Upcoming Nerfs for New Support Hero Illari Revealed by Overwatch 2 Developer

Blizzard gave a heads up that they might have made Overwatch 2’s new support hero, Illari, too strong even before showing her to everyone.

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To avoid repeating the same mistake, the game’s director, Aaron Keller, explained they learned from a past hero named Lifeweaver. They didn’t want the next new hero to be weak.

Now, after about a week of people playing as Illari, it’s clear she’s not just strong – she’s a bit too strong. The lead hero designer of Overwatch 2, Alec Dawson, talked to fans on Twitter and mentioned that they’re planning to make Illari a bit weaker as she becomes part of the competitive matches.

He mentioned, “We’ll be reducing the strength of her Healing Pylon and Captive Sun abilities. Overall, we’ve been really happy with how she was introduced, and people’s reactions have been great. We still want her to make a difference in Competitive play, but some adjustments are necessary.”

https://twitter.com/GW_Alec/status/1691989102944727524

Illari’s Healing Pylon gives a strong healing rate of 50 health per second, which has made her one of the most potent and adaptable support heroes in the game. Her main healing tool, which is her primary weapon, typically heals at around 60 health per second on average, including the time it takes to recharge. But with the effective 50 HPS from the Healing Pylon and smart use of it, Illari can do things like move alongside teammates who are attacking from the side while still healing someone far away in a fight.

Alec Dawson, the lead hero designer, mentioned that they plan to make changes over time to maintain her aggressive style while reducing the amount of sustained healing she offers. He believes this will make her role clearer and align better with her team. However, her ultimate ability, Captive Sun, when combined with other strong abilities, can lead to extremely powerful outcomes. This ability involves marking enemies for defeat, and it requires some coordinated teamwork, similar to Sombra’s EMP, but it doesn’t need a lot of effort to turn into a game-changing move.

As per Dawson’s message, we can expect adjustments to Illari’s abilities next week, just around the time she becomes available for competitive play.

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