“It’s High Noon… DRAW!”

McCree. I love playing McCree. He’s drawn some genuine criticism from the Overwatch community, largely because of how absolutely devastating his “Fan the Hammer” attack is. McCree players can toss out a stun grenade, fan the hammer with a right click at close range, quick roll to reload and fan again. That combination of moves not only kills squishy characters like Tracer and Zenyatta, it rips through tanks. That’s a problem.

Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan spoke with Eurogamer about a ton of stuff. You can read the interview by hitting the source link below. He talked specifically about McCree, though, in his discussion about balance. Here’s the rub.

“Yeah, the McCree nerf – I hate using that word, but I just said it – the McCree balance changes will be coming sooner than the D. Va buff. McCree is pretty straightforward. What we’re looking at right now is his fan the hammer damage. We’re going to reduce it. The goal there is to make it so that McCree can still use his combo that we love, which is the flashbang and fan the hammer on somebody like Tracer. McCree should absolutely kill that Tracer. We want McCree to be a counter to people like Tracer, Genji and Reaper. What we’re not crazy about, right now, is the way in which McCree can absolutely shred tanks. It’s a little too easy, so we want to bring the fan the hammer damage down, so he’s still killing the squishies and the medium strength heroes, but he’s less effective against the tanks. If he times everything perfectly and gets every single shot off, he’s got a shot against a tank, but it’s not the instant ‘I win’ button that it is right now. So that’s what’s coming for McCree. We’ve been testing it for a while and it feels good. You still want him on your team.”

One other thing D. Va fans might like? Kaplan offered up that they’re looking at how she plays. Folks often complain that she doesn’t deal enough damage from ranges beyond close. They’re looking at that and will balance as they see fit.

The McCree update will hit PC and consoles around the same time. Stay tuned for more, and hit the link below to read the full interview. It’s a good one.