The most recent Overwatch 2 patch notes include significant Moira changes, giving her a new ability on top of other changes to her kit. Also in these patch notes, Mercy’s Guardian Angel got a significant change, adding to the beta changes she already has. While only these two supports have got changes, the team also confirmed that a follow-up patch will be coming “as soon as tomorrow.”
New OW2 Beta patch live! https://t.co/VKq6filhDv.
We're also working to deploy balance changes for several more heroes with a hotfix as early as tomorrow, but as we continue to test this rapid patching tech for OW2, we are not yet fully certain about that follow-up patch.
— Jon Spector (@Spex_J) July 11, 2022
Moira gets a new ability in Overwatch 2
In this patch, Moira’s changes are by far the biggest. Fans have been asking for more support changes while they wait for a new support hero; since the original beta, there was little to no new support content. After noticing that, the team mentioned upcoming changes to Moira, and here they are.
#Overwatch2 Beta patch notes are Now Live
👼 Mercy gains more control over Guardian Angel
💜 Moira receives an all new ability: Necrotic Orb
💥 Enemies affected by Necrotic Orb’s explosion reduce all damage dealt by 75% for 4 seconds👀 Learn more https://t.co/de52I6vCFG pic.twitter.com/OdOk7FyzHu
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) July 11, 2022
First off, her Biotic Orb ability is split into two; her Necrotic Orb is also being changed and temporarily renamed to the Enfeebling Orb in-game. It is a similar projectile orb ability to her previous Damage Orb ability; this new ability fires in a straight line, but explodes in a three meter radius on impact. It deals 40 impact damage and 10 explosion damage to whoever it hits, but the effect is the interesting part; it applies the Weakened status to any enemy within its radius, reducing the damage they can do by 75% for four seconds. The cooldown is 16 seconds long, double the regular cooldown of her Biotic Orb.
On top of the new ability, her Biotic Orb’s healing is down to 250 from 300 and its cooldown is up from 8 to 10 seconds. Her Biotic Grasp’s self-healing is also down from 24 to 20 per second. Last but not least, her Fade’s cooldown will last an additional second for a total of seven seconds.
Mercy gets more movement changes
As for Mercy, her changes focus around her previous Guardian Angel changes. She is no longer automatically launched up when she reaches her target; on top of that, now there is a clear meter shown on screen that charges up when the ability is active. When the ability is cancelled, the tweaked ability now launches Mercy in whatever direction she faces. The more charge you have on the ability, the farther you go when you cancel it.
On top of allowing fans to cancel and move backwards while facing your target, this improves the ability by giving players more control of where they go. The goal of editing this ability was to make it less niche in Overwatch 2, and the previous form made it too wild. Now, players can use this to fake enemies out as Mercy; the update also gives her a better avenue of escape in bad situations.
Other changes on the way
As for Zenyatta nerfs, Junker Queen changes and more, Spector confirmed an upcoming follow-up patch “as soon as tomorrow”. At the same time, he mentioned not being confident about that patch after this Moira one; the wait for the follow-up patch could be a bit longer according to the team.
The Overwatch 2 beta is still live, ending on July 18, 2022.
