Overwatch 2 replace offers Roadhog a rework, listed below are the patch notes

Roadhog, one of many unique Overwatch heroes, is getting a rework within the newest patch for Overwatch 2. Whereas his core skills — Scrap Gun, Chain Hook, and Take A Breather self-healing — aren’t going away, a few of them are altering in noteworthy methods. He’s additionally getting a brand-new capability, Pig Pen, which can give Roadhog gamers one other offensive device to play with.

Roadhog’s Scrap Gun is getting streamlined, along with his explosive secondary hearth eliminated utterly. Blizzard is as an alternative combining his two strategies of fireplace into one: His shotgun blast now features a shrapnel volley of 4 massive projectiles within the middle of its shot, along with a sprig of shotgun pellets.

“We checked out [Roadhog’s] main hearth and the secondary hearth as two issues that function fairly effectively, however as particular person components on the package, weren’t doing sufficient contribution themselves,” Alec Dawson, lead hero designer on Overwatch 2, advised Polygon in an interview over Zoom. “So we mixed each of these in a means with the brand new Scrap Gun that performs just a little bit higher at vary than Roadhog [used to].”

Picture: Blizzard Leisure

Right here’s a breakdown of Scrap Gun’s modifications, from Blizzard’s patch notes:

Scrap Gun

• Earlier secondary hearth performance has been eliminated.
• Whole harm per shot elevated from 150 to 160.
• Shotgun pellet rely diminished from 25 to 16.
• Shotgun pellet harm elevated from 6 to six.25.
• Now fires a shrapnel volley of 4 massive projectiles within the middle of the shot.
• Every shrapnel projectile offers 15 harm.
• Essential harm multiplier diminished from 2x to 1.5x.

Roadhog’s self-healing capability, Take A Breather, can be getting some massive modifications. Foremost, it’s shifting to the button beforehand used for his secondary hearth. It’s additionally now resource-based, and when consumed, refills over time — much like how Bastion’s self-repair capability used to work.

Reasonably than devour a complete bunch of therapeutic without delay, Roadhog gamers will as an alternative be capable of heal him just a little or so much, relying on how a lot therapeutic fuel (or, uh, tuna) is within the canister. (Minimal heal on Take A Breather shall be 84 HP, as much as 450 HP max.)

Picture: Blizzard Leisure

“Turning Take A Breather into one thing that’s on a useful resource simply permits him to be, for 95% of conditions that he needs to make use of it, simply as efficient,” Dawson stated of the change. “You’re nonetheless in a position to get that harm resistance. You’re nonetheless in a position to get that therapeutic in. And then you definitely don’t have to make use of your entire cooldown. You possibly can solely use half when you solely want half. So it permits you simply to play so much higher to your workforce, and tank harm when chances are you’ll have to, and have harm discount at-will, principally. That may be fairly efficient.

“Then when you have a look at issues like stuns in our sport or some type of tender CC skills — like Orisa’s spear that used to only knock you out of your capability solely — once you’re utilizing Take A Breather now, [Orisa] will simply spear you and also you’ll get the one-second quiet down, however [Roadhog] can go proper again to [healing]. So it softens among the counters Roadhog had beforehand as effectively.”

Right here’s how Take A Breather is altering, per Blizzard’s patch notes:

Take a Breather

• Now activated by holding Secondary Hearth.
• Cooldown for every use decreased from 8 seconds to 1 second.
• A brand new useful resource meter has been added. This meter will deplete whereas Take a Breather is lively after which recharge when it’s not in use.
• Take a Breather requires 12 seconds to achieve full cost from empty.
• At a full cost, Take a Breather can heal as much as 450 well being over 3 seconds.
• Take a Breather will now stay lively so long as its assigned hotkey is held.
• An choice to “Toggle Take a Breather” has been added beneath Choices > Controls > Roadhog.
• Harm discount decreased from 50% to 30%.
• Now not amplifies therapeutic acquired upon ending.

Roadhog’s new capability Pig Pen lets him, like Junkrat, set a ground-based lure for the opposing workforce. However not like Metal Lure, Pig Pen damages and slows enemies for a couple of seconds. It’s yet one more tender crowd-control capability for Overwatch 2, not a full-on stun, however one that can get Roadhog gamers some new tactical choices to think about: Do they attempt to Chain Hook opponents not solely towards them, however into the trail of Pig Pen? It’d allow extra one-shot kills for Roadhog, however may be tough to reliably pull off.

Picture: Blizzard Leisure

Like Junkrat’s Metal Lure, Roadhog’s Pig Pen shall be barely obscured. Eagle-eyed opponents might spot its dome form half-buried on the flooring of maps. But when they don’t, they usually set off it, Pig Pen will knock any opponent caught in its radius upward barely, gradual them, and do harm to them over time.

“For [Pig Pen] we had been making this one thing the place when you do catch somebody in it, it feels very satisfying,” Dawson stated of the brand new capability. “So getting that knock-up makes them a goal for you with Chain Hook specifically. In order that they’re not simply slowed just a little bit, however they’re additionally within the air. So that you’re in a position to form of have this second like, Alright, I can efficiently hook you from there.”

From Blizzard’s patch notes:

Pig Pen

• This can be a new capability assigned to Means 2 by default.
• Launch a lure that slows and damages close by enemies.
• Offers 60 harm when triggered and 30 harm per second in an space.
• 3-second length as soon as activated.
• 40% motion velocity gradual.
• Cooldown is 12 seconds.

Dawson stated that Blizzard experimented with many iterations of Roadhog reworks over the previous 9 months, together with giving him auras and shields. However Dawson stated the Overwatch workforce didn’t wish to deviate an excessive amount of from the Chain Hook-Scrap Gun-melee combo that’s so central to the hero’s identification.

“There’s been a whole lot of good classes all through the final yr about how all of our roles match into 5v5, and the way they may must be tailored into 5v5,” Dawson stated. “I believe tanks specifically [were] one thing we knew moving into, that there’s gonna be a bit extra work there to translate all of them into this new format. With Roadhog, there’s a whole lot of good classes right here, like flexibility is essential. It helps tanks simply really feel much more impactful if their skills can’t be turned off so rapidly.”

Dawson stated that suggestions from the neighborhood and creators has additionally had a big effect on Roadhog’s rework, and deliberate tweaks for the sport’s subsequent hero, Mauga.

“With Mauga, he simply hit our preview server and we bought a whole lot of nice knowledge,” Dawson stated, “a whole lot of nice suggestions that we’re gonna [use to] make and alter Mauga earlier than he comes on season eight, to extend his survivability specifically. So I believe we’ve realized so much as a workforce there. You’ll see among the means we’re designing tanks are just a little bit completely different than we used to by way of what they might want personally. And Take A Breather is type of a translation of a few of these classes.”