Overwatch nerfs Wrecking Ball mobility, buffs Soldier and Moira

Update 8/5/2021: These changes are now live on retail servers, as of August 5th.

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Overwatch put out a new experimental patch on Thursday, July 29th, which included balance changes for Wrecking Ball, Roadhog, Soldier, Genji, Moira, and Doomfist.

While most of the adjustments are minor tweaks, the changes for Wrecking Ball will significantly impact his ability to return to fights after he respawns, and the adjustments to Soldier and Moira were notable since they have been underperforming of late.

Here is everything you need to know about the new changes.

Wrecking ball receives nerf to his mobility

In the new experimental patch, Wrecking Ball's grappling claw will start off on cooldown after respawning. This means you will have to wait five seconds before using it after spawning. This change may not seem like a big deal, but for the Wrecking Ball mains out there, this is going to be an annoying adjustment that slows down their recovery after dying.

"Wrecking Ball is the fastest hero in the game which works well for his disruptive playstyle," the developers explained in the patch notes. "However, to help reduce his contribution to objective stalling, his Grappling Claw ability will now start on cooldown upon respawning."

The developers also removed the feature where Wrecking Ball's mine stick to walls when deployed. While this feature of the ultimate has been useful in the past for some of the more clever wrecking balls, the developers explained that the feature backfires on players more often than not.

Finally, Wreckingball's Adaptive Shield was buffed slightly. It will now activate immediately, rather than having a .2 second delay, and its duration was increased from 7 to 9 seconds.

Soldier, Genji, and Doomfist receive buffs

Soldier has been underperforming lately since the developers massively nerfed hitscan earlier this month. To help bring him back int the meta, the developers are increasing his pulse rifle damage from 19 to 20 per shot. This is a small tune, but it means that he can kill a Pharah or an Echo in one less shot up close and his ranged damage will falloff slightly slower. They also nerfed his heal station from healing 40 to 35 health per second.

Genji received a similar small buff, with his Shuriken damage increasing from 28 to 29 damage per hit. This will also mean Genji can kill in one less attack as well. To balance that buff out, however, the developers also are reducing his Dragonblade damage from 120 to 110 per hit.

Finally for DPS, Doomfist's cooldown rate will increase by 100% while he is in the air. This may seem small, but it means that Doomfist's ult will be a global reset of his abilities, allowing him to brawl a lot longer and be less vulnerable after using his ultimate ability.

Moira receives buff to her self-heal

Moira has been underpowered in the meta recently, with players favoring picks like Baptiste, Mercy, or Ana. To help bring Moira into a favorite meta position, the developers increased her self-heal from 20 per second to 24 health per second, which is a significant bump. This will help Moira stay alive during fights and will help recharge her healing resources, since you won't have to duck back behind your team as quickly as before.