Overwatch 2 Roadhog rework: New ability & all changes explained

Overwatch 2 players have felt that Roadhog has been underpowered in recent months, and the devs are taking action with a full rework of the Tank Hero. Here’s everything you need to know about the Roadhog rework in Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2 players have been not-so-patiently expecting a huge rework for Roadhog’s kit, which many feel has been nerfed almost to oblivion since the release of the free-to-play version of Blizzard’s FPS. After finally getting Sombra’s rework during Season 7, players started to wonder what would happen to the once-beloved Tank Hero.

Now, the devs have provided a full breakdown of how Roadhog will be reworked, including major changes to his kit. Here’s everything you need to know about the Roadhog rework in Overwatch 2 Season 7.

Overwatch 2 Roadhog rework release date

Roadhog’s rework goes live in Overwatch 2 on Tuesday, November 14, 2023, and will be introduced in the first update after the LE SSERAFIM collaboration.

Overwatch 2 Lead Hero Designer Alec Dawson was the first to break the news when a player asked for Blizzard’s plans for Roadhog. Dawson mysteriously answered with a “The Ring” movie reference, saying “7 days,” a date later confirmed in an official blog post.

Overwatch 2 Roadhog rework: All new abilities & changes

The main change in Roadhog’s rework in Overwatch 2 is the introduction of the new Pig Pen ability. This skill replaces ‘Take a Breather,’ which has been changed to a secondary fire, and throws down a trap to deal big damage and slow enemy movement.

In the patch notes explaining the changes, the devs said that the main aim for the Roadhog rework was to “improve his frontline presence on the battlefield as a tank hero and reduce the frustration enemy players had with how consistently deadly his hook combo has been in the past.”

Check out a full breakdown of the Roadhog rework in Overwatch 2 below:

Scrap Gun

• Previous secondary fire functionality has been removed.
• Total damage per shot increased from 150 to 160.
• Shotgun pellet count reduced from 25 to 16.
• Shotgun pellet damage increased from 6 to 6.25.
• Now fires a shrapnel volley of 4 large projectiles in the center of the shot.
• Each shrapnel projectile deals 15 damage.
• Critical damage multiplier reduced from 2x to 1.5x.

Take a Breather

• Now activated by holding Secondary Fire.
• Cooldown for each use decreased from 8 seconds to 1 second.
• A new resource meter has been added. This meter will deplete while Take a Breather is active and then recharge when it’s not in use.
• Take a Breather requires 12 seconds to reach full charge from empty.
• At a full charge, Take a Breather can heal up to 450 health over 3 seconds.
• Take a Breather will now remain active as long as its assigned hotkey is held.
• An option to “Toggle Take a Breather” has been added under Options > Controls > Roadhog.
• Damage reduction decreased from 50% to 30%.
• No longer amplifies healing received upon ending.

Pig Pen

• This is a new ability assigned to Ability 2 by default.
• Launch a trap that slows and damages nearby enemies.
• Deals 60 damage when triggered and 30 damage per second in an area.
• 3-second duration once activated.
• 40% movement speed slow.
• Cooldown is 12 seconds.

That was everything you need to know about the Overwatch 2 Roadhog rework. If you want to know more about Blizzard’s FPS, check out our other guides:

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