Blizzard developers dropped an experimental patch earlier in February that buffed Orisa's Fortify. The change prevents critical headshot damage while Orisa has Fortify active, meaning headshot-heavy heroes don't have a big advantage over this tank in certain scenarios anymore. 

At first, the community (from pros to casuals) was not pleased with the Orisa buff, with a lot of players noting that it felt OP in some circumstances. But a few days into the PTR, the tide has somewhat shifted, with players hoping the buff goes live so Orisa can become a viable tank again thanks to her new survivability. 

The battle continues below. 

Opening argument: Fortify buff is OP — Olivia

Overwatch should not keep the changes they made to Orisa in their current experimental patch. The buff continues Blizzard’s flawed balance philosophy, making heroes unpunishable in important — and all too common — scenarios. Developers said that it was a change that made Orisa more reliable as a tank. 

If you mean “more reliable” as in unstoppable, then yeah, Blizzard did just that. Before, Orisa was invulnerable when Fortified and pocketed by a support unless you hit her with headshots. This basically rewarded DPS heroes for being precise and accurate with their aim. It was their one way to shut down such an impenetrable force. But now, there’s no way to win a one-on-one encounter with Orisa. 

The Fortify buff takes away those checks and balances that make up a good hero list and instead makes Orisa unpunishable in situations she shouldn’t even be in. A Fortified Orisa was previously kept in line only by a DPS with incredible accuracy but now, even that check is gone. Mechanically-intensive heroes would be rendered useless, leaving no counterplay to Orisa’s new kit.

Counter: Fortify buff is balanced — Aaron

I think the claims above exaggerate the power of Orisa’s Fortify ability. Not being able to headshot Orisa for four seconds is hardly a game-breaking change. Instead, it is a calculated and nuanced alteration by the developers that will help Orisa protect her team more actively and play more aggressively. While the move may not be entirely ideal, it’s the best option available, since buffing her health or her barrier would actually be a much more invasive and disruptive change.

The new buff does not make Orisa unstoppable. She is just as squishy as ever outside her Fortify. 

The effect lasts four seconds and it is explicitly designed to make her hard to kill during that window. Pre-change, her Fortify was essentially useless since it made sense for teams to just headshot her to death while using the ability. If Fortify's design was to help Orisa survive burst damage, the new change helps it do that better. Players are not entitled to be able to counter every action in the game, especially not Orisa’s most unique and powerful ability. 

If an ability that prevents headshots for a few moments is broken, then you will have to throw out D.Va’s Defense Matrix and Sigma’s Blackhole ability too. Why would it be broken to give a main tank an ability that keeps her safe from headshots for a few moments, but it’s completely fine when it’s given to off-tanks who are supposed to be squishier? I think the impact of this change has been blown out of proportion.

Point: Orisa needs to stay a main tank — Olivia

The Fortify buff has quite the opposite effect of what Blizzard had in mind. Instead of making Fortify a “consistent defensive ability,” it has turned Orisa into the brawler tank of everyone’s nightmares, instead of keeping her as a main tank, whose job is to shield and soak damage.

Orisa is important on maps with longer sightlines (think Junkertown), using her shield to protect squishier heroes from Widowmaker’s headshots. Orisa is the tank that stays behind and defends chokepoints, not allowing opponents to pass — basically countering incoming dive comps from charging through a map like Rialto or Eichenwald. 

Instead, the now-buffed Orisa can leave her teammates behind as she charges into the opposition, unstoppable while Fortified. This leaves her team highly vulnerable at the key spots on the map, which is exactly what a main tank should not be doing.

To keep Orisa within her designated role — and keep her balanced and fair — Blizzard should nerf her Fortify instead. In exchange, she should be given a buff to her HP and possibly even more health to her shield. This would allow her to withstand an onslaught of attacks as a main tank but not protect her from hitscan heroes if she chooses to desert her team to do some DPS.

Counter: Brawly aggressive Orisa is good — Aaron

Olivia wants Orisa to be inside a little defensive box, where all of her abilities are useless for aggression. Just because Orisa’s character design focuses on defense, that doesn’t mean she should be totally useless on offense. 

In fact, being too defensive is the biggest issue with Orisa in the first place. The 2021 version of Orisa can’t attack, and that makes her a dubious pick in many situations. Tanks like Wrecking Ball, Reinhardt, and Zarya dominate the highly aggressive meta right now, while Orisa gets melted in seconds. I posit that the brawly, aggressive playstyle Olivia warns of is exactly what Orisa needs to hang in the 2021 meta. 

The argument against the new buff relies on the belief that Orisa’s role in the game shouldn’t change. But what Olivia suggests would be that much more invasive to the Overwatch meta.

A barrier buff is much more influential than a buff to her four-second Fortify. Her barriers last for 20 seconds at a time — they are a constant source of frustration for enemy DPS and healers, and they are much more flexible than Fortify. More powerful barriers from Orisa could shake the entire Overwatch meta, bringing back the rather boring barrier meta of 2019.

A barrier buff would also not make her more aggressive, which means it wouldn’t solve her off-meta status. It would only make her really annoying on defensive points like the Tower map on Lijiang Tower, where teams can abuse the massive protective potential of a buffed Orisa barrier.

There are similar issues with giving Orisa a larger health pool. It would make her harder to kill at all times, instead of just during her Fortify ability, making it a much more significant change. Buffing her barrier or her health pool would risk the creation of an entire new toxic meta, while failing to solve the fundamental issue with Orisa: her inability to attack.

Point: Orisa shouldn’t be like all other tanks — Olivia

Aaron brings up a good point: Wrecking Ball, Reinhardt, and Zarya are very aggressive tanks. And so is D.Va, who uses her Defense Matrix to soak up some bullets and abilities as she charges the enemy frontlines. But now he is saying Orisa should also become a brawler tank, focused on disrupting the enemy rather than protecting their team — just because the current meta is aggressive. 

Where does this leave Orisa’s team if they choose to defend a point? Where does this leave Orisa’s team on an open map where they are basically picked off one by one by the enemy’s DPS heroes? Orisa is a shield-heavy tank with a long-ranged weapon who thrived by standing her ground and protecting her team, basically stopping more aggressive team compositions in their tracks. 

To create balance in Overwatch — and allow for counter-strategies to repetitive metas — we can’t have every single tank’s kit geared towards the same playstyle. This basically creates another GOATs, another dive. Blizzard is, once again, forcing everyone to play the same way in order to have a chance. 

Orisa mains pick Orisa because they want to play a main tank — they don’t want to do what D.Va and Wrecking Ball are doing. Orisa was buffed based on what people who hate playing her think she needs.

Now Orisa is just another brawly tank with a goal of disruption instead of remaining a counter to the handful of already-brawly tanks with a goal of disruption. If her Fortify buff sticks, it will only be a matter of weeks before the Overwatch community becomes frustrated that they can only play the game in one way — with one type of comp — if they want a fighting chance. 

Counter: Orisa’s playstyle won’t change — Aaron

So we both agree that Orisa needs a buff. The real question is: In what way?

I don’t claim Orisa should be made like other tanks because the current meta is aggressive — indeed the new change did not do that. She is still the same slow and bulky omnic she was before the change. I claim that Orisa is the only tank in the current meta that is relegated to a purely defensive role — and that this is the root cause of the issues with her balance. Her overly limited capabilities prevent her from being a viable pick in the current meta, which is why the developers should implement the buff Fortify currently on the experimental card. 

That buff makes her kit viable in a wider set of situations without attempting to adjust the power of barriers. The new buff to Fortify enhances her choke pushing potential, something that is a key tool in the arsenal of any main tank regardless of their ideal playstyle. Rather than making Orisa too aggressive, the new Fortify makes Orisa better at punishing aggression from tanks like Hammond, the main tank who has dominated the upper echelons of the meta for a while now.

I would also argue against the point that should Orisa’s Fortify be buffed, Orisa players would abandon their team. Orisa players on the Experimental card aren’t running away from their team and pushing enemy backlines simply because of a slight buff to one of her abilities. That’s simply not happening. And contrary to what Olivia believes, Orisa should not be able to lose to a 1v1 duel while using her most tanking powerful ability.

I think Olivia’s point about repetitive playstyles is perhaps the best one against the new buff. However, I think that this argument fails at the point where her barrier buff solution risks bringing back the barrier meta, which was perhaps the most oppressive and repetitive playstyle the game has seen in the past couple of years. The new Fortify buff makes Orisa significantly more effective, without causing undue impact to the broader competitive meta, making it the better solution.

Counter to the Counter Point... — Olivia

Did you just imply that Overwatch players would not abandon their team?

So what do you think?

Is Orisa's buff for the best? Is it helping her become more viable in the game's aggressive meta? Or is Orisa's buff OP, taking away a lot of Orisa's usual counters and making her abandon her usual playstyle?