Overwatch June 3 update nerfs Echo & Moira’s ultimate charge, buffs Reaper: patch notes

Blizzard has put out an Overwatch update for PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, with new nerfs for Moira and Echo, along with tons of experimental changes now coming to the live servers.

The studio has been tinkering with a ton of hero balances in the past few weeks, but some changes to characters like Baptise and McCree are headed for a small revert in terms of their update.

Expect a small nerf to Zarya since she’s been showing up in more comps recently, though it’s basically going to be a stat adjustment after previous beam hit detection changes.

That should help tame the Russian soldier, but she should still be a solid pick for people who want to lay down some pain as the flex tank.

Speaking of damage dealers, McCree is getting his ability kit nerfed since the devs are happy with the damage output he’s had so far. Since he can survive longer with his last HP increase, Blizzard are reverting the distance he covers from the Combat Roll and increasing his reload time.

That’s a similar nerf to Baptise, who’s becoming a solid defensive option. To make sure he’s balanced, Blizzard is giving him a slightly higher cooldown for his Exo-Boots. It won’t be the biggest detriment that Baptise has seen lately, but it should keep players on their toes once the patch rolls through.

Echo and Moira had the heaviest hits in this patch for the increased cooldown on their ultimates. The company is seeing just how “impactful” Echo’s Duplicate can be and are only going to change its ability’s cost.

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Echo’s Duplicate has been increased by 15%, which the devs hope is balanced out by her high damage output.

Moira’s Coalescence cost was increased by 17%, while her Biotic Grasp’s resource regeneration is now three times higher when using her ult.

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Blizzard wants to keep Moira’s gameplay intact regardless of her tuning, so expect them to keep an eye on that change and how it’s playing out in the servers.

There’s more to check out from the June 3 Overwatch update, so check out the full patch notes below, courtesy of Blizzard.

Overwatch June 3 patch notes

HERO UPDATES

Baptiste

Exo-Boots

• Charge time increased from 0.7 to 1 second

Developer Comments: Though it felt better to use, the previous reduction to the Exo Boots charge time resulted in Baptiste becoming much more evasive against some heroes. Since he already has strong defensive ability options in Regenerative Burst and Immortality Field, we’re reverting how quickly he can charge the Exo Boots jump.

Echo

Duplicate

• Ultimate cost increased by 15%

Developer Comments: The Duplicate ultimate has proven to be more impactful than expected and was coming up quickly due to Echo’s high damage output.

McCree

Peacekeeper

• Reload time increased from 1.2 to 1.5 seconds

Combat Roll

• Distance reduced by 20%

Developer Comments: Much of McCree’s recent success can be attributed to his increased maximum health and we think that aspect is working well to help solidify a close-to-mid-range role for him. We’re reverting the Combat Roll distance and Peacekeeper reload times as they lead to longer distance Flashbang initiations and made the burst damage from ‘Fan the Hammer’ less of a costly investment.

Moira

Biotic Grasp

• Resource regeneration is now three times higher while channeling Coalescence

Coalescence

• Ultimate cost increased by 17%

Developer Comments: Many channeled ultimate abilities automatically reload the heroes weapon as they’re locked out from reloading for a short time. The new regeneration rate will refill about half of Moira’s Biotic energy resource over the full duration of Coalescence. This doesn’t fully refill Moira’s energy from empty as it would be unfortunate to lose that portion of her gameplay if players were able to fully cycle between ultimates with healing alone.

Reaper

The Reaping

• Life Steal amount increased from 30% to 35%

Developer Comments: This adjustment brings Reaper’s self-healing with his Hellfire Shotguns back to about where it was before the recent weapon tuning changes.

Zarya

Particle Cannon

• (Primary Fire) Beam damage now scales from 75-170 damage-per-second, down from 95-170

Developer Comments: Zarya’s base damage wasn’t adjusted after the beam hit detection changes awhile back but she wasn’t seeing much use at the time either. Now that she has a more dominant presence in a variety of team compositions, we’re looking at reducing her beams average damage, though the same maximum damage is still achievable.