season 2 of precaution 2 arrives tomorrow, and that’s a bigger deal than it sounds. Overwatch 2 may have marked the beginning of a slightly jarring change to the free-to-play model for Blizzard’s venerable hero shooter, but it’s the release of Season 2 where players will have Get a first taste of the speed and quality of future content. released under the new regime.
I had to spend a few days exploring what new changes the second season of Overwatch 2 will bring around this time tomorrow, and I’m already feeling a bit nauseous. On the one hand, the brand new additions – the new Tank, Ramattra and the new Shambali Monastery map – are beautiful, engaging and fun. On the other hand, the balance change to existing heroes doesn’t seem to do much to rebalance the strongest heroes in the game, which leaves me feeling a bit disappointed.
To its credit, there’s quite a bit to be said about the Overwatch 2 Season 2 changes. To make things a little easier to understand, I’ve broken my thoughts into the following sections.
Ramattra: A complex tank in both plot and gameplay
Where to start with Ramattra? The new Season 2 Tank is available just like Kiriko in Season 1: you can play Ramattra for free at level 55 of the Battle Pass for free, or you can unlock him instantly by purchasing the premium Battle Pass. Is he worth the wait? I mean, yes – but don’t expect him to be at the top of the meta.
It’s no surprise that Ramattra looks and feels great in-game. At any given moment, he looks (and seems) simultaneously stern, majestic, mysterious, and intimidating – especially in his massive Nemesis Form. Ramattra is known as Tempo Tank, because his two forms allow him to switch quickly between offensive and defensive play, thus controlling the tempo of a teamfight. And it feels a lot like Reinhardt in some ways. At first, I’ll play fairly defensive and cautious, placing barriers and using my main beam’s damage reduction to take out smaller enemies in range. When I see the opening, I will activate Nemesis Form and do my best to utilize those precious 8 seconds to increase damage and armor. It’s a delicate balance and can easily lead to death if you do it wrong.
During the match, my first impression was that he needed to time his skills very carefully and skillfully juggle his skills to use them effectively. I think there’s going to be a lot of people in the first few weeks of Season 2 claiming that he’s completely underpowered or completely useless. I bet when the dust clears, the answer will be somewhere between the two of you.
When I managed to use his ability at the right time in a teamfight, I was able to clear without any real difficulty. But I also feel very weak for a Tank, with no mobility and no self-healing or over-healing to speak of. He will need a serious pocket dedicated healer to take on more survivable Tanks like Roadhog, Orisa, and Reinhardt. I see a lot of potential in Ramattra (and I mean, my god, if people can make S1 Doomfist look underwhelming they can do the same to anyone), but I don’t see it either. what makes me think he really dominates. If anything, I assume he’ll be slightly lower on the Tank tier list than the main players.
Shambali Monastery: A Literally Uphill Struggle for Attackers
I really like the look and feel of the new Escort map, Shambali Monastery. The snowy mountain backdrop and stark warmth of the lamp-lit indoor areas give the map a different kind of vibrancy than other Overwatch maps. As for the way it plays, I can’t help but feel a little nervous. It’s fun, for sure. By design, it’s a zigzag path going up from the attacker’s spawn point to the payload’s endpoint at the top of the map, and the entire map is filled with unexpected paths and flanking opportunities. I just wonder if it’s a bit too heavy for defenders.
One of the first things I noticed when starting a map in Custom Games was how wide it was at certain points. At times, it’s almost like the kind of three-lane map you might find in CSGO or Valorant, with various paths leading to balconies and walkways giving the defending team some great vantage points. thereby taking down enemies pushing the payload.
The road zigzags from left to right but always continues upwards with a gentle slope. Aesthetically, it’s amazing, different and attractive. And I think if there’s an advantage for defenders, it’s a subtle one – easily overcoming differences in skill and teamwork. After all, the attacking team can easily use those additional avenues to attack and take out defenders. Or the presence of too many different vantage points could cause the defenders to split more than in their favor, giving the attackers a clear path to the top of the mountain.
Still, I’m still happy as a defender and a little sad as an attacker on Season 2’s adorable new map.
Hero balance changed: Sojourn and Kiriko still reign supreme
This is a bit that I find quite impressive. It’s no secret that Overwatch 2’s first season meta was dominated by Sojourn at every level. Her ridiculously powerful Railgun allows her to single-hit most smaller heroes with a single click, and has really no downside to the rest of her kit. her to help balance things out. Finally a nerf came, reducing the Railgun’s alternate fire damage so that at max it still leaves a Soldier (for example) with a small amount of health, instead of killing him instantly ie. Thing is, that’s just not enough. Sojourn recharges her alternate firepower by shooting enemies anyway, so she frequently uses her alternate fire on damaged targets. That soldier is going down regardless of this small change.
Likewise, Kiriko had a “nerf down” which I really thought wasn’t enough. Kiriko’s Ultimate, Kitsune Rush, is by most accounts the most powerful Ult in the game at the moment, and it’s almost entirely dependent on the dramatic increase in attack speed that this ability gives the teammate. team. Imagine my joy at the prospect of Kiri being nerfed, and then my disappointment when I realized that, from what I’ve seen, all that has changed is that Ultimate no longer grants movement speed. and the cooldown is as much as before. This is not what makes Kitsune Rush so powerful!
Other minor tweaks add some non-obtrusive changes to the hero roster. Ana’s Sleep Dart now has a slightly faster cooldown (1 second). Bastion gets his Ultimate (junk) a bit faster than before. Symmetra can’t fire for long with her main fire, but her turret does a bit more damage. The reward for the most pointless change should go to Mercy, whose secondary weapon now has 25 hits instead of 20. Woo-fucking-hoo.
At least Doomfist had a decent buff. His punches now actually deal damage, he ramps up faster using his Power Blocks and he gains more Health with the damage dealt with his skills. All of this together makes him seem a bit stronger than he did in Season 1, so tomorrow will be a good day for the main Doomfist mainstays.
Battle Pass, Skins and Theme: Greek Mythology is the winner
In addition to various changes to heroes and map rosters, Season 2 brings a new Battle Pass inspired by Greek Mythology and some Legendary skins (and one Mythology skin) that look good Olympian nature. Flipping through the Battle Pass rewards, some of the skins seem a bit confusing, but I have to admit that the Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon skins look pretty cool.
I’m also looking for new player titles we can earn after maxing out Season 2’s Battle Pass:
- life and death
- philosophers
- astronaut
- gogon
- Daimon
- demigod
- Olympic athletes
- giant
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to try out any of the new and upcoming limited-time modes that Blizzard is planning to release during December and January. We know that Winter Wonderland and Year Of The Rabbit. is returning, and the new Battle For Olympus mode is also starting in January, which seems to give heroes new godly abilities to play around with.
Overall, my sneak peak in Season 2 got me excited to play even more with the goal of getting to Titan before Season 3 got going. Ramattra is a complicated machine and I find it quite difficult to determine how effective he is in different situations, but I am happy to have such a well-designed and personable new hero in the game. list. Likewise with Shambali Monastery, although I doubt its balance, I still want to go back and discover its hidden depths, because I am sure they are there.
It’s just a shame that I really don’t see much of a change in the meta since Season 1. Sojourn and Kiriko will still rampage, despite their meager nerfs. I guess we’ll all have to grind our teeth to endure those Railguns and Kitsune Rush for another Season.
