Players can try out the new Overwatch hero, Wrecking Ball, in the latest PTR update.

Blizzard has revealed that the next Overwatch hero will be a spherical battle-mech piloted by Hammond, the genetically enhanced hamster formerly of Horizon Lunar Colony.

Player’s first opportunity to try out the new hero follows hot on the heels of the full reveal, with a PTR patch being rolled out shortly after the announcement featuring Wrecking Ball.

Wrecking Ball isn’t the only big change that the patch features, however, with the Sombra rework also arriving. In addition, several heroes received weapon fall-off adjustments, while Hanzo also received a nerf to his Storm Arrows.

• Read more: Blizzard Announces Details of New Overwatch Hero “Wrecking Ball”

The full patch notes can be seen below:

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

New Hero: Wrecking Ball (Tank):

Wrecking Ball’s tinkering capabilities and iron-clad mech make him a formidable tank hero, capable of bowling through the front line of the opposition and causing mayhem in the back line. His primary weapon, Quad Cannons, are two sets of twin machine guns that shred enemies caught in their crosshairs. No team is too much for Wrecking Ball to engage against with his Adaptive Shield, which generates more health based on the number of enemies nearby. This shield makes him incredibly difficult to kill when he bulldozes into the fray and, once he starts to get low on health, also provides him the endurance to escape. The Roll ability allows Wrecking Ball to withdraw the mech’s robotic limbs, transforming it into a ball with increased movement speed. No obstacle can stand in Wrecking Ball’s way when he uses Grappling Claw, a short-range ability that grips the environment, letting him swing across terrain gaps or around corners to smash enemies. Grappling Claw also allows Wrecking Ball to reach top speed and ram into foes, dealing destructive damage and knocking them back. While airborne, the mech’s Piledriver ability causes Wrecking Ball to slam down from the air and knock his enemies off their feet.

When Wrecking Ball is at his strongest, he can use Minefield which flings mines onto the ground that deal a considerable amount of damage to enemies unfortunate enough to trigger them.

To learn more about Wrecking Ball, click here[LINK TO BLOG].

HERO UPDATES

General

Several heroes have received major changes to their damage falloff:

Bastion

• Configuration: Sentry and Configuration: Recon – Minimum damage at max range increased from 30% to 50%.

McCree

• Peacekeeper – Minimum damage at max range increased from 30% to 50%

Mei

• Endothermic Blaster – Removed all damage falloff from her secondary fire projectile

Soldier: 76

• Heavy Pulse Rifle – Minimum damage at max range increased from 30% to 50%

Widowmaker

• Widow’s Kiss – Now has damage falloff applied on her automatic primary fire (50% at max range)

Developer Comments: The goal of these changes is to slightly reduce the impact of damage falloff on mid-range weapons. While assessing falloff mechanics across the board, weapons intended primarily for close-range combat benefited too greatly from lowering their falloff restrictions. We also normalized a couple of outliers in that Mei had a long-range travel time projectile with falloff applied and Widowmaker’s automatic fire did not have any.

Hanzo

Storm Arrows

• Duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds
• Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds

Developer Comments: Hanzo’s new kit has proven to be a bit too powerful, especially his new Storm Arrows ability. We’re lowering the frequency that he can have this ability available to make it more reasonable to play around.

Sombra

Stealth

• Now lasts forever
• No longer can contest objectives while invisible
• Enemy detection radius increased from 2 meters to 4 meters
• Now lasts forever
• Can now be destroyed (has 5 health)

Developer Comments: These changes allow Sombra to more easily play as an infiltrator and scout for her team, as well as give her time to pick and choose when to reveal herself to ambush her enemies.

MAP UPDATES

Assault Maps

• Objective time reduced from 5 minutes to 4 minutes per control point in Quick Play and Arcade modes

Developer Comments: We have reduced the overall game time for Assault maps in Quickplay and Arcade Modes. Players now have four minutes to capture each point instead of the current five minutes per point. In some games, Point A would be captured rather quickly resulting in what could be lengthy battle over Point B. Point B is typically more defendable than Point A and, in some games, defenders were able to hold for the entire duration of remaining time which could potentially be 8 minutes or more. We felt that in these instances the overall time was simply too long for either team, with attackers unable to take the point and defenders having to hold. The reduction in time is now consistent with the Competitive Play times which provides an ample amount of time for both attackers and defenders, but hopefully removes the occasional game where it feels like you are playing against the timer and not the other team.

BUG FIXES

General

Fixed a bug that caused the group leader’s UI to appear that they’re canceling or leaving Waiting for Players when using a controller
Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving an AFK warning for not moving after receiving the No XP warning for not being in combat
Fixed a bug that caused Competitive Elimination to display as your last match played in the Recent Players menu
Fixed a bug that prevented players added to Avoid as Teammate from being removed if that player was added to their friends list

Endorsements

Fixed a bug that caused the Team Information screen to display an Endorsement level of a player who left the game
Fixed a bug that prevented the Endorsement input from opening the Endorsement tray if it shared that input with another input
Fixed a bug that prevented the Nearby Players menu from displaying Endorsement levels

Game Browser & Custom Games

Fixed a bug that allowed heroes to deploy multiple barriers or turrets when a decreased cooldown modifier was applied in a Custom Game
Fixed a bug that caused players to sometimes spawn into a wall or floor when playing a Deathmatch Custom Game with Respawn as Random Hero enabled

Heroes

General

• Fixed a bug that prevented heroes from playing a hit reaction animation when shot

Brigitte

• Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Rising Uppercut animation from playing when used after hitting something with Rocket Punch
• Fixed a bug that caused Brigitte’s portrait to show a non-existent ponytail with her Shieldmaiden skin equipped

Doomfist

• Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist’s Rocket Punch to stop if he hit Symmetra’s Turret when it was in midair
• Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Meteor Strike from hitting Reinhardt if he faced his Field Barrier upward
• Fixed a bug with Doomfist’s Rocket Punch that prevented it from canceling Genji’s Cyber-agility, Lúcio’s Wall Ride, or Hanzo’s Wall Climb on impact

D.Va

• Fixed a bug that prevented D.Va’s mech rear hatch from connecting to her mech when viewing D.Va’s Peace Victory Pose.

Junkrat

• Fixed a bug that prevented Junkrat’s Frag Launcher grenades from dealing the correct amount of damage on direct hits
• Fixed a bug that allowed Junkrat to set multiple Steel Traps in Custom Games
• Fixed a bug that prevented teammates from viewing Junkrat’s respawn timer if he died while piloting RIP-Tire.
• Fixed a bug that allowed the player to move the camera when Junkrat’s RIP-Tire was frozen

Moira

• Fixed a bug that prevented Moira’s Healing Orb from healing friendly training bots in the Practice Range
• Fixed a bug that prevented Moira’s Biotic Orbs from trigging controller vibration when using a controller

Reinhardt

• Fixed a bug that prevented Reinhardt’s Charge from propelling him forward if he was airborne due to Doomfist’s Rising Uppercut

Roadhog

• Fixed a bug that allowed Roadhog’s Chain Hook target to be pulled to his new location when he used Symmetra’s Teleporter.

Symmetra

• Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s Turrets from displaying a red outline when viewed by the enemy team
• Fixed a bug that caused Reinhardt’s Earthshatter to sometimes go through Symmetra’s Photon Barrier
• Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s Teleporter from using visual effects with her Oasis skin equipped
• Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra to receive credit toward her Huge Success achievement if she teleported her Sentry Turrets

Tracer

• Fixed a bug that allowed Tracer to gain capture point progress during her Recall ability

Zarya

• Fixed a bug that prevented Zarya’s Particle Cannon from gaining energy when attacked by an enemy Symmetra or Zarya if they were too close to her when she used Particle Barrier

Looking for Group

• Fixed a bug that caused all game modes to be selectable when adding a player to an LFG group
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Choose Roles menu from offering a default role when accessed
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving messaging notifying them why they were unable to change a Looking for Group title if they were suspended from changing Custom Game names
• Fixed a bug that prevented role icons from displaying on hero portraits
• Fixed a bug that allowed two players were able to queue for the same Looking for Group spot