Blizzard have been all over balance changes, trying to make sure that every hero is a viable pick while keeping them balanced at both extremes of the competitive ladder. Now the most recent patch has come through on the PTR showcasing a brand new assault map to add the regular playlist, but more importantly it brings much awaited buffs to everyone's favourite rootin' tootin' cowboy and corner lurking edgelord to the table. These changes come hot on the heels of Season 5 starting, so it will be interesting to see how they shake up the way that game will be played this Season. Today we'll go over the buffs to two of our favourite Overwatch heroes and have a bit of a chat about how we believe the changes will affect their pick rate and possibly shift the meta slightly.

McCree: We'll start by going the change that the cigar smoking ex-crim has seen in the most recent update.

At release, Deadeye was a devastating ultimate that shot fear into the hearts of everyone on the enemy team, and almost always ended in a huge multikill and possibly even an ever sought-after "Play Of The Game". Unfortunately, since time has gone on and players have learned and adapted to the game of Overwatch. Hearing "It's high noon" merely sends the team behind a corner or even their Rein shield for a few seconds. The ultimate has always had incredible deadly, one-shot potential. The problem is that it just took too darn long to get any value out of and it quickly became a tool to zone the enemy off of the point and snag a single kill if you're lucky. That is, if you didn't die first.

The change in ramp up time turns Deadeye into more of a duelist ult and fits more with the rest of his kit and character design as a character that is meant to be able to walk away from any of the duels he finds himself in. This buff means McCree will be able to finish off low health targets quickly and will see his ultimate getting consistent value, which I'm sure McCree mains around the world will be praising Papa Jeff for.

What this means for McCree: There was a time where the wild west gunman was classed as the strongest hero in the game and was an absolute must pick in a competitive setting. But in the past couple of seasons, McCree has been overshadowed by Soldier 76 due to him being more forgiving in terms of aiming and having his own personal healing station. In addition, the main reason that Soldier has seen much more play is because of his ultimate being almost guaranteed value, especially when paired with a Nano Boost. With McCree having a much higher value ultimate ability, this may push his pick rates up once the patch goes live, because he is still a force to be reckoned with in the right hands. This may also push back the Pharmercy meta slightly as McCree will be able to shoot the two of them out of the sky quite quickly with this buff.

Reaper: Next we'll be going through Overwatch's token emo boy and what has been changed about him

Just like many heroes of the Overwatch roster, Reaper has had his highs and lows. The Beyblade meta saw him spinning his way to a glowing team kill until Nano Boost was nerfed, and since then he has fallen quite far from where he used to be. The problem with Reaper is that he fills a similar role to Tracer and Genji as heroes that are meant to be able to take care of themselves, but Reaper doesn't quite have the same level of escapability as his counterparts. Sure Wraith Form lets him evade damage for a couple of seconds, but he is easily chased down and finished off, while Genji can run up walls and dash away and Tracer can zip around so fast you'll become dizzy.

While his orbs were a good way of getting a little bit of health back after a won duel, it never really meant much unless he already had the upper hand. This buff will increase Reaper's survivability mid-fight and make sure that he is able to run around doing all the tank busting he was designed to do.

What this means for Reaper: Just like McCree, Reaper has been overshadowed by another hero who seemingly does the same job but better. Roadhog has filled Reaper's slot since the nerfing of Nano Boost but I see a change on the horizon with these recent balance changes, both to Reaper and Roadhog. This extra survivability may just bring Reaper back into the meta, especially due to the high pick rate of Winston at the moment in a Triple DPS Dive Comp. Being able to take care of himself is a massive part of Reaper's playstyle, seeing as he has no get out of jail free card.

BONUS - Roadhog: Finally, we'll touch on the changes made to the man who is large and in charge.

Roadhog was the pivotal hero for the Season 3 tank meta. His pick and one-shot potential were through the roof, and he was seen as a must pick for the comp to work as he was the primary damage dealer. Ever since the nerf to Ana's healing went through, the popularity in this style of composition has dropped but it still works well when played correctly and, in the right hands, Roadhog is still a one-man wrecking ball. One of the most polarizing heroes in the entire game, Roadhog has seen nerfs, buffs and reworks aplenty! His hook has gone through multiple iterations and his Scrap Gun has seen multiple changes over the past few months. These new changes once again may change the Big Pig's playstyle slightly, and he may not be as terrifying when seeing him one-on-one anymore.

Roadhog's head hitbox is quite large, and anybody that plays Widowmaker can tell you it's not hard to hit a headshot on the Hog. This merely puts him in line with other heroes of his size. The real change comes to his Scrap Gun. These changes strip away some of Roadhog's one-shot potential, almost surely getting rid of his alternate fire being able to completely delete a squishy from existence in the blink of an eye. This also makes his Hook-Shoot-Melee combo less of a guaranteed kill and will make the player have to land the headshot rather than firing blindly. Now although this does take is instakill potential down slightly, it keeps his DPS roughly the same due to his increased fire rate.

What this means for Roadhog: For quite a while now Roadhog has been the go-to to get rid of a Winston or even to deal with another Roadhog, but, with these changes to his Scrap Gun, Hog will have a bit more difficulty dealing with Reaper, who is meant to be his direct counter. I believe these changes will put Reaper higher up in viability and pull Roadhog down a rung. While his Hook-Shoot-Melee combo will still crush a squishy into mush, Roadhog will no longer be able to one-shot the likes of Zarya and Winston, leaving the tank busting to Reaper.

This article outlines how I believe these buffs and changes will affect the game and how it plays going into Season 5, but I'm extremely excited to see Reaper and McCree come back into the fray and hopefully not be completely outclassed by their counterparts. I think Blizzard have been great with balance changes and putting out regular updates to keep the game feeling amazing to play, whether you win or lose.

See you on the battlefield.

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