C9 PVPX explains why Junkrat’s Overwatch buffs are actually nerfs

Twitch streamer Jamison ‘PVPX’ Moore first made a name for himself with his phenomenal Junkrat play in Overwatch before moving onto other games like Apex Legends and Valorant, but he’s returned to warn Blizzard that the recent “buffs” to his beloved main are actually nerfs.

The May 19, 2020 Overwatch patch brought in a slew of balance changes in addition to the Anniversary event. Among them were three significant changes to Junkrat. The first was a straight buff to his primary fire projectiles giving them “slightly more velocity on ricochet.”

Another one was for his Total Mayhem passive, which is essentially Martyrdom from Call of Duty, whereupon death, Junkrat drops grenades on the ground. The buff reduced their detonation time by 0.3 seconds and increased their spread by fifty percent.

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However, while these may seem fine and good, he also received a change to his Concussion Mine, increasing its speed from 20 to 25. This may look like a nice change on paper, but in reality, it severely hinders Junkrat’s mobility – something he needs to be effective.

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PVPX took to Twitch to showcase how this speed buff actually hurts Junkrat more than it helps in combat.

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“It takes away the ability to consistently double mine jump and also side mine jump,” the Cloud 9 player explained.

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Side mine jumps are when Junkrat players throw the mine behind them and boop themselves forward. Sadly, this is no longer an option because the mine travels too quickly.

With double mine jumps, previously, players could use one for vertical mobility and then throw another one while maintaining momentum to travel insane distances.

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“The only way you can get it to work is if you go in the air, pause and then do it again,” PVPX showed. “But that pause is an extremely bad nerf to Junkrat. It doesn’t make the change worth it. On top of that, you can’t do a side jump in the air which hinders his mobility a lot. It’s a nerf.”

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It’s unclear if this was Blizzard’s intent when they made these changes to the character, but if they were aiming to make the hero stronger, it seems they may have missed the mark a bit.

We’ll have to wait and see what the developers decide to do in a future patch and if they end up reverting the concussion mine changes.