Blizzard is currently hosting the secondOverwatch 2beta, giving fans of the hero-shooter franchise the chance to try the new game months ahead of its early access launch date. The company is wasting no time updatingOverwatch 2based on the feedback it’s receiving from the beta, with the latest patch making some rather significant changes to two of the game’s most popular Support heroes: Moira and Mercy.
The latestOverwatch 2PvP beta update massively nerfs Moira by completing changing one of her abilities.Moiranow has the Enfeebling Orb that replaces the Damage Biotic Orb, which deals 40 impact damage and 10 explosion damage. This orb also weakens enemy by reducing the damage they can dish out by 75% for a period of four seconds. While this can have its uses, the Damage Biotic Orb as it previously existed was extremely powerful and resulted in many games where Moira would come out with stunningly high Damage and Healing outputs. These changes should make Moira a less overpowered character, though it remains to be seen how the community will react in the long run.
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TheMercy changes, meanwhile, are not necessarily nerfs, but they may still feel like them to some Mercy players. After downloading the latest update,Overwatch 2players will find that Mercy’s Guardian Angel ability now has a charge meter, and it doesn’t automatically send Mercy flying straight into the air whenever she zooms toward an ally. Players are also able to cancel the ability by using the jump button to launch Mercy in the direction that she is facing, as detailed in the patch notes. The more unpredictable movement that Guardian Angel provided arguably made Mercy more difficult to kill inOverwatch 2matches, though Blizzard suggests in the patch notes that it was actually putting her in more danger. It will be interesting to see what Mercy mains think once they have a chance to really dive into these changes.
TheOverwatch 2PvP beta end date is July 18, so there’s less than a week to go before it wraps up. It’s possible that Blizzard will issue more updates toOverwatch 2before the beta is over, but that seems unlikely. It’s more probable that fans will have to wait for the nextOverwatch 2beta to see any other major hero changes, but such beta testing plans have not been announced at the time of this writing.
Whenever the nextOverwatch 2beta takes place, one has to wonder if it will feature thenew Support hero. Blizzard has confirmed thatOverwatch 2will be launching with three new heroes: Tank hero Junker Queen, Damage hero Sojourn, and a new Support hero that has yet to be announced. It’s possible that Blizzard will make sure that this new Support hero is ready for the next beta so that they can be properly tested before the official launch, but that’s just speculation at this time.
MERCY
Guardian Angel
The previous iteration of Guardian Angel led to less control for the player overall, often launching Mercy into danger or out of Resurrect range. This version keeps player intent at the forefront while still allowing for vertical mobility without sacrificing control input simplicity.
MOIRA
Moira’s strengths lie in her extreme survivability, high healing throughput, and consistent damage output, but other supports have at least one utility option or play-making ability. To remedy this, Biotic Orb has been split into two abilities on separate cooldowns: Biotic Orb and Necrotic Orb. Due to Necrotic Orb’s potential to shut down many Ultimates and heavily swing duels in her favor, Moira has also received some compensation nerfs to her overall power.
Junker Queen
Baptiste
Overwatch 2will launch on October 4 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
