Huge Sombra and Bastion reworks coming to Overwatch 2

Overwatch lead designer Geoff Goodman revealed new changes made to Sombra and Bastion in Overwatch 2 during the Overwatch League grand finals pre-show broadcast.

Both reworks focused on improving different aspects of the hero that the developers felt were problematic. For example, Goodman said they are trying to reduce the crowd control abilities on Sombra to make her more damage focused. Meanwhile, the cost of Bastion staying stationary in turret mode was too high, so the developers took a different approach.

In Overwatch 2, the changes made to Sombra will be:

• Manual hack has a significantly shorter cooldown
• Hack now lasts eight seconds, but with two new components:
  • It will still disable abilities, but only for one second
  • Hacked targets will be revealed through walls to both Sombra and her team
• Sombra’s primary fire will do 50% more damage to hacked targets
• Sombra’s ultimate ability, EMP, will no longer remove all shields, but will do damage to enemies up to 40% of their current health
• Sombra can now hack while invisible. She will be briefly revealed, but it will not remove invisibility completely

Bastion has also received a big rework. The changes made to Bastion will be:

• No more self-repair ability
• New alternate fire: “Tactical Grenade”
  • A projectile that can bounce off walls and stick to enemy players, exploding after a short duration
• Recon form gun has no spread but reduced fire rate, allowing him to play like a “pseudo-sniper”
• Ultimate ability is now “Artillery Mode”
  • Bastion can call down three artillery strikes anywhere on the map during the duration of the ult
  • Artillery strikes will count as projectiles and therefore can be negated by D.Va’s Defense Matrix, deflected by Genji or blocked by shields
  • Artillery strikes will do 300 damage on impact and 300 damage on explosion — so a direct hit will do 600 damage
• Bastion can move around in turret form, which will now have a cooldown to keep it balanced

The Overwatch developer team also revealed the new look that Bastion will have in Overwatch 2. Bastion will have received “tech upgrades” from fellow Overwatch hero Torbjörn, as well as a hat intended to make him “more approachable and relatable,” according to Character Art Director Arnold Tsang.

Overwatch 2 pro play test

Overwatch League pros will be testing an early build of Overwatch 2 at halftime of the Overwatch League grand finals. Players from the already-eliminated Los Angeles Gladiators and Washington Justice have been testing the game since they were knocked out of playoff contention. Gladiators flex tank Indy “SPACE” Halpern praised the feel of the game and said that the league’s Sombra players would likely be even more dangerous with her new reworks.

The other North America-based teams will also have an opportunity to test the game. According to Overwatch League VP Jon Spector, the San Francisco Shock and Dallas Fuel began playtesting today following their elimination yesterday.

Blizzard has previously announced changes to other heroes, like Winston and Mei. Winston will now have a long-range laser ability, while Mei’s primary fire will no longer freeze enemies. Instead, it will creating a slowing effect. Entire roles are being changed, too. Tanks will have anti-crowd control passive abilities, and supports will have passive healing. All of this is to compensate for the larger move to 5v5 that removes one tank from each team.