Lifeweaver is the latest support character to join the roster of free-to-play hero shooter Overwatch 2. It has been enough time since his release for the team to reflect on this growth and balance in the new blog post available on the official site.
The developers saw Lifeweaver’s win rate climb faster than other heroes when they launched, perhaps due to the surprising piece of data that his win rate is much higher for low-skill players than it is for high-skill players. Players have also reported frustration with his control scheme, with weapon swapping between damage and healing and Petal Platform on alternate fire cited the most. Going forward, his new default control scheme will be:
- Thorn Volley will be moved to alternate fire.
- Petal Platform will be moved to Ability slot 1.
- Rejuvenating Dash will be activated with double jump.
- Petal Platform will be cancelable by pressing the button again.
- The passive reload will be slowed for the weapon that Lifeweaver isn’t currently using.
Players will still have the option to use his original control scheme if they prefer. There will also be changes to some of his abilities, such as Tree of Life receiving a health buff to do more healing per pulse and Parting Gift being removed.
“Lifeweaver has given us a lot to think about for hero development. Specifically, the complexity of heroes, the amount of new and unique abilities, and the balance of heroes at launch. Lifeweaver has a few abilities that don’t have a precedent in Overwatch, and when they are combined with the extra effort around the weapon swap, it can get a little overwhelming. We think that streamlining the kit by reworking the weapon swap and removing Parting Gift, along with a more fluid control scheme, will make Lifeweaver a little easier to pick up and understand, and elevate him into a much better position.”
