Overwatch 2 Hero Changes and Reworks: Guide on How Each Hero Plays Differently

In this guide we will go over all the changes and reworks made to heroes and gameplay in Overwatch 2 to change the player experience.

By Naqvi

Overwatch 2 had to shake up the formula drastically for the player base to return to what it once was in the peak days of the original Overwatch. Whether it has done that or not remains to be seen but with the launch of Overwatch 2, all 32 Heroes have undergone some sort of changes and reworks.

While some of these hero reworks might be minor, there are some that have undergone major changes with the launch of Overwatch 2, completely changing their role and impact on match.

In addition, there’s a brand new introduction of Role-based Passive Abilities that impacts the Hero’s performance in Overwatch 2.

To help you catch up, we’ve designed this guide in a manner that helps you learn every little change and rework introduced in Overwatch 2 step by step, so once you begin your journey in Overwatch 2, you’re already aware of the important information.

General gameplay changes in Overwatch 2

Before we jump into Hero changes in OW2, let’s first look at all the general changes players can expect in the game.

6v6 to 5v5

One of the biggest changes in Overwatch 2 is the switch from a 6v6 team format to 5v5. The team composition now consists of one tank, two attackers, and two supports.

Swapping heroes

In Overwatch 2, if players swap between different heroes, they’ll still retain 30% of their Ultimate charge instead of losing it all. This adds a bit of flexibility for the players not to lose all of their Ultimate while opting for another hero mid-engagement and fights.

Temporary shields and armor removed

Temporary shields and armor have been reworked into temporary health, which will be shown on the screen as a green bar. Hero abilities will grant Temporary health instead of Temporary Shields or Temporary Armor.

Armor

The last change is that Armor Health will now reduce all Damage by 30% instead of 5 points, as it used to do in the previous installment.

Moreover, the last attacks that used to drain the Hero’s armor fully will now have less Damage, giving players room to fight back until their last breath.

Apart from all the general changes we’ve noticed so far, here are the newly introduced Overwatch 2 Role Passives. Passive Abilities allow players to have an extra perk based on the role they belong to. There are a total of 3 Role Based Passive Abilities and below are the functions of each;

Damage

The first Role-Based Passive Ability is for the Damage Heroes. Every time Damage Hero eliminates an enemy; they receive a 25% increase in their reload and movement speed for 2.5 seconds.

This perk is not stackable but will be refreshed with another elimination.

Tank

The second Role-Based Passive Ability is for the Tank Heroes. With this new perk, Tank Heroes will receive 30% less knockback and provide 50% less Ultimate Charge once damaged.

Support

The third Role-Based Passive Ability is for the Support Heroes. All Support Heroes will gain health gradually after not being damaged for a few seconds. Their health will be regenerated at the rate of 15HP per second.

Ana

Following are the changes made to the Hero Ana.

  • The magazine size for the Biotic Rifles has been increased to 15.
  • The effect duration of the Biotic Grenade is now only 3 seconds.
  • The Cooldown for the Sleep Dart has been buffed up to 15 seconds.

You will see small changes in Ana, but overall they have lowered her performance. The best addition to her kit is the Support passive, as it can generate some health. You don’t have to rely more on Biotic Grenade for healing.

Ashe

Following are the changes made to the Hero Ashe.

  • There’s a decline in BOB’s base health. It has reduced to 1000.

Ashe is good as before without many changes. The only difference you will see is her BOB base health is reduced. The enemy team can kill BOB more easily now, so keep this in mind.

Baptiste

Following are the changes made to the Hero Baptiste.

  • The Primary Fire damage for Biotic Launcher has been increased to 25, and the falloff range has been extended to 25 meters. Moreover, the secondary fire magazine size has been increased to 13.
  • The Regenerative Burst heals for 50 health and 50 overtime.

Baptiste is known as a powerful Support hero in Overwatch, and the change in Overwatch 2 improves his healing abilities more.

Moreover, his damage output is also increased. But you will notice a reduction in the damage while hitting enemies at a distance.

Bastion

Following are the changes made to the Hero Bastion.

  • Tank-Mode and Self-Repair have been removed.
  • Have gained A-36 Tactical Grenade and Artillery Strike.
  • Sentry Form now has now 35% less movement speed, 6-second duration, 12-second cooldown, infinite ammo, and the Damage is reduced to 12.
  • Recon Form has weapon damage of 25, fire rate of 5 shots per second, has had the weapon spread removed and ammo decreased to

Bastion is now a much more mobile damage hero in Overwatch 2. He still takes a lot of benefit from the Ironclad ability. Besides that, the removal of his Self-Repair ability has hurt him a little and reduced his durability.

Brigitte

Following are the changes made to the Hero Brigitte.

  • Shield Bash will now do 50 damage with double Knockback at the increased distance of 12 meters. Moreover, the cooldown time is also reduced by 5 seconds.
  • Inspire ability duration is reduced to 5 seconds.

Many changes are done in Damage and Support heroes to lower the crowd control, and Brigitte is no different. She has faced a decrease in the Stun damage from her Shield Bash attack.

Her Shield bash will trigger the Inspire ability to heal her and her teammates.

Cassidy

Following are the changes made to the Hero Cassidy.

  • No longer posses the Flashbang Ability.
  • Has gained Magnetic Grenade.
  • Peacekeeper now has a fire rate of 7.5%.
  • While channeling Dead Eye, Cassidy benefits from a 40% damage reduction. The duration has also been increased to 7 seconds, and the damage rate increased to 130 DPS for the first two seconds and then to 260 DPS for the rest of five seconds.
  • 50% reduced Damage for the 0.4 seconds on Combat Roll.

The most significant change you will see in Cassidy is his Flashbang ability is now replaced by the Magnetic Grenade. It is done to ensure that mostly tank heroes can stun enemies.

But Magnetic Grenade is not a bad ability either. It can stick to enemies and deal some extra damage.

D.VA

Following are the changes made to the Hero D.VA.

  • Base Health increased to 450, and Base Armor reduced to 200.
  • The cost of Call Mech has been reduced by 12%.
  • The cooldown of Micro Missiles has decreased to 7 seconds.
  • The impact damage of Boosters has increased to 25.
  • The movement penalty of Fusion Cannon has been decreased to 40%, and the spread is limited to 3.5 degrees now.

You will not see some significant changes in D.Va. Just her survivability is increased significantly to push enemies back. Now D.Va can do even more damage to the targets while using boosters.

Doomfist

Following are the changes made to the Hero Doomfist.

  • Has gained Power Block.
  • Has been moved to Tank Role.
  • Health has increased to 450.
  • Hand Cannon’s ammo recovery is increased to 0.4s, and Damage is decreased by five pellets.
  • Rocket Punch now has max. Charge time of 1s, Impact Damage of 15-30, Wall Slam damage of 20-40, and targeting an enemy now causes a secondary larger cone area to grab more targets and damage them.
  • Seismic Slam can launch the Hero in the air in the direction the player is aiming. Deals 50 damage and Reduces enemy speed by 30%.

Doomfist has a whole new role in Overwatch 2. The hero is now a Tank that has some fantastic abilities like Block. This ability is quite similar to the Zarya Protective Barrier ability.

This ability also powers up his Rocket Punch ability to deal extra damage to the enemy’s frontline.

Echo

Following are the changes made to the Hero Echo.

  • The Damage for Focusing Beam is now 175.
  • Through Duplicate, Echo copies the target’s combined health value, including health, armor, and shields.

Echo didn’t undergo drastic changes but has some changes to balance things. But this balancing seems to lower her overall performance in the game.

Ultimate and Focusing Beam has less power now, which means you are Tank Hero with reduced damage.

Genji

Following are the changes made to the Hero Genji.

  • No Changes.

Genji gets a new passive Damage ability that just turns this hero into an even greater Damage hero in Overwatch 2.

Hanzo

Following are the changes made to the Hero Hanzo.

  • The Damage for Storm Arrow has been decreased to 65.
  • The damage passive will grant increased reload speed and movement.

The only change you will notice in Hanzo is the reduced impact of his Storm Arrow ability. That means this ability will do less damage after a hit.

But his boost in the movement and reloads speed balance out the reduction in Storm Arrow.

Junker Queen

Following are the changes made to the Hero Junker Queen since the OW2 beta

  • Commanding Shout radius is now reduced to 15 meters.
  • Health Bonus to allies is also reduced to 50 hit points.
  • Allies can benefit from Commanding Shout for 3 seconds now instead of 5 seconds.
  • Commanding Shout Cooldown is increased from 11 to 15 seconds.
  • Rampage ability radius is reduced from six to five meters.

She is an entirely new tank in Overwatch 2 and underwent some changes after her inclusion in the beta. All the changes are balancing, so even some reduced effects don’t mean her effectiveness as a tank is low.

Junkrat

Following are the changes made to the Hero Junkrat.

  • The damage of the Steel Trap is increased by 100.
  • Projectile Speed is increased by 15, slowing enemies down by 15%.
  • The projectile size of the Frag launcher is increased to 0.25.

He is not affected much by the balancing changes made in Overwatch 2. His Steel Trap ability gets a buff that makes it even deadlier. It can easily take out a hero with half health.

Mei

Following are the changes made to the Hero Mei.

  • Endothermic Blaster damage is increased to 100 with a 150 increase in ammo.
  • Endothermic Blaster will not freeze enemies anymore.
  • Ice Wall pillar health has been declined to 250.
  • Cost of Blizzard has been increased by 15%.
  • Cryo-Freeze does not remove Sigma Gravitic Flux.

Now Mei cannot turn enemies into living popsicles using the Endothermic Blaster; instead, it will just slow down enemies it hits. But the better thing is it will deal more damage now.

Lucio

Following are the changes made to the Hero Lucio.

  • Sound Barrier cost is lowered by 12%.
  • Crossfade self-healing penalty has been increased to 60%.

The penalty to his Crossfade ability will serve as a balancer to heal because of the Support passive ability he has.

Mercy

Following are the changes made to the Hero Mercy.

  • Regeneration increases support for passive healing by 50%.
  • During the Guardian Angel, you can press Crouch to get launched straight up.
  • You can throw yourself forward by pressing jump during Guardian Angel.
  • While airborne, you can press Crouch to activate Angelic Descent.

The Super Jump ability of Mercy is reworked to make it a little better and more accessible for new players to master. Now it will not reduce your vertical mobility, so that glitch is also fixed.

Orisa

Following are the changes made to the Hero Orisa.

  • Base armor and health increased to 250
  • Gained Energy Javelin, Javelin Spin, Terra Surge, and Augmented Fusion Driver.
  • Fortify gains 125 temporary health, reduces heat from firing by 50%, and slows down 20%.

Orisa’s kit is entirely different from the previous Overwatch. You will no longer see the Protective barrier as it is now replaced with the Javelin. You can use Javelin to block incoming enemy attacks.

The Terra Surge ability of Orisa will now emphasize more the damage a Tank hero can do. You will not only protect your team but deal some good damage to the opponents as well.

Moira

Following are the changes made to the Hero Moira.

  • No Changes

Pharah

Following are the changes made to the Hero Pharah.

  • Rocket launchers start 0.25s faster.
  • Concussive Blast deals 30 damage

The improvements in the above abilities are exemplary. However, her counter-hitscan heroes are still too strong, so Pharah will still struggle.

Reaper

Following are the changes made to the Hero Reaper.

  • Hellfire Shotgun damage was reduced to 5.4, and spread was reduced to 7.

You will see small changes in the Reaper to reduce the Shotguns damage and weapon spread. These changes will balance things out and make Reaper a great Damage hero.

Reinhardt

Following are the changes made to the Hero Reinhardt.

  • Base armor and health increased by 300 and 350.
  • Barrier Field health increased to 1600.
  • Charge can be controlled, canceled, and cooldown has received a decrease.
  • Fire Strike damage is reduced to 90.

The best change you will notice in Reinhardt’s kit is the Charge Ability. This change gives Reinhardt more control in Overwatch 2.

Roadhog

Following are the changes made to the Hero Roadhog.

  • Base health increased to 700.
  • Take a Breather will increase healing to 350.

Roadhog is always a solid Tank in Overwatch, and now his Whole Hog ability is evolved into a Transform ultimate. You have more control over firing Whole Hog, allowing you to Hook the enemies.

Sigma

Following are the changes made to the Hero Sigma.

  • Shield increased to 200.
  • You will see a 100 increase in the Accretion damage.
  • Now the regeneration of the Experimental barrier is only at 100.

The changes you will see in Sigma are mostly balancing. The new buffs to his Accretion ability damage output and Shield health will work as a balancer.

Sojourn

Following are the changes made to the Hero Sojourn since the OW2 beta

  • Railgun’s primary fire rate is reduced to 14/shot.
  • The Disruptor Shot’s radius will increase to 0.1 depending upon the energy charge level of the Railgun.
  • The energy Railgun gets by hitting non-player targets is reduced by 50%.
  • Power Slide Cooldown time is reduced by 1 second.

She is a new damage hero in Overwatch 2, and the changes you see are balancing out his Railgun.

Soldier: 76

Following are the changes made to the Hero Soldier 76.

  • Damage for Heavy Pulse Rifle reduced to 18.
  • Sprint has a movement speed of 40% now.

Soldier: 76 has seen a decrease in the damage and effectiveness of his Tactical Visor ability, but the new addition of headshots compensates for it in a good way.

Sombra

Following are the changes made to the Hero Sombra.

  • Hacking has a cooldown of 3s, duration of 8s, disabling enemies to 1s, can hack in stealth mode, health pack hack reduces to 30s, and see hacked enemies through walls.
  • Machine Pistol increases Damage dealt to hacked targets by 50%.
  • EMP has lost the ability to destroy shields and now drains 40% health of enemies.

You will see many changes in the Sombra Kit in Overwatch 2. All the changes are balancing this Damage Hero in Overwatch 2. Some of his abilities are boosted, but some see a decrease.

Now the Hack ability can’t cancel out the Stealth of Sombra, and you will have an added advantage. You can utilize the Ultimate charge ability more efficiently.

Symmetra

Following are the changes made to the Hero Symmetra.

  • Photon Projector ammo has increased to 100.
  • Teleporter’s build time is now 1s, duration 10s, cooldown 16s health 200.

The changes in the Symmetra Teleporter ability are done to reduce the reliance on this ability. Now the Teleporter is harder to cast and less durable as well.

Torbjörn

Following are the changes made to the Hero Torbjörn.

  • Rivet Gun primary and secondary fire recovery has reduced from 0.55s and 0.7s.

Apart from the balancing changes, you will see minor changes in the Rivet Gun to lower its effectiveness.

Tracer

Following are the changes made to the Hero Tracer.

  • Pulse Pistols Damage has been reduced from 6 to 5.

The reason for reducing the Pulse Pistol damage output is to make taking out enemies a little more challenging for you. This change will force you to put in more effort to kill the enemies.

Widowmaker

Following are the changes made to the Hero Widowmaker.

  • Health increased to 200.

Widowmaker was a relatively easy-to-kill hero in Overwatch. But now, you can survive longer in battles with increased health. This sniper is not an easy target to take out in Overwatch 2.

Winston

Following are the changes made to the Hero Winston.

  • Armor increased to 200.
  • Barrier Projectile health increased to 700, duration reduced to 8s, and cooldown to 12s.
  • Tesla Cannon deals 50 damage.

The new secondary fire will allow Winston to remove low-health enemies quickly. Other than that, you survive even longer with the increased armor and health.

Wrecking Ball

Following are the changes made to the Hero Wrecking Ball.

  • Armour 150, Health 550, and Roll knock back 36%.
  • Adaptive Shield radius 10 meters and 100 health gained per target.

Wrecking Ball gets small but very effective changes in Overwatch2. The changes in the Adaptive Shield will make this Tank a lot tough to kill. You can charge with this hero and destroy enemies’ frontline with it.

Zarya

Following are the changes made to the Hero Zarya.

  • Health and Sheild increased to 250 and 220.
  • The particle Barrier has 10 second cooldown and a duration of 2.5 seconds.
  • The projected Barrier has a 10-second cooldown and 2.5 seconds duration.

Zarya is a more improved tank hero in Overwatch 2. She has more health, so that she can take more enemies’ attacks as a shield.

Zenyatta

Following are the changes made to the Hero Zenyatta.

  • Orb of Discord will now fall off its target when not in line after 2 seconds.

Finally, the melee kick of Zenyatta has the ability needed to knock out enemies. Now she can survive more attacks from the flankers attacking the Support hero in your backline in Overwatch 2.

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About the Author
Naqvi

A vape enthusiast who'd sell himself for vape joos and some fused clapton rolls. Oh and he seems rather fond of coining words, we'd say he's a peculiament.