Overwatch’s April 23 PTR patch secretly buffed Echo’s hitbox
Blizzard EntertainmentOverwatch’s most recent PTR update might have been focusing on improving communication in-gamme, but an unannounced change has slipped through the cracks that’ll make Echo mains happy — her head hitbox got shrunk.
Echo has revolutionized the way Damage characters can play in Overwatch. Morphing into an enemy player entirely, she can be a support, tank, or DPS tearing through the enemy with just the click of her ultimate.
However, there were a couple of downsides to Echo. One big one was, well, her rather large head hitbox. But, that problem seems to have been fixed without a peep from Blizzard about it.
Before the 1.48 PTR update, Echo’s head hitbox was way bigger than the model itself. When you dinked an Echo, it looked like you were grazing fresh air. However, it’s now been reconfigured to more closely resemble the model.
- Read more: April 23 PTR patch notes
Players have noted Echo’s head hitbox is now a lot closer to, well, her head. It sticks out less behind her, forcing players to actually hit her head model to get the fabled dink. It’s about half the size of the hitbox on live servers, which extends as far back as the ‘hair’ on her head.
The change wasn’t mentioned in the notes — at least not in plain English. While changes were made to “reduce the height of Echo’s head hit volume,” this may have confused some players.
However, with the changes now demonstrated, it’s easy to see that Blizzard have patched out one of Hero 32’s most infuriating bugs.
Given her emphasis on dashing and floating in fights, getting hit when it seemed like the shot missed was annoying for Echo players. While some thought her original hitbox was intentional, it seems that’s not actually the case.
Because it’s on the PTR, the hitbox update is still subject to change. Players shouldn’t expect Echo’s hitbox to actually shrink until the patch is pushed to live.
The Patch 1.48 test server update introduced a major tweak to the game’s communication wheel, as well as a host of fixes for Genji, D.Va, and more. While this hitbox change is only a small part of it, it means a lot to budding Echo mains.