“Overwatch” is gearing up for more changes that will arrive in the PTR build of the game soon. This time, Blizzard will be focusing on the rag-tag duo: Junkrat and Roadhog. For those unaware, Roadhog received some balance changes that didn’t please fans as he lost most of his firepower. To compensate this, the developers teased his ‘survivability’ buff and now they’re putting it into action. Junkrat, on the other hand, is getting some major changes that may finally see him viable in the competitive scene.
‘Overwatch’ Junkrat changes
To begin with, the upcoming principal designer Geoff Goodman took to the game’s official forums where he explained the upcoming changes for the Australian hero.
Junkrat now has two charges on his Concussion Mine which will let you use it in combat while having an extra charge to escape from dangerous fights. While this combo was possible to do in the past, it took a bit of time to master and you had to wait for the cooldown to finish.
Blizzard is also looking into changing his ultimate ability and making it “a bit better.” In line with this, they’re experimenting with increasing the tire’s movement speed or adding a bit more health so it can last longer when deployed. However, Goodman confirmed that they’ll only focus on one aspect of the tire as to not make it broken. That way, Junkrat’s ultimate will be a bit more reliable and won’t be destroyed as easily.
Roadhog’s upcoming buff
Junkrat’s partner in crime, Roadhog, will also be getting a major buff which should help him live up to his title as a tank. Just recently, his firepower was nerfed significantly as he can no longer one-shot squishy heroes. Many claimed that he felt extremely underpowered and quickly dropped out of the meta.
On a different post in the forums, Goodman shared some of the details they have planned for the hero.
At the moment, they’re trying to buff his “Take a Breather” skill which restores his health. With these new changes in check, he’ll take 50 percent less damage while being able to move freely at full speed. This will make him significantly difficult to kill despite his lack of shields and armor.
In turn, this should make Roadhog players more aggressive since they now have a better chance of surviving the battlefield.
Goodman claimed that these changes will hit the “Overwatch” PTR as soon as possible, which is most likely after Doomfist and the other tested changes hit the live servers on July 27. Keep in mind that both the Roadhog and Junkrat changes are still under testing, so there’s a chance that Blizzard might tweak their skills before they officially patch it in the live servers.
