[Update #2]: Overwatch is looking to nerf Wrecking Ball, as well as buff Winston, Orisa and Reaper!

[Update]: Overwatch's Year of the Ox event has arrived alongside a new Bounty Hunter mode.

As you're likely well aware, the tanks in Overwatch are currently in a bit of a strange place. Their role requires them to run into the enemy team and occupy their attention, yet their defensive abilities are simply no match for the insane amounts of burst damage currently flying around. So despite having large amounts of health, even the most durable of tanks can melt within a second if they make any sort of mistake. Not exactly a fun experience!

In order to sort this problem out, as well as tone down some of the most powerful heroes out there, Blizzard has now brought in nerfs for Tracer, Echo and Zenyatta. The list of changes is fairly short, so here's what exactly has been tweaked:

Echo

• Tri-Shot

- Ammo reduced from 15 to 12

• Focusing Beam

- Duration reduced from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds

Developer Comments: Echo’s kit is designed around mobility and burst damage but she was performing too well against high health targets, such as tanks. Reducing the maximum firing duration of her primary weapon and Focusing Beam will lower her sustained damage output without impacting her burst damage potential against squishier targets.

Tracer

• Pulse Pistols

- Min-Max damage falloff rescaled from 13-23 meters down to 12-20 meters

Developer Comments: This new falloff range causes the damage to scale down faster when targets are outside of Tracer’s optimal distance, making her less threatening at mid-range.

Zenyatta

• Orb of Harmony

- Projectile speed reduced from 120 to 90

• Orb of Discord

- Projectile speed reduced from 120 to 90
- Damage amplification reduced from 30% to 25%

Developer Comments: Zenyatta has been a bit too effective at enabling team-wide damage output lately so we’re taking some power out of the Orb of Discord by reducing both its total damage amplification as well as the speed at which it can be applied over long distances. The new projectile speed now matches that of his primary fire, Orb of Destruction.

While I'm still not sure if this is the correct way of nerfing Echo's immense burst damage, I am quite happy with the patch overall. All three heroes should still remain perfectly playable, especially Tracer as this is pretty much a revert of her GOATs-era buff, but they will no longer be a living nightmare to anyone playing slower tanks like Reinhardt or Sigma. And for a small balance update, that's pretty much the best outcome.

Once the next Experimental patch goes live I'll make sure to let you know. Until then, I wish you the best of luck playing tanks, and here's to hoping this makes Reinhardt at least a bit more viable in higher tier games!