Overwatch January 6 patch redeployed after major issue with Hanzo buff

A new Overwatch patch on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch has been redeployed after a temporary hiccus with Hanzo’s new Storm Arrow buff.

A January 6 Overwatch patch implemented plenty of changes players were excited to get their hands on, but the update had to be pulled after it was discovered that Hanzo’s Storm Bow could shoot through shields.

In a post on the official forums, Community Manager Andy B wrote, “We are reverting today’s update so that we can fix an issue with Hanzo’s Storm Arrow not properly being blocked by shield abilities.”

Just a few hours after this shakeup, however, and the update was once against made available. The latest Overwatch patch is now live across all platforms with Hanzo’s Storm Arrow working as intended.

Original story follows…

It’s been a long time since the last Overwatch balance patch and now players hungry for some nerfs and buffs have had their prayers answered.

Some of the changes have been slightly ripped from the previous Creator Experimental card that was met with plenty of praise from the community, albeit in a bit of a toned-down state.

For Moira players, they’ll be happy to see that Fade has been buffed allowing the support to jump even higher, making her even more of a difficult threat to pin down.

Hanzo has also seen his Scatter Arrow return in a sense with his Storm Arrows now ricocheting off surfaces one time.

Reinhardt’s Earthshatter has also been upgraded to deal more damage, as much as 200 to targets within just 1.75m of the impact area.

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However, there are some nerfs too. Primarily, Wrecking Ball’s Grappling Claw has had its cooldown increased, so this should make it easier to take down the Hamster menace.

It will be fun to see how this new patch plays out and how players take to it, especially with the game feeling balanced albeit stale for many.

Full patch notes:

HERO UPDATES

Moira
Fade

• Can now jump much higher while using this ability

Reinhardt
Earthshatter

• Now deals an additional 200 damage within 1.75m of the impact area

Hanzo
Storm Arrows

• Arrows ricochet once upon impact

Cassidy
Combat Roll

• Can now roll while in the air

Torbjörn
Rivet Gun – ALT Fire

• Ammo cost decreased from 3 to 2

Wrecking Ball
Grappling Claw

• Now has a maximum grapple time of 6 seconds