Overwatch Feb 18 update buffs Winston & Reaper, nerfs Wrecking Ball: patch notes

A new Overwatch patch has hit the live servers on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch bringing in a bunch of buffs to tanks and Reaper, but a sizable nerf to Wrecking Ball.

While Reaper may be a bit of a noob-stomper at lower ranks, that didn’t stop Blizzard from seemingly increasing the lethality of the Talon DPS. While his damage has dropped, his spread has been reduced.

This means that even though he does less damage, he can hit targets from afar, making him more dangerous at a range. Combined with his healing passive, this should make him a bigger threat than he was before.

Next up, despite concerns from players, Orisa’s Fortify buff is going through and it will now be removing the headshot critical damage when the ability is active.

Fortify is already super strong, causing Orisa to take 40% less damage while being immune to crowd control. With this change, however, she becomes an even more durable tank.

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Without the headshot multiplier, it completely removes any incentive to aim for her head while Fortify is active, meaning all shots will deal 40% less damage.

Winston also got a nice buff to his heath, and with it, he should be able to survive longer against attacks from shotguns and other weapons.

Finally, Hammond is seeing his knockback reduced by 25% which should make him way less of an annoyance to deal with when he’s spinning around an objective, such as the payload.

Full patch notes:

HERO UPDATES

Orisa

Fortify

• Prevents critical headshot damage while effect is active

Developer Comments: This will make Fortify more reliable at preventing large bursts of incoming damage and make it more consistent as a defensive ability.

Reaper

Hellfire Shotguns

• Spread reduced from 8 to 6
• Damage per projectile reduced from 7 to 5.5

Developer Comments: Reaper’s shotguns have a high damage potential but require close range or large targets to fully utilize. We’re smoothing this out by extending the range at which he can consistently deal damage while lowering the maximum damage of each shot.

Winston

General

• Base Armor/Health has been redistributed from 100/400 to 150/350

Developer Comments: With this change Winston will be slightly more resilient against shotguns, beams, and weapons with a high rate of fire.

Wrecking Ball

Grappling Claw

• Knockback strength reduced 25%

Developer Comments: For how often it can occur, Wrecking Ball’s knockback is too strong. We’re reducing the distance it moves enemy players to bring it more in line with other low cooldown knockback abilities.

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a bug that caused player ragdoll models to fall through the terrain when skipping the kill camera
• Fixed a bug that caused the Bounty Hunter game mode to collapse too early

Maps

Junkertown

• Fixed a bug that allowed Tracer to escape map geometry in a specific location