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Overwatch is running a PTR (which stands for ‘public test region’) to test the next big patch they’ll push out over the whole game. The patch adds a new Assault Map called Lunar Colony, and adds the Oni Genji and Officer D.Va legendary skins to classic loot boxes, but also makes significant changes to the heroes Reaper, Roadhog and McCree.
McCree and Reaper have both had buffs to their Ultimate attack. Roadhog has had some very interesting alterations that could potentially change his play style. His scrap gun has had its damage nerfed, but rate of fire and clip size increased.Â
Check out the full notes, with developer comments, for the hero changes below. You can also head to the official blog to see the full list of patches, updates and bug fixes, and to find out how to join the PTR (Windows PC only, though).
McCree
- Deadeye
- Targets now begin locking after 0.2 seconds, instead of 0.8 seconds
- Damage accumulated over the first 1.0 seconds increased from 20 to 80 (damage per second after the first 1.0 seconds is unchanged)
Developer Comment: McCree’s ultimate can deal a lot of damage if it has a lot of time to build up, but it was often too difficult to get even a small amount of damage out before being stopped or killed. These changes make it more flexible and powerful.
Reaper
- The Reaping (Passive)
- Removed health orbs
- Now regains 20% of all damage done to heroes as health
Developer Comment: Reaper’s old healing passive was useful if you could kill a bunch of enemies in a row. But since enemies needed to be dead for it to work, it wasn’t very helpful unless the situation was already in your favor. His new passive lets him get immediate benefit from it, especially when fighting Tank heroes, which tend to be larger targets that deal lower damage.
Roadhog
- Head hitbox size reduced by 20%
- Scrap Gun
- Bullet damage decreased by 33%
- Fire rate increased by 30%
- Clip size increased from 4Â to 5
Developer Comment: Roadhog’s head was abnormally large compared to similarly-sized characters, so we’re reducing its size to increase his survivability. The Scrap Gun changes reduce the power of his hook combo and alternate fire burst damage potential while still keeping his DPS roughly the same.
