24 Nov 2023 3:28 PM +00:00 UTC

Overwatch 2's recent Zenyatta rework sparks outrage from support mains

Overwatch 2 - Zenyatta with orbs hovering in a ring around him, with his left palm raised to the camera

Earlier this month, Blizzard gave a substantial rework to the support hero Zenyatta, massively altering how his Orb Of Discord works. Now, Zenyatta mains are begging the Overwatch 2 developers to roll back the changes, as the hero now feels plain awful and "clunky" to play as.

In Patch 3.65, a major change was made to Zenyatta's Orb of Discord. Following the rework, Zenyatta is unable to re-target heroes within 7 seconds of them being initially targeted with Orb of Discord, meaning a lot more thought has to be put behind who Discord is allocated to.

With the rework, Blizzard was seeking to reduce the effectiveness of Zenyatta's Orb of Discord ability to reduce his damage output, whilst giving buffs to his Harmony Orb and base health, in an attempt to put Zenyatta more in line with the rest of the Overwatch 2 supports. However, the nerfs to the once-dominant poke specialist have come at a great cost to his effectiveness.

Overwatch 2 - The hero Zenyatta with a purple orb levitating between his hands, over his head. — Zenyatta's Orb of Discord has had players calling for a nerf for years

Zenyatta's Orb of Discord has had players calling for a nerf for years

Part of Orb of Discord's strength came in how easily Zenyatta was able to switch focus to a different hero. However, the recent rework disrupts the previously rapid flow of his gameplay, with players on Reddit citing that the rework is "counterintuitive" to how Zenyatta is played. Moreover, players have rightly highlighted how hard it is to keep track of Orb of Discord in-game, as the UI hasn't been updated appropriately.

Admittedly, Zenyatta's Orb of Discord had been in desperate need of a nerf for some time. Before the rework, Orb of Discord would cause targetted characters to take 30% more damage, which is a huge percentage increase compared to other similar abilities in Overwatch 2.

Nevertheless, players have remained adamant that Blizzard should have taken a different route to reworking the hero. One popular suggestion is that, instead of changing how Orb of Discord works, Blizzard should have made a more minor adjustment to the percentage of extra damage taken.

Chances are, if Zenyatta continues to perform as poorly as he has been, Blizzard may revert the changes to Orb of Discord. Previously, the Overwatch 2 developers have repeatedly shown they're willing to drop changes to heroes if they don't have the desired outcome. Until then, Zenyatta mains will simply have to wait and hope that Blizzard makes that decision sooner rather than later.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Gaming News and Overwatch 2 page.

Harry Redman

Staff Writer

Rainbow Six Siege and Football Manager expert

Harry competes within the Rainbow Six Siege competitive esports scene, and loves to share his passion for video games with others. If he's not playing Siege, he's sinking thousands of hours into Football Manager or the latest RPG release.

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