Blizzard is changing how ultimate abilities are used in Overwatch

Players must be wary of how they choose to execute their ultimate abilities in Overwatch as rash decisions will reduce results to effectively zero.

Players must be wary of how they choose to execute their ultimate abilities in Overwatch as rash decisions will reduce results to effectively zero.

Currently on the live servers, the ultimate charge depletes gradually over a short period of time with usage. In other words, players get to keep some portion of their ultimate charge even if they die right after smashing the ultimate key. This gameplay mechanic is being changed by Blizzard in the near future.

The Public Test Region (PTR) was updated last week to change how the ultimate charge interacts with ultimate abilities in Overwatch. Executing any ultimate ability now will immediately expend the entire stored ultimate charge. Hence, if a player dies right afterwards, they will respawn with their charge-gauge reset to zero.

This will force players to be careful when deciding to use their ultimate abilities, as well as to yield as much advantage as possible before being taken down by enemy opponents.

Some heroes on the roster will not see that much of an impact. However, there are those such as Bastion and Genji that take a little extra time and effort before they start doing damage. This also means that enemy players now have a new objective to take out ultimate-using heroes as quickly as possible to set them back.

There is no word on when the update will arrive for the live severs but it should be in early October.

Elsewhere, the Overwatch League is scheduled to begin with a pre-season in December, with the first official season commencing from early January. A total of twelve teams will be competing for glory and honor. More details will arrive in the coming months.

Saqib is a managing editor at segmentnext.com who has halted regime changes, curbed demonic invasions, and averted at least one cosmic omnicide from the confines of his gaming chair. When not whipping his writers into ...