Mei becomes more deadly, Sombra more powerful – the new Overwatch PTR

A new PTR for Overwatch brings strong buffs for Mei and Sombra. But Doomfist also gets a little love.

In line with Valentine’s Day evening, Blizzard laid a special gift in the beds of Overwatch fans last night (14.02.2018). The PTR is back active, and new changes can be tried out by all interested players.

The focus of the update is on adjustments to Sombra. Thus, she no longer receives ultimate charge for healing done by hacked health packs. However, hacking is now faster and disables many more abilities, allowing you to cause more frequent deaths for Pharahs and Genjis.

Especially the improvement of Opportunist should be helpful – as soon as enemies have taken damage (and are not fully healed), Sombra can see their health bars without having wounded them herself.

Mei also gets a bit of love. When she slows enemies, this slow now lasts longer when opponents try to escape. This should make it easier to freeze even fast targets.

PTR Patch Notes 14.02.2018

Here are the complete PTR patch notes in detail:

Hero Updates

Doomfist

• Hand Cannon
  • Ammo now regenerates at a rate of 0.65 seconds (previously 0.8 seconds).

Mei

• Endothermic Blaster
  • Freezing (slowing) now lasts 1.5 seconds (previously 1.0 seconds).
  • Alternate fire now only consumes 20 ammo (previously 25).

Sombra

• EMP
  • Is no longer blocked by small objects (e.g. street signs).
• Hacking
  • Healing from health packs no longer grants ultimate charge.
  • Effect duration reduced from 0.8 seconds to 0.65 seconds.
  • Now disables the following abilities:
    • Genji – Double Jump and Wall Climb
    • Hanzo – Wall Climb
    • Pharah – Boosters
    • Lúcio – the current song is disabled, as well as Wall Ride
    • Mercy – Guardian Angel
• Machine Pistol
  • Spread reduced from 3 to 2.7
• Opportunist
  • Now activates when enemies have less than 100% health (previously under 50% health). This only applies to the ability to see health bars over the enemy’s head.
• Teleportation
  • Duration increased from 15 seconds to 20 seconds.

Mercy

• Valkyrie
  • Now does not show the health bars of enemies who have not yet taken damage.

Keep in mind that these changes are “only” for the PTR. Whether everything goes live is uncertain.

Plans for Hanzo still undecided

The internally failed renewals of Hanzo have been presented in this article.

However, Blizzard is already testing new possibilities. In an internal build, Hanzo has a skill that allows him to shoot 5 arrows at an extremely fast rate. In addition, the developers are experimenting with a small jump in his line of sight. Originally intended as an escape option, it can also be useful in offense during pursuits.

Recently, Lúcio just received a nerf – he is now significantly weaker in Capture the Flag.