Photo Credit: Daily Dot
It was covered in one of our previous articles that Blizzard would be releasing a new support-sniper hero in Overwatch called Ana. Two days ago, the hero was released for the Overwatch Public Test Region. Additionally, Blizzard also announced the new patch notes which introuduced several meta-changing updates to several heroes. The patch release can be found here.
Ana and Gameplay
Photo Credit: Overwatch's Official Youtube Channel
The main advantage of Ana over other supports is that her kit is very useful for both support and dealing damage. Her main weapon is the Biotic Rifle which can be used to heal allies or deal damage to enemies depending on who is shot. It should be noted that unlike other heroes, Ana’s bullets cannot travel through a teammate’s body because of this aspect of her weaponry.
Ana also comes with a sidearm and Biotic Grenade. Her sidearm uses a Sleep Dart that sends enemies to sleep for a short time if it hits. Enemies will get up if they receive any damage from either Ana or her teammates during the sleep duration. The Biotic Grenade, similar to the Biotic Rifle, serves a dual purpose of both healing allies and damaging enemies. When it is thrown, it will heal allies in its area of effect, while enemies would be damaged.
Ana’s ultimate ability is Nano Boost, which gives a teammate a huge buff in speed, damage, and damage resistance. Combined with other ultimates, this one has the potential to be one of the deadliest in the game.
Ana, like other supports, works best from the back lines, healing teammates and poking at enemies. However, Ana comes with more damage than most of the other supports and can take a fight with enemies and help push with the front line if needed.
Hero Changes
Photo Credit: Gamer ANX
The biggest change comes to D. Va with her Defense Matrix and ultimate, Self-Destruct, getting a huge buff. Self-Destruct in particular was reduced from 4 seconds to 3 while the cost was reduced by 15%. Added on to the fact that the explosion no longer damages D. Va, she suddenly becomes a much more viable hero to use in competitive play.
Roadhog, Soldier: 76, Mercy, Lúcio, and Bastion received slight nerfs, with most of them having their ultimate cost increased. Any healing hero was buffed slightly with the new change that allowed self-healing to charge ultimates. McCree also received a buff to his drop-off damage to make him competitively more viable again after his massive nerf in one of the previous patches. Zenyatta was the final champion to receive a buff in this patch with most of his kit being improved.
The biggest thing to take away from this patch is that D. Va, McCree, and Zenyatta will be used much more in competitive play due to the buffs that they received. The heroes that received a nerf are still very viable, but will see less playtime as a result of this. Players are still trying to figure out where exactly Ana fits into the meta at the moment, and it will take a few more days before anyone can say for certain whether she will be used frequently.
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