Summary
Overwatch 2recently released one of its largest-ever spate of balance changes in an attempt to level the playing field across its roster of Tank, DPS, and Support heroes. To many, these changes will feel like a long time coming, with the Support role in particular facing a lot of criticism recently for being in an allegedly overpowered state.
This is why these recentOverwatch 2changes focused on Support heroes so heavily, with most Support characters facing significant nerfs as a result. Many of these changes are sensible, especially within the metas of high-ranking competitive gameplay, but some Support heroes have been targeted to an unfair degree. In particular, the fairly new Support hero Lifeweaver has been significantly hampered by the changes, marking the latest pitfall in the hero’s short tenure ofOverwatch 2.
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Overwatch 2’s Support Nerfs Put Lifeweaver Back to Square One
The recent Support changes forOverwatch 2are in response to a growing feeling of disdain towards the role by portions of the game’s community. In particular, highly skilled players in competitive gameplay felt that Support metas were dominating most matches, leaving the Tank role, especially in a place of uselessness. This is why Tanks were slightly buffed alongside the drastic nerfs toOverwatch 2’s Support role, with the changes being catered around the concerns of high-level comp players.
While this has sparked a debate over whetherOverwatch 2balance changesshould only apply to certain competitive ranks, the impact that the nerfs have had on Lifeweaver is deserving of its own separate discussion. The recent update introduced the following nerfs to Lifeweaver:
Lifeweaver’s Past Balance Changes Indicate a Big Issue
These changes need to be contextualized byLifeweaver’s history inOverwatch 2since his introduction in April 2023. The state in which Lifeweaver was released faced heavy criticism from theOverwatchcommunity, being underpowered in healing and damage-dealing capabilities and being practically unplayable.
This came despiteLifeweaver receiving a buffbefore even releasing, with the Support hero benefiting from another buff in August. Many felt that this eventually left Lifeweaver in a balanced and usable state, which has now been hampered by the recent nerfs. While it is true that many Support heroes needed to be reigned in, the inclusion of Lifeweaver in the changes seems to be a sad and unnecessary step-back for the hero.
Lifeweaver’s pre-nerf state typified the hero as a healing-oriented Support with very little damage output, with this being perfectly viable in-game. These changes bizarrely targeted Lifeweaver’s healing abilities, making the hero a weak source of offensive and defensive capabilities as a result. The issues surroundingOverwatch 2’s Supports as a whole have only been compounded by how congested the role has become recently, withtwo new Support heroes being addedin the span of only four months.
It seems that Blizzard might be attempting to deal with this influx of Support heroes by taking Lifeweaver out of the picture, at least until a new idea of the state of Support can be understood. Regardless, it seems a shame that a hero who was finally in a playable state has been stripped of real healing quality when other Support heroes were the main crux of fans' balancing complaints.
