A new Overwatch patch just hit the Public Test Realm (PTR) and it holds nerfs for Hanzo, Sigma, Orisa, Baptiste, and Reaper while the only hero the received a buff was McCree.

Since the release of Sigma, the game’s meta shifted to double shield (Orisa and Sigma) and it has till now been dominating the competitive compositions. 

Players have voiced their frustration over the months pleading with Blizzard to find a solution for the overwhelming composition that mainly revolves around Sigma, Orisa, and Baptiste.

Jeff Kaplan has even said on the Overwatch forums that they have been testing around with different compositions 3-2-1 and 4-1-1, where they found that 4-1-1 had terrible results while 3-2-1 (3 DPS – 2 supports -1 tank) resulted in a shorter queue for DPS players.

Overwatch January 23 PTR Patch Notes

Hanzo

Storm Arrows

• Damage reduced from 70 to 60

McCree

General

• Base health increased from 200 to 250

Peacekeeper (Primary Fire)

• Recovery time increased from 0.42 to 0.5 seconds

Deadeye

• Firing Deadeye no longer locks the player’s aim

Reaper

The Reaping (Passive)

• Healing amount reduced from 40% to 30% of damage dealt

Orisa

Fusion Driver (Primary Fire)

• Damage reduced from 11 to 9

Fortify

• Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds

Halt!

• Snare duration reduced from 1 to 0.65 seconds

Sigma

Hyperspheres (Primary Fire)

• Range reduced from 22 to 20 meters

Gravitic Flux

• Can now be interrupted before targets begin falling
• Impact slow duration reduced from 0.9 to 0.6 seconds

Accretion

• Explosion damage reduced from 60 to 40

Baptiste

Biotic Launcher (Primary Fire)

• Recovery time increased from 0.36 to 0.45 sec

Biotic Launcher (Secondary Fire)

• Heal explosion reduced from 60 to 50