Nearly two years since Overwatch first came out, its most-hated skill is finally being killed. Hanzo’s scatter arrow is no more, deservedly ripped from existence this afternoon by a much-needed patch to the live game.
In its place comes Storm arrow, an ability that lets Hanzo rapid-fire six full-speed arrows that do a slightly reduced damage. The result is that Hanzo is able to more consistently deal damage (which is his role as a defense hero), and that tanks aren’t going to be one-shot by a sneaky Japanese man in the middle of a team fight any more.
In addition to Storm Arrow, Hanzo also got a few other buffs. His projectile speed is now 100 rather than 85, which means it’s easier to hit enemies more consistently, and makes him slightly more viable as a counter to things like Pharah.
He also gets an all-new ability called Lunge, which lets him leap in midair. By pressing Space and holding one of the direction keys, you can change direction whenever you’re off the ground, which makes him a little more slippery and partially makes up for the loss of Scatter as a personal defensive ability.
As well as the Hanzo changes, Blizzard is also rolling out a number of new features and hero changes. Lucio’s wall ride has received a small buff: it will now travel around corners and over small obstacles in the wall. This basically enables anyone to do what Lucio mains have been doing at a high level for a long time now, namely flying around over everyone’s heads with abandon. However, at the same time, it appears that the development team have capped the speed boost that Lucio currently receives by jumping off a wall, capping his top speed slower than it was before. Lucio also now doesn’t use ammo when he uses Soundwave, more commonly known as his boop.
Oh, and as promised, there’s a new map called Rialto. It’s the same map that you’ve seen if you’ve played the Retribution event, just turned into a regular Payload map instead of being covered with bots. Patch notes for the lore make it sound far more dramatic than it seems in real life:
Rialto was home to Talon agent Antonio Bartalotti’s sprawling estate and the backdrop to the infamous “Venice Incident,” a turning point for Overwatch and Talon. The Italian government has taken great steps to preserve Venice, and the results are striking. Tourists visiting this picturesque town can sample the regional cuisine, enjoy a relaxing gondola ride, visit Galleria D’arte Omnica, or simply take in the sights with a stroll along the canal.
Full patch notes are below:
PATCH HIGHLIGHTS
New Escort Map: Rialto
Rialto was home to Talon agent Antonio Bartalotti’s sprawling estate and the backdrop to the infamous “Venice Incident,” a turning point for Overwatch and Talon. The Italian government has taken great steps to preserve Venice, and the results are striking. Tourists visiting this picturesque town can sample the regional cuisine, enjoy a relaxing gondola ride, visit Galleria D’arte Omnica, or simply take in the sights with a stroll along the canal.
HERO UPDATES
Brigitte
- Shield Bash
- Cone angle reduced from 90 to 60
Developer Comments: When fighting against Brigitte, it often felt like Shield Bash was able to hit players who felt like they were out of its range and should have dodged it. On the flip side, when playing as Brigitte sometimes players would hit the wrong enemy in the middle of a fight. With the cone being reduced, the ability is more accurate to its visual representation.Genji
- Deflect
- Hitbox size has been reduced
Developer Comments: The hitbox on Genji’s Deflect was big enough that it would sometimes reflect projectiles that were pretty far away from him. We’ve tightened up the hitbox, which should solve this problem while still fully protecting him from projectiles that would hit him from the front.Hanzo
- Storm Bow
- Projectile speed increased from 85 to 100
- Sonic Arrow
- Cooldown decreased from 20 seconds to 12 seconds
- Duration decreased from 10 seconds to 6 seconds
- Radius decreased from 10 meters to 7 meters
- New Abilities
- Lunge
- Press jump while in the air to leap horizontally
- Storm Arrows
- Replaces his existing Scatter Arrow ability
- Hanzo can now rapidly fire up to 6 arrows that deal reduced damage but are always fired at full power
- Lunge
Developer Comments: The goal of these Hanzo changes is to allow him to have new options and maintain his high damage output, while removing the frustration of fighting against the old Scatter Arrow. Hanzo is now much more mobile with his new Lunge ability, and with the combination of the bow projectile speed increase and the new Storm Arrows ability he can now deal his high damage more consistently than ever before.Junkrat
- Frag Launcher
- Projectile size decreased from 0.3 to 0.2
- RIP-Tire
- Tire movement speed decreased from 13 to 12
Developer Comments: These changes are aimed at lowering some of the most frustrating parts about playing against Junkrat. Decreasing the Frag Launcher’s projectile size means he will have to aim a bit more carefully to land powerful direct hits and slowing the RIP-Tire’s movement speed gives his opponents slightly more time to destroy it before it detonates.Lúcio
- Wall Ride
- Wall riding is less likely to be interrupted along a single surface
- Can now go around corners (both outside corners, and inside corners) without having to leave the wall
- Can now land back on the same wall after leaping away, provided his leap takes him far enough away from the original jumping off point
- Added a minimum time that the jump key must be held before Lúcio can ride around corners
- Soundwave
- No longer consumes ammo
- Can now be used while reloading
Developer Comments: Wall Ride has been significantly overhauled to allow it to function more smoothly across more areas of every map. Lúcio players should instantly notice a huge improvement in where and how Wall Ride can be used. In addition, Sonic Amplifier’s Soundwave ability was unnecessarily controlled by both a cooldown and an ammo cost, so we’re removing the ammo cost.Tracer
- Pulse Bomb
- Max damage decreased from 400 to 300
Developer Comments: Pulse Bomb was too good at killing tanks, who can be easy to stick due to their size. This damage reduction makes it less powerful as a tank-destroyer, while keeping it lethal against most other heroes.
