Sydney Olmstead 8 years ago

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Blizzard has officially added its newest tank hero, Wrecking Ball, to Overwatch’s live server after almost a month on the game’s test server. The little guy, also known as Hammond, is a genetically-modified hamster who once lived on the moon (just like Winston) as part of the Horizon Lunar Colony research program.

Now, Wrecking Ball is ready to join the fight in Quick Play, the Arcade, and Custom games. However, he won’t be available in Competitive Play for a little while, per Blizzard rules.

Overwatch’s latest patch also brought some adjustments to Sombra and Hanzo. Sombra got some pretty major changes that gave her a buff, while Hanzo received a nerf.

Sombra

Stealth

• Now lasts indefinitely (That’s right – infinite stealth!)
• No longer can contest objectives while invisible
• Enemy detection radius reduced to two meters from four meters
• Movement speed buff decreased from +70 percent to +50 percent

Translocator

• Now lasts indefinitely
• Can now be destroyed and has five health

These changes will likely shape the hacker into more of a stealth-driven, ambush-style hero.

Hanzo

Storm Arrows

• Duration reduced from six to five seconds
• Cooldown increased from eight to 10 seconds

Since Hanzo’s overhaul a few months back, the archer has been a little too powerful, so these changes aim to fix that.

There were also quite a few other changes in the recent patch that affected various heroes.

• Bastion, McCree, and Soldier: 76: Minimum damage at maximum range has increased from 30 percent to 50 percent
• Mei: Damage fall-off for her secondary fire has been totally removed
• Widowmaker: Automatic primary fire has fall-off applied – 50 percent at maximum range

Blizzard also made an adjustment to the respawn rates of defenders “in situations where attackers have a prolonged advantage in fights on final objectives.” That means the system will be “more aggressive” in an effort to reduce the number of “long, drawn out fights” on maps where the defending spawn is close to the point.

Meanwhile, on Assault maps, Blizzard reduced the overall game time in Quick Play and the Arcade. Players now get four minutes to capture each point, down from five.

“The reduction in time is now consistent with the Competitive Play times, which provides an ample amount of time for both attackers and defenders, but hopefully removes the occasional game where it feels like you are playing against the timer and not the other team,” Blizzard wrote.

You can hop in a game and see what you think of Wrecking Ball and these changes today, with the patch now live on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.