Overwatch July 1 update nerfs all hitscan heroes, from McCree to Ashe: patch notes

Overwatch’s June 24 experimental patch has officially been pushed to live servers in a July 1 retail patch. That means all hitscan heroes (and D.Va) are getting nerfs, while Bastion, Soldier 76, and Widowmaker get buffs.

In what might as well be known as the “Hitscan Patch,” Blizzard Entertainment have pushed through all of June 24’s experimental adjustments. The July 1 retail patch nerfs the damage range of every hitscan in the game (Ashe, Baptiste, Bastion, McCree, Soldier 76, Widowmaker, and Wrecking Ball).

Additionally, this patch reverts some of the buffs given to D.Va’s Call Mech — reducing its radius from 3 to 2.5 meters. As an added Hana Song nerf, she now no longer can build her ultimate during Self Destruct (until after the MEKA detonates).

But there are a few buffs in the new patch as well: Soldier now gets no damage falloff during Tactical Visor, Bastion’s recon mode has a tighter bullet spread, and Widowmaker’s damage range has been increased.

The biggest changes in this new patch are with the hitscan heroes. Essentially, damage range has been scaled down across all hitscan heroes so that they are unable to be as lethal when shooting enemies from distant ranges.

While a hero like Widowmaker will still be potent at long range, heroes like Wrecking Ball and McCree will feel much better at close and medium distances, respectively. As the devs explain, this ought to “lower the impact of hitscan damage outside of their intended optimal ranges.”

One has to wonder how this will impact the meta, primarily if Pharah will become an even more troubling presence as players in lower skill ranges struggle to pluck her out of the sky at range.

Full patch notes:

HERO UPDATES

General

• Hitscan damage now scales to 30% at maximum falloff range, down from 50% for the following heroes:
  • Ashe
  • Baptiste
  • Bastion
  • McCree
  • Soldier: 76
  • Widowmaker
  • Wrecking Ball

This change may be difficult to notice immediately as it scales damage over a range slightly more than before, but it will lower the impact of hitscan damage outside of their intended optimal ranges.

We’re making Bastion’s Configuration: Recon weapon more reliable to help strengthen his run-and-gun gameplay when moving between spots he wants to post up with Configuration: Sentry.

Configuration: Recon

• Weapon spread reduced from 1.5 to 1.2

No longer building ultimate charge in the window of time between using Self Destruct and when it detonates is targeted at Echo’s Duplicate ability when copying D.Va. Echo’s accelerated ultimate charge enabled her to have Call Mech available before the Self Destruct explosion went off, making it very difficult for enemies to find a safe place to hide.

Call Mech

• Damage area reduced from 3 to 2.5 meters
• No longer builds ultimate charge while using Self Destruct until after her mech detonates

This will make Tactical Visor effective for more than just the aim assist, which slightly loses some value as player aim improves.

Heavy Pulse Rifle

• Damage falloff is disabled while Tactical Visor is active

We’re adjusting Widowmaker’s optimal range to be slightly further out to account for some map locations where counter-sniping was common but just barely outside of the effective range with the damage falloff. For Widowmaker, the sniping damage falloff is mainly in place to restrict the lethality of mid-air grapple shots at the extreme distances possible on some maps.

Widow’s Kiss

• Damage falloff range increased from 60-85 to 70-100 meters

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