Top 6 Overwatch 2 April Fools patch changes that should come to the game

This year’s Overwatch 2 April Fools’ patch is live with some of the wackiest changes ever put into the game. That said, has Team 4 snuck in some ideas to test that could come to the live version? Here are the ones that could stick around.

Every year Overwatch 2 does its April Fools’ patch, and it’s always giddy chaos. Blizzard’s Team 4 does a hilarious job with it, trying out absurd ideas and playing into community jokes. 

However, the Overwatch team can be a little sneaky. There are several instances of these changes bleeding their way into the main game and becoming mainstays. For example, the D.VA Re-mech killing people and the Zenyatta kick that pushes enemies away were initially from April Fools’ patches.

So, with that history and the 2024 patch notes in mind, are there any changes we could see making the jump into the main game? Is Team 4 just testing out some ideas on us before springing them on us in a live patch? There is a surprising amount that could be interesting to see in future competitive matches. Here are my picks for the ones that could work.

Reinhardt

Blizzard Entertainment

Reinhardt Changes

Barrier Field

• You can now press Primary Fire to reflects projectiles.
• Health decreases by 20% every second while reflecting.
• Barrier size decreased to 50% while Reflecting.
• Camera Lock input now bound to Quick Melee

It’s no secret Reinhardt needs some help right now. While he is one of the most iconic characters in Overwatch 2, he is currently getting run over by excessive amounts of damage, as well as Tanks with more complete kits. 

His changes in the April Fools’ patch could be interesting to see implemented. His shield can go into a secondary mode, that drains its damage but reflects projectiles. This gives Rein’s shield more offensive capabilities and makes standing in front of him and shooting a little spooky. 

Something like this might help Reinhardt be more effective. While we’d need to see it in coordinated play to see if it’s too weak or too powerful, the idea of Rein reflecting damage back at the enemy is a compelling one. 

Pharah

Blizzard Entertainment

Pharah Changes

Jet Land

• New Ability.
• Press Crouch in the Air to activate.
• Dash downwards towards the ground.

To be honest, Pharah’s change feels like something the Overwatch 2 team really is just testing out. It’s a very slight addition to her kit that allows her to plummet to the ground in the same way she can dash up and horizontally. This means you can get out of the sky near-instantly. 

That said, it might be a little annoying in live play as Pharah might become too evasive for Hitscan characters to hit, especially if she is continually dropping behind cover. That said, unless she has other cooldowns, it does mean she’s stuck on the floor until she can burst into the air again, so there is a fair trade-off. 

Cassidy

Blizzard Entertainment

Cassidy Changes

Wanted!

• New Passive
• One enemy is marked. Kill them to gain 50 health until the next time you die. After 5 kills, you gain 1 health each time.

Cassidy’s new Wanted passive in the April Fools’ patch is a cool idea. In its current state, it randomly marks a target. If you kill that target, you get 50 health, until you kill every hero on the team, and then you only get one health after that until you die.

In its current form, it’s probably a little too powerful, but if the benefit of killing a Wanted target was toned down, this might be a pretty compelling idea. It really feeds into his Cowboy flavor. The only issue is this ability compounds, meaning if you get a kill, you’re already up and you can snowball your win further. Still, it would be interesting to see this idea expanded upon.

Genji

Blizzard Entertainment

Genji Changes

Deflect

• Press Primary Fire with perfect timing to critically deflect a projectile.

This would need to be tuned down but there’s definitely something to this. Obviously, Genji’s deflect is core to his identity, and it passively reflects a lot (though not all projectiles like Sigma’s Accretion). This makes it a more active ability though.

Genji already has a high skill ceiling, but this is a way to really reward experts by making you actively time certain reflects. That said, reflecting projectiles back for two times damage might be a little wild, so the devs would likely need to cut that down just a little. Still, this more active use of the ability is pretty interesting and there could be something to it.

Junkrat

Blizzard Entertainment

Junkrat Changes

Frag Launcher

• You can now detonate Frag Launcher projectiles with Secondary Fire.

Junkrat isn’t always thought of as the highest-skill hero in Overwatch 2. However, this change isn’t so much silly as it just gives him more control over his kit. This allows you to blow up your shots when you want to, allowing you to precisely decide what happens with your grenades. 

This is a minor bit of skill expression that might help Junkrat mains to really pop off. That said, since the splash damage isn’t very much, the remote explosions on the frags might need a buff to actually benefit from this change. But this seems like a nice little change that could help the character out.  

Reaper

Reaper Changes

Hellfire Shotguns

• Primary Fire now only shoots one shotgun.
• Damage per bullet reduced from 5.4 to 2.8.
• Ammo increased from 8 to 16.
• Secondary Fire now shoots the other shotgun.

Reaper will be getting a rework soon, so this seems as good a time as any to try out some new mechanics for Overwatch 2’s edgiest hero. This idea of decoupling his shotguns is actually pretty interesting. 

This allows for some really unique shot patterns, giving you more control over how you do damage. You can alternate and have good sustain, or shoot both together for a more burst damage-like shot. This might need some more tuning, and hopefully a new ability or so with the rework, but this is a genuinely interesting and versatile way to deal damage on Reaper.