While Overwatch has a fairly extensive list of counters for nearly every character, there are still two heroes that are exceedingly hard to deal with: Doomfist and Brigitte. In order to correct this issue, as well as hopefully put a stop to the rather annoying meta we currently find ourselves in, Blizzard has now introduced some hefty nerfs to both heroes.
You'll find all of the details over at the official forums, but since the changes are scattered throughout multiple posts, allow me to also give you a quick rundown of what to expect. Have a look:
Brigitte
• Shield Bash
- Damage reduced from 50 to 5
- No longer can travel or stun targets through barriers
• Inspire Passive
- Cooldown reduced from 1.5s to 1.0s
- Duration increased from 5s to 6s
- Total healing increased from 80 to 100
Dev Notes: Reduces Shield Bash’s damage reduces her total stun combo damage potential while still allowing Whip Shot and her basic melee attacks to retain their full strength. Brigitte is a hybrid tank/healer, and lately we’ve been reducing her effectiveness by reducing the power of her non-healing functionality, but we want to make sure she is still a viable pick so we’re increasing the uptime of her Inspire passive to help increase her overall healing output.
Doomfist
• Rising Uppercut
- Loss of air control duration lowered to 0.6 seconds from 3 seconds
• Seismic Slam
- Maximum range reduced from 20 meters to 15 meters
- Victims no longer lose air control while being pulled in.
• Meteor Strike
- Inner ring damage radius increased from 1.5m to 2.0m. This is the ring where Meteor Strike deals its full 300 damage.
- Max damage outside of inner ring decreased from 300 to 200. This is the ring where damage falloff happens, which still reduces the damage down to 15 at max range.
Dev Notes: The PTR Doomfist changes are all about trying to give his enemies more opportunities to effectively fight back, and these changes are no exception. The Meteor Strike changes will make it harder to secure a “free” kill on heroes without mobility such as Zenyatta or Ana, while still preserving its max potential damage when aimed well or when combined with other abilities such as Graviton Surge or Sleep Dart.
Overall we’re looking carefully at the amount of crowd control abilities (such as stuns and knockbacks that remove air control) and seeing if we can remove or reduce some of the effectiveness of some of these.
I haven't had the time to properly test these changes so I won't go into detail about what their effects might be, but I do believe that both Doomfist and Brigitte will still be perfectly viable heroes. I fully expect them to be a lot harder to play, especially against heroes they could previously steamroll over, but that's probably for the best given how it feels to be on the other side of that equation. After all, pressing Q and landing on poor Ana's face wasn't exactly the height of Overwatch gameplay.
Regardless of what you might feel about these changes, I would encourage you to head on over to the PTR and give them a spin for yourself. Blizzard has been a lot more receptive to feedback these past few months, so if you find that something is truly out of place, there is a good chance they will change it in the near future. Enjoy!