Overwatch Lead Developer Geoff Goodman Confirms A Hanzo Nerf is Coming
Overwatch lead developer Geoff Goodman has confirmed that a nerf is on its way for Hanzo.
The news comes amid discussion over the hero’s current power level, which many players believe to be too high.
Hanzo recently received a major update, with the most significant change being the replacement of his Scatter Shot ability with a new ability, Storm Shot. Storm Shot allows Hanzo to rapid-fire up to six arrows, at maximum power but dealing reduced damage.
While the change has certainly made Hanzo more viable, many players claim that he’s now too powerful, with the Storm Shot ability in particular giving Hanzo huge burst potential and comfort at close range as well as at a distance.
Geoff Goodman has now confirmed that a nerf is in fact incoming. The damage dealt by Hanzo’s Storm Shot arrows will be reduced, from 80 to 70.
While the change might not seem massive, it has some fairly significant implications, removing the ability for Storm Shot arrows to one-shot full-health heroes with a head-shot.
“We’ve been testing some nerfs internally and have decided to make a change for the upcoming patch.
We’re reducing the damage per arrow from 80 to 70, which not only drops them out of one-shot territory for 200 hp heroes (w/ dmg boost), but also drops them out of one-shot range of 150 heroes such as Tracer and D.Va pilot.
The ability will still be very strong overall, but this change should help mitigate the most frustrating element of fighting against it. We’re looking at getting this change up onto the PTR soon.”
There is currently no information as to when the next patch should be expected, but based on the recent pace of updates from Blizzard it’s likely to arrive in days rather than weeks.