Overwatch 2 devs tease unique changes to “nerf” one-shot heroes like Widowmaker

The Overwatch 2 team has revealed some unique changes to deal with the dominance of one-shot heroes that can take over matches.

Heroes with one-shot abilities such as Widowmaker and Hanzo have been a major pain in the back for Overwatch players since their release.

In the right hands, a one-shot hero can be the biggest threat on the battlefield, scoring kills from across the map. Without coordination or a counter, those with good aim can go unchecked.

Speaking with Overwatch streamers KarQ and Eva Langwin, Lead Hero Designer Alec Dawson explained what changes they could make to help balance snipers.

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Overwatch 2 team reveals possible “nerfs” to Widowmaker

Although the team doesn’t have a plan to nerf Widowmaker’s damage numbers directly, because she’s “basically fine” on most maps, there are some that allow her to dominate.

“We gotta figure out what our approach is going to be there. Should it be a map-based approach, should it actually be the hero itself, should we be putting more cover on those maps and not having long stretches?” he pondered.

Dawson went on to say that this was something that both the hero team and the level design team had to figure out together.

“So, no changes to Widow right now, but it’s something we’re talking about again. Just one-shots in particular, snipers in particular, and what is the best solution,” he added.

That said, he didn’t outright rule out general nerfs, but it seems like he was very interested in the possibility of map updates rather than balance tuning.

“Is it looking at the heroes themselves and softening what they do or just giving other players more agency in how they can flank Widow and things like that – giving them more options in the map itself,” the OW2 dev continued.

We’ll have to see what the devs end up doing, but at least it’s good to see that they’re taking the one-shot problem seriously and changes could very well be on the way in some capacity to make dealing with them a lot easier.