Overwatch 2: All the hero reworks in the beta

Overwatch 2‘s first beta is now live, giving players a taste of substantial changes coming to Blizzard Entertainment’s hero shooter. These changes include new team structures for five heroes, new heros, and significant reworks to many characters.

In the Overwatch 2 beta, players will find very different versions of Bastion, Doomfist, Orisa, and Sombra on the roster. Others heroes like Reinhardt and Cassidy have received key ability updates that allow them to update their kits in important ways. In general, there are fewer ways to stun enemies, and each role type has its own passive perks: tanks receive less knockback, damage characters get a speed boost, and all support characters automatically heal themselves over time.

Here’s a breakdown of the hero changes in Overwatch 2‘s beta test — and presumably going forward.

Bastion

The terrifying turret Bastion is seeing some of the biggest changes in Overwatch 2. He has lost his Self-Repair abilities, which means he cannot heal himself. He can still switch between Recon mode, his mobile form, and Assault mode, his tank form, but the latter now lets Bastion move and is on a cooldown. Bastion also has a new alt-fire attack, the A-36 Tactical Grenade, which fires a bomb that bounces off walls and explodes when it impacts enemies or hits the ground.

Bastion’s Ultimate ability has also been redesigned. Bastion no longer transforms into a mobile tank equipped with powerful cannons. Instead, it switches into Artillery mode and fires up to three artillery rounds at targets.

Doomfist

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Doomfist moves from a damage role to a tank role, with a boost in health and a new Power Block ability, which protects him from the front and can empower his Rocket Punch. Doomfist has had his Rocket Punch, Seismic Slam, and Hand Cannon abilities tweaked. His shoryuken-style Uppercut ability was also removed. Meteor Strike, Doomfist’s Ultimate, will now activate faster and slow enemies upon impact.

Sombra

Sombra has been reworked to be a more dangerous hacker and a better damage dealer. Her Hack ability not only disrupts enemy abilities but also makes it easier to expose the location of hacked enemies to Sombra, her teammates and her entire team. Hacked enemies also take more damage from Sombra herself.

EMP, Sombra’s Ultimate, now deals 40% damage to enemies caught in the pulse’s radius, in addition to disrupting barriers, like Winston’s protective energy dome.

Orisa

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

The centuaurlike defense robot Orisa is radically changing in Overwatch 2, starting with the removal of her Protective Barrier shield and her Halt! Graviton charge is an ability. Replacing those abilities are Energy Javelin, a new projectile that stuns and knocks back enemies, and Javelin Spin, which blocks projectiles, pushes back enemies, and gives Orisa a speed boost.

The new Ultimate for Orisa, Supercharger is Terra Surge. Orisa will be able to hunker down and sweep in enemies nearby, before unleashing a sudden surge of damage following a short charge. Fortify will also boost her during Terra Surge.

Orisa’s primary fire, Augmented Fusion Driver, is also changing. It now offers infinite ammo, but is governed by a heat mechanic.

Reinhardt

Reinhardt has now two charges for his Fire Strike projectile as part of Blizzard’s strategy to increase tank brawler capabilities. Reinhardt also enjoys greater control over his Charge attack and can cancel it out.

Winston

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Winston’s Tesla Cannon now has a secondary fire mode: He can charge it up and release a ball of focused electricity.

Zarya

Zarya’s personal Particle Barrier and teammate-targeted Projected Barrier are now on a shared cooldown, meaning she could apply back-to-back bubbles for herself or simultaneously for two teammates, if necessary.

Cassidy

Overwatch cowboy Cassidy loses his Flashbang stun ability for something more damage-focused: Magnetic Grenade. That short-range grenade will home in on nearby enemies — hence the magnetic descriptor — and can stick to enemies, dealing additional damage on explosion.

Mei

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Mei’s days of freezing players with her Endothermic Blaster are over. Although her ice gun deals damage to slow down enemies but does not turn you into an Ice sculpture, it is no longer able to do so. Only Mei’s Ultimate, Blizzard, will completely freeze opponents now.

Brigitte

Brigitte’s Shield Bash does not stun enemies anymore. It will simply knock them back, dealing damage.