Act of balance: Hanzo’s storm arrows facing a nerf on PTR Overwatch

If anyone’s ever told you balancing the meta in a video game is easy business, they lied to you. From Blizzard to Riot Games and beyond, every game developer has growing pains in trying to find ways to make the game fair and exciting for all parties.

With Hanzo’s new rework, getting rid of scatter shot was a top priority but the newly added storm arrows kept much of the same problem. Within the coming weeks, he will be changed yet again in an attempt to balance his kit and give a new dynamic to the Overwatch hero roster.

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No more one-shots

In this new initiative from Blizzard, it’s clear the developers are turning away from the one-shot insta burst of Hanzo’s scatter shot in favor of more sustained damage over time. While the new storm arrows were a step in the right direction, elite Hanzo’s were able to do too much with too little as one combo could deal a maximum of 480 damage on any given target.

The Overwatch PTR nerf includes lessening the damage of each arrow from 80 damage to 70. On the Overwatch forum, Geoff Goodman mused over the possibility of nerfing Hanzo’s ultimate recharge in a further balancing act, but the consensus for that change will be entirely dependent on how Hanzo performs on PTR with the new changes.

Squishy hero mains like Tracer, Zenyatta and Pilot D.Va will benefit from these changes. The ability for Hanzo to one shot from close range only needing to land two arrows at a time was a big advantage. Now that the playing field is leveled out a bit more, the skill match up between an elite Hanzo and Tracer can happen on much more even ground.

While some fans may be critical of a rework so quick after the first one, the rest of Hanzo’s kit has benefitted his mobility as Hanzo’s new double jump remains untouched. Overwatch is a game of quick reactions and free-range movement and Hanzo’s lack of a dash definitely kept him from staying alive in certain choke points.