Overwatch 2 players split on Widowmaker nerfs after seeing them in action
Blizzard EntertainmentThe Overwatch 2 devs have announced a slew of changes coming in Season 5 to nerf sniper heroes like Widowmaker and Hanzo, but players are split on the decision.
Snipers have been plaguing Overwatch 2 for quite awhile now with skilled Widowmaker players able to dominate games with the hero’s one-shot potential.
In Season 5, the devs are finally taking action, lowering Widowmaker’s effective range by changing the damage falloff from 70-100 meters to 40-60 meters. While she can still one-shot 200 HP targets from 50 meters or less, after that, it won’t kill.
After these changes were announced, Overwatch 2 fans began to implement the changes in the Workshop to show just how effective they will be and players are very mixed on whether or not this is healthy for the game.
Overwatch 2 players debate Widowmaker nerfs after visualization
Content creators PMAJellies and Niandra uploaded videos and images showing off the Widowmaker nerfs to give players an idea of just an idea of how the changes will impact the game.
As you can see, players will now need to think a bit smarter when playing as Widow as they won’t be able to kill from across the map as easily, but not everyone was on board with the change.
“Don’t get me wrong. I HATE WIDOW. But this might actually be an over-correction,” commented one player.
“Wait, now that I see a visual of it this looks like way overkill, she has to be so up and close to the frontline now in order to get a headshot off,” said another.
Other users spotted another issue: a duel between Widowmakers won’t be won so easily so snipers might have to ignore their counterpart. Quite an odd twist to the whole debacle.
That said, plenty of players are excited for the nerf to take effect. Former OW2 streamer Samito called the changes, “Maybe the best thing I’ve seen in Overwatch 2.”
Even some Widow mains were pleasantly pleased by the update. “As someone who mains Widow I wasn’t really thinking about how her nerf would affect her…but this is lowkey like, the perfect nerf for her? She should not be able to control entire maps, no sniper in any game I’ve played is truly able to. This is a good change.”
We’ll have to see what players say once the nerfs go into the game on June 13 alongside loads of other upcoming Season 5 content.