Controversial Zenyatta Nerfs Spark Outrage Among Overwatch 2 Community

Zenyatta, the support hero with the lowest health pool in Overwatch 2, has recently undergone a nerf to his Orb of Discord ability. This change has sparked dissatisfaction among fans. Overwatch 2, released last year, revitalized the stagnant multiplayer hero shooter genre with new heroes, maps, a Push mode, and more. Initially considered a success, the recent announcement of the cancellation of the promised story mode and hero missions has disappointed many fans.

Despite having low health, Zenyatta is capable of dealing significant damage for a support hero. This trade-off positions him as an excellent backline hero, skilled at long-range attacks, skirmishes, and securing eliminations. It is crucial for Zenyatta to remain in the backline, keeping an eye on teammates, as his primary healing ability requires line-of-sight to apply the Orb of Harmony, which gradually heals teammates over time. Similarly, Zenyatta's Orb of Discord, applied to opponents, amplifies the damage dealt by Zenyatta's entire team.

Zenyatta's Orb of Discord, a powerful ability in Overwatch 2's support class, has received a significant nerf in a recent mid-season patch. This change has caused discontent among fans, as Dexerto reports. As a result of the nerf, the range of Discord has been reduced from 40 meters to 30. Consequently, Zenyatta now needs to position himself further forward, away from the safety of his back line, in order to effectively apply the ability to distant opponents. Additionally, the duration of Discord on a target after breaking line of sight with Zen has been reduced from 2 to 1.5 seconds.

Following the recent patch, tank players have expressed concern regarding the decreased range of Zenyatta's Discord application. They fear that tanks, who often lead their team and are closest to the opposing Zenyatta, will constantly suffer from the Discord effect. Another player mentioned the difficulty of achieving the Rapid Discord achievement, which requires getting four kills or assists with the Orb of Discord within six seconds, now becoming even more challenging due to this nerf. Some fans suggested alternative balance changes such as implementing a cooldown period for the ability after an elimination or having the damage amplification start low and increase gradually on the target.

Although the majority of Zenyatta mains had a negative reaction to this change in the Discord orb, one player highlighted that the reduced deactivation time when losing line of sight from the target will help lessen the "wall hack" effect of the ability's UI. As Overwatch 2's sixth season, titled Invasion, approaches next month and introduces a new support hero to the roster, Blizzard may reconsider their decision to nerf Zenyatta in this manner.

Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

Source: Dexerto