[2021] Experimental Mode – Hero Balance February 2021

Hey everyone!

We’re back with another Experimental mode focused on testing some balance changes. As with all Experimental modes, these changes are not guaranteed to reach the live version of the game. Check out the patch notes here.

What are we trying to address?

While we don’t have an overarching theme for today’s Experimental patch, we’re hoping to get your feedback on a handful of heroes.

What are we testing?

For this Experimental patch, we’re adjusting four heroes:

Orisa – Orisa has been perceived as underwhelming on the Tank front recently. We’re looking to buff up her Fortify to remove the ability to receive critical headshots while the effect is active. We believe that, in addition to its CC immunity, this should make the ability more consistent in its defensive capabilities.

Reaper – Currently, Reaper is a very in-your-face hero, given the high damage potential but very short range on his Hellfire Shotguns. We’re experimenting with increasing his range slightly but decreasing the damage of each of his shotgun pellets by 1. This should give him the ability to combat enemies further away, but not do quite as much burst damage from distance.

Winston – We’re rebalancing the distribution of Amor and Health on Winston to make him more resistant to shotguns, beams, and weapons with high rates of fire. As another hero (like Reaper) that requires close range for maximum efficacy, there’s necessity to be up close to your opponents, which introduces high risk of being burst down. We want to make sure he has the tools he needs to survive while filling this role.

Wrecking Ball – Wrecking Ball can knock opponents back very often. We want to reduce the extremity of his knockback abilities to bring it more in line with other heroes’ knockback abilities that also have low cooldowns.

We hope you check out the new Experimental mode and provide us with your feedback! Science will reveal the truth – And all great science requires data! As always, this is an Experiment, so the changes in this test may not reach the live game.

Thank you!