changes designed to bring Overwatch’s healers more in-line with one another. They’re mostly small tweaks, but all-together, they’re very important to understand. Here’s the breakdown.
Ana
Nano Boost
- Instantly heals a target for 300 health
- Range increased from 30 to 40 meters
Blizzard added this change in an effort to give Ana a bit more flexibility in how her ultimate ability is used. Generally, this should make Ana more “usable,” Blizzard said.
Brigitte
Shield Bash
- Cool down increased from six to seven seconds
Repair Pack
- An option to control Brigitte’s Repair Pack targeting sensitivity has been added under Options > Controls > Brigitte
Shield Bash is one of the more powerful abilities in the game, and Blizzard made this adjustment to give enemies more of a chance to play around the ability.
Moira
Biotic Grasp
- Passive energy regeneration rate increased from two per second to 2.4 per second
Moira will be able to heal more in situations where there aren’t any enemies to draw energy from.
Lúcio
Crossfade
- Aura radius increased from 10 meters to 12 meters
Sound Barrier
- Temporary shields granted increased from 500 to 750
Lúcio needs to be a bit more reliable in his healing range, allowing more allies to stay within his area-of-effect. His shield increase is to make Sound Barrier more effective against burst damage, like Junkrat’s RIP-Tire.
Mercy
Caduceus Staff
- Healing beam reduced from 60 healing per second to 50 healing per second
Mercy used to be a must-pick in most Overwatch matches, and Blizzard decided to nerf her healing output to give other heroes a chance.
Beyond support hero tweaks, Blizzard made a lot more adjustments to Overwatch characters. This patch is a doozy. The rest of the changes are as follows, straight from Blizzard.
Doomfist
Rocket Punch
- No longer impacts Symmetra’s Teleporter
- Now destroys Symmetra’s Sentry Turrets without stopping his movement
Hanzo
Lunge
- Cool down increased from four to five seconds
Sombra
General
- Reduced the size of Sombra’s head hit volume
Reinhardt
Barrier Field
- Decorative insignia no longer protrudes from the shield’s surface
Widowmaker
Grappling Hook
- Cool down increased from eight seconds to 10 seconds
Zarya
Energy
- Drain rate reduced from two per second to 1.6 per second
Graviton Surge
- Radius reduced from eight to six meters
Symmetra
Photon Projector
- Primary fire range increased from 10 to 12
General
Channeled and transformation ultimate abilities now restore ammunition after completion for some heroes
- Channeled abilities affected: Junkrat’s RIP-Tire, Pharah’s Barrage, Roadhog’s Whole Hog, and Zenyatta’s Transcendence
- Transformation abilities affected: Genji’s Dragonblade, Winston’s Primal Rage
