Overwatch 2 will alter Hero balance ahead of schedule

Overwatch 2 developers Blizzard previously said that players would need to wait until season two for balance changes, but they've now changed their minds. "There are some Hero balance adjustments we’d like to make sooner," and it includes tweaks to heroes D.va, Zarya, Genji, and Sombra.

Here's the full list of balance changes outlined in a post by Overwatch 2's community manager:

Sombra

• Hack ability lockout duration reduced from 1.75 to 1.5 seconds
• Hacked enemies are no longer valid targets for hacking for the duration of the effect
• Hacked damage multiplier reduced from 40 to 25%

Genji

• Maximum ammo reduced from 30 to 24
• Shuriken damage reduced from 29 to 27

Zarya

• Barrier duration reduced from 2.5 to 2 seconds
• Barrier cooldown increased from 10 to 11 seconds

D.va

• Fusion Cannon spread increased from 3.5 to 3.75
• Boosters impact damage reduced from 25 to 15

Kiriko

• Swift Step invulnerability duration reduced from 0.4 to 0.25 seconds

The post linked above explains that most of these changes are designed to make these heroes a little less powerful, either because they were re-balanced in Overwatch 2 in a way that made them more deadly than in the original game, or because the format change to 5v5 has given them a boost.

Genji, for example, "is a Hero that has greatly benefited from the move to 5v5", according to the post. "Changing to a single Tank and the reduction of crowd control has meant Genji has had less obstacles in his way, however he hasn’t received tuning updates since he wasn’t actively in the meta until launch." The changes to Genji's stats are designed to make him more in line with other "flanking damage heroes" like Tracer and Reaper.

There are still other changes planned for Season 2, which Blizzard say they'll outline at a later date, but they're hoping to roll out the above changes in an update on November 15th.

Overwatch 2 feels a lot like its predecessor, albeit free-to-play, but there are still plenty of tweaks and reworks to its original cast of heroes. Check out our list of Overwatch 2 changes to find out how your old main might have been altered by the sequel.