Overwatch 2 devs reveal plans to revamp ultimate charge for all heroes

Michael Gwilliam
Junkerqueen using ultimate in ow2

Blizzard is planning to make some big changes to how ultimates work for all Overwatch 2 heroes in a future update.

The third Overwatch 2 season is fast approaching and the developers have revealed how they’ll be spicing up ultimates in the near future during a recent community stream.

Ultimates in Overwatch 2 can be a controversial subject, especially when it comes to how long they take to charge and retaining that charge when players swap heroes. Fortunately, both of those areas are being looked at.

In a recent stream with Twitch streamers Emongg and Flats, Overwatch 2’s Lead Hero Designer Alec Dawson explained that the team is looking into revamping ultimates in an upcoming patch.

Overwatch 2 is making changes to ultimates in a future patch

According to Dawson, the frequency of certain ultimates is something that the team is investigating and believe there are some heroes who get their most powerful ability far too quickly.

“We were taking a look earlier at which heroes are casting their ultimate too much or casting their ult too little. So, we got a good data set there to take a look at,” he explained. “Across the board a lot of small changes.”

Dawson also revealed that ultimate charge retainment would be getting some changes too. Currently, when players change heroes, they can keep as much as 30% of their charge depending on who they swap to.

As Flats noted, the tank role in particular has some issues with the ultimate retainment as it is with how it sometimes feels like a game of rock, paper, scissors depending on what heroes you’re up against.

The developer did indicate that while the team feels it’s “important” for players to swap heroes and better affect the outcome of the fight, he wants it to get to a point where for tanks, it doesn’t feel as “stressed.”

While Dawson didn’t say when these changes would be coming, Season 3 is set to begin in early February, so don’t be surprised to see these revamped ultimate rates take effect in a couple of weeks.

Related Topics

About The Author

Michael Gwilliam is a senior writer at Dexerto based in Ontario, Canada. He specializes in Overwatch, Smash, influencers, and Twitch culture. Gwilliam has written for sites across Canada including the Toronto Sun. You can contact him at michael.gwilliam@dexerto.com or on Twitter @TheGwilliam