Two cool things are coming to Blizzard's premier first-person shooter today: the Overwatch triple damage tank balance changes are live in the new Experimental Play card and Ashe's Mardi Gras Challenge has been confirmed as an event.
Yesterday, Papa Jeff took to the game's YouTube channel to announce an upcoming "Experimental Play" card which would test out crazy new changes to Overwatch. The first of these experiments is a shift from a 2-2-2 role queue to a 1-3-2 role queue — that's one tank, three DPS, and two healers. Naturally, this change means that some tanks will need to be buffed, and boy are these new tanks hardy!
We also recently saw a leak about Ashe's Mardi Gras Challenge, a purported upcoming mini-event in the style of D.Va's Nano Cola Challenge or Mercy's Recall Challenge where participating players could win a sweet skin. That event has now been confirmed as real and is currently live in the game! In any case, let's go over the new things that have arrived today in Overwatch.
Overwatch Triple Damage Tank Balance Changes
The debut of the Experimental Card brings with it the first of what will hopefully be many such experiments. Right now, players can jump into this special queue and play games of Overwatch with one tank, three damage, and two healers.
Some tanks might have a tougher time solo, especially the "off tanks" like D.Va, Zarya, and Roadhog. As a result, balance changes have been pushed for this new Experimental Mode so every tank has a better chance of surviving solo. Here are the changes:
D.Va
- Adjusted armor to health ratio (Total health is still 600)
- Armor health pool increased from 200 to 400
- Base health decreased from 400 to 200
- Defense Matrix duration increased from 2 seconds to 4 seconds
- Fusion Cannons movement penalty reduced from 50% to 30%
Orisa
- Protective Barrier cooldown reduced from 10 seconds to 8 seconds
- Barrier health increased to 900
Reinhardt
- Adjusted armor to health ratio (Total health is still 500)
- Armor health pool increased from 200 to 300
- Base health decreased from 300 to 200
- Rocket Hammer damage increased from 75 to 90
- Barrier Field regeneration rate increased from 200 to 250 per second
Roadhog
- Take a Breather now leaves behind a cloud when used. This cloud heals all allies within it for 25 health per second and provides 25% damage reduction
- Chain Hook cooldown reduced from 8 seconds to 6 seconds
- Scrap Gun damage per pellet reduced from 6 to 5 (150 damage per shot down to 125 damage)
- Whole Hog Ultimate cost increased by 15%
Sigma
- Experimental Barrier regeneration rate increased from 120 to 200 per second
- Barrier health increased from 900 to 1200
Winston
- Armor health pool increased from 100 to 200 (Total health is now 600)
- Barrier Projector cooldown reduced from 13 seconds to 10 seconds
Zarya
- Shields health pool increased from 200 to 300. (Total health is now 500)
- Maximum energy gain per barrier decreased from 40 to 30
- Particle Cannon maximum primary fire damage per second reduced from 170 to 140
- Maximum secondary fire damage reduced from 95 to 80
- Particle Barrier (Self) cooldown decreased from 10 seconds to 8 seconds
- Particle Barrier (Ally) now creates barriers on all allies within 8 meters of your target
- Duration increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds
Remember, these Overwatch triple damage tank balance changes only apply to the Experimental Card! These are not live in Quick Play or Competitive.
Ashe's Mardi Gras Challenge
Also arriving today is Ashe's Mardi Gras Challenge which gives you the opportunity to unlock a bunch of neat sprays and the pretty cool Epic skin seen above. Here's what you get for each tier:
Play to Earn
Win games in pretty much any more (Experimental Play included) and you'll work towards the following rewards:
- Win 3 Games — Mardi Grashe and Mardi B.O.B. Player Icons
- Win 6 Games — Gold Mask Spray
- Win 9 Games — Epic Ashe Mardi Gras Skin
Watch to Earn
Watch participating streams for a certain amount of time with a linked Blizzard Battle.net account and you'll unlock the following:
- Watch 2 Hours — King Cake Ball Spray
- Watch 4 Hours — Semlor and Beads Spray
- Watch 6 Hours — Rex, Red Death, and Carnival Sprays
And that's it for our highlights! You can see more about Ashe's Mardi Gras Challenge at the event's web page. There have been some other changes to the game as well and you can see those in the full patch notes for February 25, 2020.
What do you think of Ashe's Mardi Gras Challenge? Do you like the Overwatch triple damage tank balance changes? Let us know in the comments below!
