Overwatch’s PTR has a new update available for testing, bringing some changes to several heroes – including nerfs to D.Va and Zenyatta, very popular meta picks right now.

Apart from balance changes, the new “Avoid as Teammate” option has been added, alongside several bug and interface fixes. Check out the most important changes below, but always remember that the changes are not final, possibly changing as Overwatch’s balance team try to find the right numbers before the release of the game’s next big update.


D.Va

- Micro Missiles 
   Explosive damage reduced from 6 to 4

Since its addition in September to boost the damage a bit, Micro Missiles helped transforming D.Va in a highly popular pick, but right now her “burst potential is a bit too high.” With each missile currently dealing 3 impact damage and 6 explosive damage, reducing explosive damage to 4 per missile would net in an overall 22% damage reduction.


Mei

- Endothermic Blaster
   Now pierces through enemies

Her main attack being able to pierce through enemies is an important buff for Mei, meaning that he can bring out a considerably higher damage output during stacked fights, which consequently helps “her ultimate more consistently be able to freeze more targets”, according to Blizzard, who warned however that her shots “still do not pierce barriers such as Reinhardt’s shield.”


Reaper

- Death Blossom
   Reloads Hellfire Shotguns after use

- Wraith Form
   Move speed bonus increased from 25% to 50%
   You can now cancel the ability by pressing the Shift or Primary Fire hotkey

The buff to Reaper Death Blossom is a nice little touch, but the changes to Wraith Form, his main escapes (or engage) ability can bring him back to popularity: apart from the doubled movement speed bonus – from 25% to 50% - being able to cancel the ability any time you want is actually a very big deal, as sometimes precious seconds are completely wasted by having the ability unnecessarily up.

It will be definitely to see if those changes will see Reaper picked more often in the professional scene, where he is only situationally used.


Moira

- Biotic Grasp
   Transparency increased the closer you are to a target

- Coalescence
   Now becomes more transparent the closer its visual effects are to a player’s camera

- Fade
   Transparency increased the closer you are to a target

Moira will receive some needed quality of life changes, with her abilities becoming more transparent as close you are to her, therefore “cleaning” the screen of unnecessary visual animations, which is clearly something positive for all players involved.


Zenyatta

- Orb of Destruction
   Secondary fire rate of fire reduced by 15%

Likely the most popular support pick right now thanks to his big damage output besides his healing abilities, Zenyatta’s burst capabilities received a small nerf on the PTR. 15% reduced fire rate doesn’t seem to be much, but can affect his changes at one-shotting other squishy targets.

It will also be interesting to see how this can affect the Overwatch League pros, where we see many talented Zenyatta players often dealing as much damage as “proper” DPS heroes.

Finally, good news if you had a bad experience with a teammate: with the addition of the “Avoid as Teammate” option, you can select up to two players you want to avoid being matched with again. The matchmaker will then not place them on your team for one week – but they can still potentially appear on the enemy team.

Check out the full notes, including all bug fixes, check it out here.


(Pictures courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment)