Overwatch artwork showing off Genji fighting Talon ninjas

[Update]: Overwatch has launched an adorable Pachimari themed event alongside these experimental balance changes.

While progress on Overwatch 2 seems to be going at a glacial pace, things are looking much better for the original Overwatch. Only a little while has gone by since the last major balance update, and already Blizzard has unleashed a new set of experimental patch notes.

Unlike some of the previous updates, however, this time around it's mostly just minor buffs. As such, you can look forward to Genji, Mei, Pharah, Reaper and Sigma getting a bit of a boost, while Zarya is looking to take a pretty serious hit to her energy conservation. Here's the full list of changes:

Genji

Shuriken

- Recovery lowered from 0.75 to 0.68

 Dragonblade

- Ultimate cost increased 15%

Developer Comments: We’re increasing Genji’s Shuriken fire rate to enable him to have more impact outside of his ultimate and increasing the cost of Dragonblade to account for the increased damage potential.

Mei

 Cryo-Freeze

- Healing-per-second increased from 37.5 to 50

Developer Comments: A while ago there was a change to make Mei’s Cryo-Freeze collision consistent with her Ice Wall, meaning she could no longer be targeted by allies while inside the block of ice. We’re increasing her Cryo-Freeze healing rate since she isn’t able to be easily healed up by her allies during that time.

Pharah

 General

- Hover Jets regeneration rate increased from 35 to 43

Developer Comments: The intent for Pharah’s Hover Jet fuel adjustments is to find a balance where it enables her to maintain an altitude reasonably well with careful fuel and cooldown management, but not so easily climb to the extreme heights some map ceilings allow for as it can lead to less interactive gameplay.

Reaper

 Hellfire Shotguns

- Damage per projectile increased from 5.5 to 6

Developer Comments: The recent adjustment to Reaper’s shotguns ended up being less beneficial than intended so we’re increasing the damage per projectile slightly.

Sigma

 Experimental Barrier

- Cooldown reduced from 2.5 to 2.0 seconds

Developer Comments: While the previous cooldown increase for Experimental Barrier had the intended effect of opening up more counterplay, there may be a tuning value that feels less restrictive for Sigma and still achieves those goals.

Zarya

 General

- Energy drain rate increased from 1.6 to 1.8 per second

Developer Comments: Zarya has been overperforming in a variety of team compositions so the increased drain rate will bring her average energy level down slightly between engagements.

Outside of the rather questionable Zarya nerf, these are pretty solid changes. I'm especially happy Blizzard is finally looking to buff Genji's neutral game while pushing him away from being purely a blade-bot. The poor cyborg ninja has suffered a lot due to the recent meta shifts, and while I don't think this will be enough to truly bring him back, I do hope it'll at least get the ball rolling.

Whatever the case may be, I'll make sure to let you know once the update goes live and if Blizzards adds in any last minute changes. Until then, enjoy the current meta!