Overwatch 2 players divided on Orisa buff that turns Tank into a “sniper”

Emily Stander
Orisa in Overwatch 2

The latest patch for Overwatch 2 was released on January 9, and players are surprised to find that the Orisa changes have turned her into competition for Widowmaker. 

Overwatch 2 has released its mid-season patch, which included changes to Orisa, Mauga, Illari, and Sombra. Orisa, to the surprise of some fans, received a substantial buff that removed the damage falloff penalty of her Fusion Driver. 

Beyond that, her Fortify also now makes her immune to forced critical hit damage. Essentially, the devs have turned her into a more formidable Tank to try and go up against. While players expected the Mauga nerfs that came with the patch, these buffs to Orisa came as a surprise. 

The reaction from fans has been divided, with some saying that this change will not really make a difference to how Orisa players push into the enemy team and others saying it was a bad change that turns her into a “sniper.” 

“Spear combo will be so deadly now you will have to be careful at any range,” ‘Wellhellob’ commented on a Reddit thread discussing the change. 

Since her rework in Overwatch 2, fans have been mildly annoyed by her presence in the game, but she has not met the bar as a high-rank Tank yet. The issue, though, is that the majority of Overwatch 2 players are not in higher ranks. 

As a result, the discussion went back and forth between fans who say the change will make games more irritating to play and others calling it a “skill issue.” 

‘Flats,’ a Top-500 Tank main and streamer commented on the change in confusion. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he simply asked, “Just, why?”

So, despite the “skill issue” that some fans are calling players out on, it seems those in high ranks are failing to understand Blizzard’s thoughts behind the change too.

“Blizzard try to balance the game challenge. Seriously I got sick of this game long ago because Blizzard’s idea of updates and balancing is making at least one hero obnoxiously OP every week and then nerfing them to oblivion the next,” a player commented on the thread. 

The one feeling that resonated overall was that players will have to see how the change works in-game. Although the damage drop-off change could be significant, Orisa remains a projectile hero, which means she cannot insta-kill the same way hitscan heroes do. 

For more on Overwatch 2, read about how to change your menu background and the classic features from Overwatch 1 players want back.