Highlights
- Season 6 of Overwatch 2 brings extensive balance changes that address longstanding issues with certain heroes, improving the game's overall health.
- Support heroes receive significant attention in the balance changes, with nerfs to Mercy and Kiriko's abilities, and buffs to Lifeweaver's abilities for increased impact and survivability.
- The upcoming balance changes show Blizzard's targeted and confident approach, taking fan reception into account and potentially creating a more balanced and fair gameplay experience.
The heavily anticipated Season 6 of Overwatch 2 is set to launch on August 10, bringing with it a new wave of content for fans to sink their teeth into. As well as introducing a new support hero and fresh game modes, Season 6 thankfully comes with balance changes that should improve the health of the title.
As a competitive hero shooter, the character balance of Overwatch 2 is massively important to the game's playability, with fans often not agreeing on what changes need to be prioritized over others. With that being said, the revealed changes coming with Season 6 are quite expansive, and cover some elements of certain heroes that have been desperate for change for some time. If this kind of forthright and effective approach to balancing is continued by Blizzard going forward, then Season 6 could be a massive step in the right direction for the IP.
Overwatch 2: Season 6 Balance Changes
Support heroes have been at the forefront of a lot of Overwatch 2 content as of late, with the recently added Lifeweaver and an upcoming Season 6 hero bolstering the support roster quite significantly. This attention extends to the upcoming Season 6 balance changes, with support heroes being front and center of many of the alterations.
For example, the longstanding support hero Mercy will get a significant nerf in Overwatch 2 Season 6. Her overpowered damage boost ability is being reduced from a 30% boost to just 25%. Kiriko is also set to receive some nerfs, with her cleansing Suzu ability now doing less healing to teammates overall.
These changes are set to be complimented by significant buffs to another support hero, namely Lifeweaver. As of Season 6, Lifeweaver's Tree of Life ability will now overheal teammates, making it a much more impactful Ultimate Ability. Some of Lifeweaver's health is set to be converted to shields in Season 6, while other abilities like Rejuvenating Dash will heal the hero even more, allowing a much greater level of survivability overall.
The Positivity Behind Overwatch 2's Season 6 Balance Changes
These upcoming balance changes for Overwatch 2 seem targeted and confident, and there's a good change that they'll put the game's support roster into a much more balanced state. The title has received some criticism for its historic handling of balance changes, which have often seemed haphazard and confusing, yet Season 6 appears to take a more precise approach.
Things like Mercy's damage boost and Kiriko's Suzu ability have been the subject of fiery debate within Overwatch 2's community, and Blizzard is clearly taking fan reception into account. The balance changes should make each of these heroes much more palatable, especially Lifeweaver's changes, which could make him more viable.
As the newest hero to the game, Lifeweaver arguably needed a buff more than any other character, and Blizzard have not dropped the ball here either. His changes are comprehensive and cover personal survivability as well as teammate healing effectiveness, showing another bit of shrewdness on Blizzard's part. There's still a risk that Overwatch 2 Season 6's upcoming new support hero may derail the level of balance that these changes herald, but in the meantime the game will be placed into a much more fair and fine-tuned state overall. The slated changes are a commendable effort from Blizzard's part, and could be the start of a truly transformative relationship between Blizzard and the needs of Overwatch 2's community.
Overwatch 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.