Overwatch devs reveal more Junkrat changes coming soon

Michael Gwilliam
Junkrat on temple

More Junkrat buffs will be coming to Overwatch shortly, giving even more punch to the explosive hero’s powerful kit.

The May 19 Overwatch update saw plenty of buffs come Junkrat’s way, including giving his projectiles more velocity, reducing the exploding time on his Total Mayhem passive while increasing the spread of the grenades and making his Concussion Mine quicker.

The latter change was actually quite controversial: As Dexerto previously reported, Cloud 9 Twitch streamer Jamison ‘PVPX’ Moore made a whole video explaining how the Concussion Mine’s speed was actually a nerf.

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As it turned out, the speed in which it is tossed ended up being too fast and as a result, players couldn’t side mine (throwing mine behind you and booping yourself forward) or double mine – something integral to Junkrat’s mobility.

“The only way you can get it to work is if you go in the air, pause and then do it again,” the streamer explained. “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.”

Junkrat’s “buffs” ended up being more of a nerf.

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Now, however, the devs have noticed and are taking steps to ensure that Junkrat not only keeps his buffs, but can once again side and double jump consistently.

In a post on the official Overwatch forums, Developer Josh Noh responded to a post that cited PVPX’s reasoning behind why Junkrat’s mine “buff” was actually a nerf.

“We’re currently looking at lowering the minimum activation time between when you throw the Concussion Mine and how soon you can detonate it to help bring back the way some players double mine or side jump,” he wrote.

Josh Noh confirmed more changes are in the works for Junkrat.

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This is good news for all the Junkrat players who had their muscle memory affected during the recent changes, and they should be able to utilize Junkrat’s mobility again soon.

Noh didn’t say when the changes would be going live but there’s a possibility they could be packaged in with the Experimental Card changes tested on June 2 of which it seems like the Genji buffs will go through while Moira’s tweaks may be put on hold.

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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