Thought dump is a regular series where I post my unedited thoughts and musings about Overwatch that don’t merit a real article.

At one point he was one of the most hated characters in the game. But now, the circle has reached it’s halfway mark and the community seems to miss Roadhog. Don’t fret, they’ll hate him again somewhere down the line. For now, however, it seems many are please to see his buffs.

His buffs were certainly impressive alone, but they didn’t seem to address his current issue. That issue being his inability to one-shot heroes reliably. And by reliably, I mean if you suck at the game and can’t target the enemies head they will probably live. As post-nerf the maximum damage from hook into left click, without hitting headshots, was 180.

That issue hasn’t disappeared but now, his survivability is even higher. He already had 600 health, and a 300 point heal. But now that heal grants 50 percent damage reduction while being channeled, and Roadhog is no longer immobile during that channel.

These buffs are quite significant, as previously the two second channel seriously affected the effectiveness of the heal. During that two seconds a Tracer could easily unload a full magazine into his head, due to the large size of his head, the massive animation pointing out his head, and the fact that Roadhog stood still.

The 240 damage Tracer could potentially do negated 80 percent of the healing Roadhog received. If Zenyatta targets Hog with a Discord Orb, then that damage becomes 312, meaning Hog would have a net a negative health gain when he attempts to heal. Or if Ana simply hits him with a Biotic Grenade he heals for none, and would likely be facing death.

But the buffs negate these issues on two fronts. One, he can simply keep walking, jumping, and crouching while healing. This means the free headshots are gone, and the incoming damage will be lower in most situations.

Secondly, taking half damage is ridiculous. This means even if he is effected by an enemy Biotic Grenade, he still has the same damage reduction as Nano Boost. So even without the healing he is insanely hard to kill. I mean for fucks sake, he can tank a Self Destruct, point blank, and walk away with 100 health to spare.

So while his damage is remains “low”, Roadhog is actually stronger at one of his best strategies. He is even more effective at being a solo-unit, defending key areas of the map.

Picture King’s Row, in the alley near point A. Numbani, the highground accessible by the attackers by going up the stairs next to A. Hanamura, the upper highground near point B. All of these are key areas of the map to control, that have fallen out of favor for the defenders to actively hold.

Enter, Roadhog. The enemy 76 charges out of spawn, making a beeline for the highground only to run into a hook, and death. If his allies attempt to punish the Roadhog he can simply pop his heal, and run off the highground to the safety of his own allies.

With how frustratingly difficult Hog is to kill now, these strategies will have significantly higher success rates. Even if he doesn’t find the kill Hog can 1v1 whoever comes his way. And if he can’t for whatever reason, he just heals and backs off.

However if you are attempting to set up your own highground control, perhaps on Volskaya A or Numbani A, Roadhog still provides excellent peel. Hook is still a wonderful tool, and his Scrap Gun is brutal when turned on either a Winston or D.Va with their large bodies and heads.

His strengths in comparison with his replacement is also notable. On many maps Roadhog’s former place within a composition and roster is taken up by Tracer players. Where Tracer excels is cleaning up fights, while Roadhog breaks them open at the start. Especially on defense, that’s a powerful tool.

That single pick from a hook can coerce the enemy to fall back, and buy you an extra 15 seconds off the clock. Sure Tracer’s Pulse Bomb is also effective at this, but it is a much longer cooldown. Roadhog has the chance to go for a kill with hook every eight seconds.

But despite all this, I’m still shaky on Roadhog in the current game. Quite simply, because D.Va still exists at her current power level. Defense Matrix is so effective at protecting an ally who was hooked, as well as nearly completely nullifying Whole Hog.

Next patch, however, when Defense Matrix’s maximum duration is halved Roadhog won’t have that issue either. Whole Hog will be able to get a full four seconds of damage through, enough the destroy an enemy Reinhardt shield, Zarya bubble, and the Reinhardt himself.

Sure Zarya may come back into the meta, both in the absence of D.Va and to counter Hog, but if Zarya is forced to use her projected barrier to peel hooked targets she wont be able to build her own charge as effectively. Because both Hook and Projected Barrier have an eight second cooldown, Zarya can at no point use the ability without leaving a gap for Roadhog to hook and kill a target.

So Zarya can shield her Reinhardt and build her own charge, or block an ally from being blown-up following a hook. And if she builds her own charge, it would be in vain as her allies can’t play as aggressive to back her up as they must respect the hook.

It seems like a delicate catch-22 situation, one that the Roadhog player has the advantage in.

There are so many good things going for Roadhog in the foreseeable future, and it looks likely that teams who can add him as a defensive pocket pick will benefit from the tactical edge.

I wonder how long until Reddit hates Roadhog again.