Overwatch 2 - EVERY HERO CHANGE for SEASON 3

Find friends and teammates in Season 3with GamerLink, the #1 LFG app available for FREE on iOS and Android! gamerlink.app/KarQ Season 3 BEGINS at 2pm EST / 7pm GMT on Feb 7 - ASHE DROPS FOR S3 at twitch.tv/karq all week! 3:43 - Rein's shatter will cost 7% more (text graphic error) 7:46 - Sombra's pistol from 7 to 7.5 dmg per bullet (forgot to change text graphic)

Since Sojourn was dominating the entire game in the past few seasons, the overwatch devs KNEW that the best cause of action was to nerf torb turret.

Zen getting 5 more shots is actually huge. There are so many times I was 1 more shot to kill an enemy but had to reload

Make your choice vs MercyPockets: Focus the Pocketed: They gets more healing when low so it's harder to kill them Focus Mercy: You have to shoot a constantly healed Mercy while her pockets bombard you Lose-Lose scenario

The updated color blind options are such a great change from what they originally were! Being able to customize personal settings, rather than choosing from a few options, can make the difference between literally being able to see important details and not.

Covering all the important stuff without a forty minute video. Impressive content as always. Keep up the good work

those accessibility options are so great! good on the devs for adding them and ESPECIALLY the preview option that shows BOTH the say and night lighting, that's so cool

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure wrecking ball is the only character now in the games history to passively have both shield and armour

The rein swing is very very useful in getting enemies pushed off map after a pin cancel. Sometimes you need the enemy to go a little more further, sometimes you need them to be pushed to the left (a hole or a ledge is there). I don’t notice people getting pushed out of my reach too much in a 1v1 but it does happen. I figure this might actually be more impactful for clusters of enemies where you might keep 2 or 3 of them in range for 1-2 more swings than before which could be big.

As a rein main the knock back reduction on hammer will be a quality of life for both reins and enemies. I won’t get frustrated so much that a basic attack is stunlocking me, and as a rein I won’t have to chase enemies as much.

4:15.. This is a significant buff for Rein mains. One problem was that Damage heroes who would hit and run could sometimes get assisted with running by our Hammer. With this buff, Reinhardt can more consistently get that last swing to finish then off instead of helping them escape.

Havana and Numbani are back! I loved both maps but I'm sad Eichenwalde has to go, Ecopoint looks cool as well.

As a rign main the knockback tends to be more of a hindrance then a benefit. It only helps if they are aiming at someone other than you because your hit box is so big. So overall I say this is a buff

Been saying that Brig change was necessary for months. Felt SO BAD pressing E on a low health hero knowing they were going to die before anything happened

I really appreciate the huge effort you put into this kind of videos!

once again, i thank you karQ for breaking down all the changes, this is very helpful!

Thanks man. A clear, precise and complete view of changes. Thank god Someone has the skills to do it properly!!

A lot of nice changes overall, not just the balancing but even stuff they are doing with the maps and color blind features as well as the streamer mode are nice. I just fear most of these changes are too late and they really missed the ball on retaining the new influx of f2p players.

Fantastic overview, thank you KarQ!

As a Rein main the knockback impulse is honestly an extremely good QOL change because you can swing and not have the enemy get knocked out of your hammer range

Love the attention to detail and your effort for max coverage like my great late grandmas over the shoulder boulder holder

the changes to rammatra and junker queen means that widow can now one shot tanks:), also for some reason - them increasing ult charge means that - turrets can be now destroyed for eternity and her shield deplosy slower:D

as a rein main the knockback reduction is a nerf, especially when securing certain ledge throws where a push to the left is beneficial after release

Thanks for the video, I always appreciate someone reading out the patch notes instead of me reading them. I sometimes misread things so this helps.

I like where they’re going with the ults. Tank ults are generally stronger than most so they cost more, while damage ults cost less so they can dps better 👍

Regarding the map changes, I hope they plan to add an alternate time-of-day to every map at some point, they can rotate them between Seasons to keep things interesting as a substitute to Map Pools. I like the little preview window in the settings, maybe they'll add every hero cinematic to the Hero Gallery like they did for JQ and Kiriko, would be nice for new players to get an idea what that hero is all about.

While the Guardian Angel nerfs hurt, I’m interested in how well her new passive will help in survivability in team fights. I’m also curious if the passive goes off if you’re healing Bob?

As someone that started in OW2, Eichenwalde and Busan are my favorite maps! Why do they have to take those away! At least they don’t take away Ilios

The map lighting changes are some of the best so far

can we just congratulate karq for covering all this !! well done :)

I think Reins hammer knock back change is not good for when you're pinning enemies off the map and giving them a last hit to push them further. However, it probably stop enemies being pushed further away from you when they’re jumping. I think more good than bad 🔨 👍

Appreciate the update as always KarQ!!

Zen getting 5 more shots is actually huge.

Mercy changes are going to drive me insane

As a brig main I’m happy they giving her more healing

Amazing video. Thanks for keeping us informed

For Rein there always seems to be this issue where the knock back will sometimes knock targets away from you . This should help him stick to targets a bit better .

thank you for making such a good video , good to know whats being changed for comp

I love the changes. And thank you Blizzard for bringing back Havana. It's my favorite map

Oh god I am. So on the fence but rapidly falling off on the side of not enjoying these changes for Mercy. Her mobility was insane but holy heck that is a LOT of nerfs to it. Also why did they need to nerf the HPS on not half health targets by 10, or AT ALL. People didn’t like her for the heals and now that it’s 45hps it’s gonna be worse when outside of Valk. The passive I’m hoping generates ult charge for herself since I feel like that is gonna be needed more often now for healing throughput. That change is nice but I feel like the fun I have on mercy is gonna go away since the movement was so fun and worth to master

Considering ball constantly has to run away to heal having that shield is CRAZY good.

4:10 reins knock back used to completely throw off Winston’s rocket jump so hopefully it doesn’t as much

Man, the shield buff on ball is massive. Literally no other hero benefits from shields as much as ball does considering he can easily get out of combat and start regening them. This also helps protect that juicy armor from annoying poke, preserving it for close-quarters. You also have 150 less hp to worry about meaning that 2 giga packs and one small pack is all you need to have maxed out hp. Pile driver buff is also cool since it's damage was incosistent and underwhelming for a 10 sec cd

as a mercy main i actually don’t mind the changes for her since i feel like it forces you to play much more thoughtfully with your positioning and more punishing if you get caught in a situation where you’re positioned badly, however almost three seconds to fly again is going to be horrible in my opinion. 2 would have been fine but 2.5 is a long time in a fast paced environment when you need to move quickly. but i also think it’s something that will force you to play smarter rather than relying on movement so it’ll be interesting to play.

The Hammer swing thing is kinda all around buff . I If a was caught getting swung on I'd time a jump and 40% of the time get out of range, especially with the rein v rein match up

As a plat rein main I do think the hammer having less knock back is a buff for him, mainly cause good players will jump before getting hit with rein so they can easily escape his range. While yes the knock back would disrupt aim of targets you're hitting, I don't think enough people even shoot back for it to be a noticable nerf to him. It may change the meta of what to do when facing a rein though if you have good aim since most DPS can probably just kill him in a 1v1 easier.. but I'd overall say it's gonna be a net buff since enemies escaping rein's range was the main issue to begin with.. it does however mean that pinning someone off the map into slapping them further away with one hammer swing will be slightly less consistent.

They should make variable changes in Open queue and Arcade where the changes depends on team composition. For example, whenever 3 tanks are present on the team, their health pool reduce, or 3 supports are present, their healing output reduce, and 3 dps reduce damage output

2:00 that's actually really good because she still felt a bit too weak sometimes and that 25 health might just make all the difference especially with her regen. Though they shouldn't make her too tanky I feel like a lower health pool but getting health from wounds is a good system. If anything I'd say boost her regen not her total health.

Thank you for all these up-to-date updates @KarQ. You are the number one for all Overwatch (2) anything.

I really like eichenwalde i would preferred if they keep it

holding s and jumping as rein hits u sends u so far back so its acc a nice buff that the knockbacks reduced

i was legit just getting in that feeling of being an unkillable mercy after maining her for the past season and a half… i really dislike what they did to her. the thing that made me fall in love with playing her was her insane movement and survivability because of the movement. i would’ve much rather took a hit to her ult or blue beam over the movement nerf

Brigitte is a top notch support, and the buffs just made her even better.

As a Tracer main the Torb nerf is awesome because it means I can one clip the turret

Love the Junker Queen buffs. She is so much fun to play.

Great coverage KarQ, thanks!

First we got Rein, then we got Junkerqueen then we got Mercy! Angela is gonna DO SOMETHING!

wait that cassidy buff is actually massive. Rolling through enemies trying to block you and the falloff damage is pretty nice

Season 2: overwatch has a damage problem Season 3: more damage less health

I’ll definitely miss 1 tapping a lot of peeps with Rein ult

I'll take any improvements to Sombra gladly at this point. And Widow going back down to 175 is delightful along with Sombra's damage increase.

So since the problem was with mercy's damage boost and Rez, in classic blizzard fashion, they decided to change everything BUT those two things.

With Sojourn dominating the game for the past few seasons, the Overwatch devs knew the best reason to act was to nerf torb turrets.

That zen buff is actually massive. Complete W

More HUD options, please!! They added new accessibility options, but from the beginning of Overwatch I've disliked how small my healthbar is. I mean, I bet it functions well enough for most people, but for me when I was starting out, there were many times I would be infuriated that I died without being given proper feedback of how much damage I was taking in fights. Sure, better tutorials on engages, peeking, environmental considerations would be nice, but even with a fair lot of experience my attention span can be really inefficient.

the two things that makes me want to go back to the game : ow credits and ui customization

The mercy changes are once again some inspiration for Team Fortress 2. In TF2, the Medic's medigun does, "crit" heals when the target is below 50%. Happy to see good mechanics put into the game.

Thank god my boy Junkrat didn’t get badly nerf 😌

KarQ what are your thoughts on turrets in Overwatch? My and friend group and I think they are unhealthy and just an annoying addition to the game, but we also cannot think of alternatives for heroes that have them in their kit. So what do you think?

While I do think Mercy’s nerfs have been significant it’ll definitely make a play style of tanking or GA’ing and going for cover before GA’ing again

The mercy changes kinda feel like a buff for pocketing a dps. You squeeze out damage boost untill they are half health and then burst them back to full with the increased healing. Probably is going to make pharmercy and sojourn mercy more annoying. And the changes to valk healing im mixed on because the constant regen was annoying to me as a winston player as she outhealed my damage with one passive ability but it seems like she can still do that?

Wow even as a non-Mercy main, surprised Mercy is nerfed so heavily but Kiriko is untouched.

Since the tanks health got nerfed in non role queue modes does that make bastion more durable with the iron clad?

reins knockback reduction is definitely a nerf, not a huge one but still a nerf.

Feel like the mercy nerf from 1.5 sec to 2.5 might be too much and should probably go down to 2 sec

Ball changes are really good. The pile driver cool down reduction is scary, but I think it still takes a decent player to line those up. So bad players will still be bad.

I just wish Hammond got a quality of life update for the grapple or a lil more damage for the quad cannons..

Question: does roadhog in open queue heal for the same amount with take a breather despite having less health?

What software is used to display your keyboard and mouse inputs? And how would you integrate it into your game without it being a distraction?

6:55 “And the Ana lives” he says as Ana gets launched off the map.

As a rein main, I would largely say less hammer knockback is a buff, but it's sort of situational. Can definitely hurt sometimes around ledges or in tight corridors as you can knock people further from their team, but past that.. not bad overall.

Mercy changes are actually very great

That ending was definitely worth the waits

Rein can kill junk tyre again yay, I loved hitting those, it sucked cause even when hitting it before it wouldn't die. Although being double I imagine he will almost always get kills as people walk out of spawn

if u jump with the momentum of the swing as u get hit from enemy rein it can carry u further away from him... it gives u options

I hate the change to tank health in open que. I love playing open que and I think this will make tanks less fun in those modes

The game feels like it’s filling out a little bit more. And this season’s free battle pass perks feel a little more fair and worth grinding for. Still not amazing but it’s getting there.

I understand the Ramattra nerf. Still gonna miss the funny Ramattra stare downs

Poor Doom, but I’m happy about the wrecking ball and slight brig buffs.

Rain for me the push dose not matter as the swing is so wide and slow enough for me to move the view point where they are thrown I do not think it is going to effect many rain mains.

I'm digging these changes for the most part!

I prefer the knock back from the hammer to be 10, I like displacing the enemy. But it is nice not having them get booped away too.

The majority of these changes are great. Open queue is now somewhat balanced, MOST of the strongest heroes have been nerfed (*cough cough* still waiting for more Sojourn nerfs), heroes lacking in strength have been buffed (Rein, ball, sombra, brig). Even though I don't play or like Junkrat, I don't like his nerfs considering you basically can't one-shot enemies with him anymore unless you pull off a perfectly accurate combo (which is hard!). I personally thought he was fine, and he already had plently of ways of being countered. It's actually quite a big nerf for him and it'll affect his performance quite a lot. Mercy... oh god, Mercy. They changed her so much. Why? I get that her GA mobility is insane, but 2.5 is a little too much for her. Even in her current state, it is still very easy to counter and focus her. I would understand 2 seconds, but 2.5 seems a little much. The healing change on her staff is a little weird, and makes her healing inconsistent. 45hp/s on a normal target, 67.5hp/s on a half HP target, 60hp/s on a normal target during Valkyrie, and 90hp/s on a half HP target during Valkyrie. That 90hp/s is actually insane and will keep Mercy alive 90% of the time with her new passive. But... the passive doesn't seem very good outside of Valk. So with the new changes, Mercy gets way more survivability and value with her ultimate, but less value and survivability outside of her ultimate. I just... don't get it. She's an ultimate bot now. Why did they have to make such drastic changes? And map pools. Why even bother following through with map pools for S3? Why not just remove map pools this season? Eichenwalde is gone, Route 66 is gone, Gibraltar is still removed. Why not just remove them now instead of waiting for next season?

Is the map pool change for season 3 just for comp? Because I havent even played Numbani and Havana in quickplay and Id love to again. So wondering if itll be put into the qp pool too

kinda sad that genji being popular makes it so they wont buff him even tho he is one of the worst dps rn. his pickrate is still decent and he isn't unplayable but you really do notice how almost every other dps hero is doing more dmg or more consistent dmg

Mercy’s beam linger is 1.3 secs and res is 1.75 secs long. Having GA at 1.5 secs was a perfect synergy with those cast times. However, the extra second on GA completely destroys that synergy. Now, there will be a lot of awkward moments of waiting for the cooldown to come online and it’s going to feel so bad. The mercy changes actually incentivizes damage boost pocketing even more now. Mercy gameplay will essentially be staying back with the dps to limit GA usage and damage boosting until an ally gets below 50% to heal, then once they get to 50%, go back to damage boost. As a Mercy player, I can see myself purposefully letting teammates get below 50% before healing them so I could activate my passive.

I feel like they only gave Junkerqueen 25 more health so the tanks consistently lose 150 in open queue but have 300 or more health

The only thing im surprised they didn’t nerf is the one DPS that hits harder than reaper, moves faster than tracer, and snipes better than widow…Soujorn

If they ever buff Genji, and actually give him a good buff, I will celebrate so much

As a Brig main, OW2 has been giving consistent buffs to my baby.