The Next Overwatch Patch Will Bring Changes to Roadhog and Winston

[IceForce]

Man, people really freaking hate Roadhog's hook, don't they?

Yes they do, and for very good reason.

Insta-killing squishies is something that several different heroes can do (Rein pin, Hanzo/Widow headshots, Genji's triple-headshot + dash, McCree flashbang + FTH, Mei freeze + headshot, etc), but all these require reasonably good mechanical skill (Hanzo/Widow/Genji), can put you badly out of position (Rein pin), or require you to be really close to your enemy (McCree/Mei).

Roadhog doesn't have to worry about any of these problems. The range on the hook is ridiculous, it takes next-to-no skill to use (throw it into a group of enemies and you're practically guaranteed a free kill), and Hog himself has an insane amount of health and self-sustain that the aforementioned heroes simply do not have.

In a game with 'high risk / high reward' heroes, what's the incentive to play them when you can just play Hog and get free kills every 6 seconds?

 

[IceForce]

Also, I get that he's a tank but that regen made him nearly unkillable in most of our games. He seems too good at too many things.

Strictly speaking, Hog isn't even a tank.
The other tanks all have the ability to block damage and shield their teammates in some way. But the best thing that Hog can do is body-block, which is really bad because it just feeds ult charge to the enemy.

If anything, Hog is just an extra-fat dps hero, more than he is a tank.

 

[sephthewind]

I would agree and disagree in parts- Hook 2.0 wasn't a straight nerf and certainly made it more consistent, which did add some value. However, now that I've tried this new Hog out in the PTR, I can say it's a real nerf. The spread on the gun does feel nice but it's not enough to make it like the previous distance. Everyone from Bastion to Ana is 2-3 shots to take care of now, especially with abilities like Bastion's new self-heal and Ana's nade.

Now that I've been home and had a chance to try it out in PTR I can definitely second this. The hook no longer does much against smaller framed squishies (Luicios can breathe easy now), Hogs under this patch would be far more effective in hooking tanks and taking advantage of the new spread. That said though his general combat effectiveness feels higher than ever, with just my left click I've been able to one-shot some heroes like Hanzo up close and melt tanks, no hook required. It also has the hilarious side-effect of actually pushing targets away from you if you're closer than the drop range: https://gfycat.com/OrneryHarmfulAzurevasesponge (gif from reddit, the effect is obviously more dramatic the closer you are and WILL be a threat on Ilios and Nepal)

This will ultimately be very healthy for the meta. Triple tank relies quite heavily on the Roadhog hook (which people in my ranks are hilariously unaware of). It allows for easy picks to the point where DPS doesn't have much of a place because they can't compete with the burst. Apparently dive comps are also still good, but they're a lot harder to execute at lower ranks.

This will make the hog less of a one-trick pony. The distance adjustment means the melee won't be part of the combo anymore, but the spread buff should help even this out a bit. The cd increase means that Zarya can now keep this locked down (which might be a problem since she's already the best tank in the game). I suspect he'll be better at fighting in general and his entire play won't be based around the hook now (though it'll still be very strong).

This is a good thing IMO.

I absolutely agree this is good for the meta and I think the character overall since it finally forces players to actually learn the hero instead of picking him for "easy kills", this should also help make players on the other team feel less cheated by instant deaths. It's also a double-blow to the tank meta in that the hook no longer supports it, but in fact makes it a tool against tank meta teams.

As for Winston, he's a victim of the metagame. He's the natural enemy of squishy heroes (with the possible exception of Tracer), and the current tank meta means that his usual targets (Mercy, Zenyatta, Genji, Widowmaker, etc) are absent.

Winston is really good at what he does, but the current metagame (3 tanks, S:76, Lucio, Ana) means that he doesn't have an opportunity to do what he does best.

Also, he takes some skill, and a lot of players think he's weak because they don't know how to play him.

For sure once the tank meta is out of circulation he'll become less situational, but so long as he lacks sustainability he'll continue to have issues solidifying a spot in the meta. Players' lack of understanding about Winston works both ways as well. For example, I currently have my record highest elims in a match on Winston at 47 and while I'd like to boast about how that makes me a godly Winston player the truth is just that I have a good understanding of Winston's role in a team comp and the enemy team didn't seem know what to do about a decent Winston. They could have easily shut me down with a Roadhog, Reaper, or (for the overkill points as he melts Winston) Zen but they continued to play squishy DPS heroes like Genji, Widow, and Hanzo instead.

 

[bjj hero]

good analysis

That roadhog chain push is ridiculous. So easily abused.

Ill take winston against an all dps team. Sadly that is never on comp.

 

[Frankster]

Winston is one of my secondary champs so i'd welcome a buff to be able to use him more often without my team complaining about the pick.

Previously his head hitbox required you to jump "backwards", basically butt first lest you be picked off by enemy widows (who he is supposed to counter but is actually the other way round most of the time) or anyone with a good aim, looking forward to not have to do that anymore.