Junkrat mains furious as Overwatch patch removes special Riptire technique
Blizzard EntertainmentAn Overwatch PTR patch has rendered one of Junkrat’s most advanced techniques completely worthless and players who main the explosive hero are not happy about it one bit.
Junkrat’s Riptire has potential to be one of the most lethal ultimates in Overwatch. With the power to deal a whopping 600 damage to targets, it’s the most destructive ability in the game behind D.Va’s Self-Destruct.
The tire’s major drawback, however, is how quickly it can be destroyed, seeing as it only has 100 HP. As such, players would often use a trick called “droptire” which essentially let Junkrat activate the ultimate on a ledge and drop down.
This technique made it so that Junkrat could be directly behind enemies by the time the ultimate activated and result in some insane kills on unsuspecting opponents.
Sadly, Blizzard has finally patched this trick out in the most recent PTR update on April 26. The patch, which only contains bug fixes, specifically took aim at Junkrat’s trick.
“Fixed a bug where using RIP-Tire on a ledge could cause it to appear on the ground underneath,” the update read.
Junkrat mains are not happy about this change. Popular Twitch streamer Aquamarine voiced his opinion on Twitter.
its a bug so its whatever but if I have to break the game on specific maps to make my hero even slightly viable it says a lot about balance 😭
— Aquamarine (@AquamarineOW) April 26, 2021
“It’s a bug so it’s whatever, but if I have to break the game on specific maps to make my hero even slightly viable it says a lot about balance,” he remarked with a crying emoji.
Meanwhile, on Reddit, the criticism was more intense. “This is utter bullsh*t. I know it’s a bug, but if this gets patched, why not Mercy’s super jump? Blizz, decide what you want to do here,” wrote junkotp. “Either patch none of the bugs or patch all of them. For God’s sake, just take a look at Doomfist to know how fucked up the entire situation is!”
The user even went on to threaten to completely quit the game if this patch goes through to the live servers.
Blizzard Entertainment“F**kers nerfed Junkrat before they nerfed Cree LOL,” another upset player commented in a patch notes discussion.
It will be interesting to see what ends up happening with long-existing techniques in the future, now that Blizzard has opted to patch droptire. Will Mercy’s super jump be the next to go? Only time will tell.