Overwatch 2 Developers Confirm Hanzo Rework After Hero ‘Lost’ Identity in Season 11

The developers of Overwatch 2 have announced that they will be focusing on reworking Hanzo next, as the hero has lost his identity in the current meta.

Throughout the duration of Overwatch 2, the developers have been consistently making changes to the game in order to update and improve some of the older hero characters. This was exemplified in the recent update for Cassidy, where they reverted him back to his original kit.

Following Cassidy’s reversion, the developers announced that they are currently considering other DPS heroes for reworking and disclosed that Hanzo is their current focus.

During a discussion with streamer and coach Spilo, Overwatch 2’s Lead Gameplay designer Alec Dawson addressed the heroes that the developers believed required some alterations. He specifically mentioned Hanzo as one of their focus areas. This conversation was captured in an interview on Twitch.

“According to Dawson, Hanzo has become the focal point of discussion due to his lack of identity among the cast.”

Regarding the details, although it is still early days, developers are currently experimenting with various ideas. These range from exploring Storm arrows to potentially reintroducing some of the one-shot thresholds, showing that no possibilities are being ruled out.

According to Dawson, the developers have already begun testing a decrease in health for some of the more mobile heroes to 225 HP. This is being done in order to determine if Hanzo could potentially serve as a viable one-shot counter for characters like Tracer and Kiriko.

Beforehand, the developers had announced that they were experimenting with a significant HP overhaul, similar to the one they implemented in Season 9, in order to enhance Hanzo’s ability to kill with a single shot. However, they were fully aware that this change would not only benefit him.

According to Dawson, Hanzo is currently on their list for future changes. This indicates that there is no specific date set for the release of the revamped version of Hanzo at this time.

It appears that Reaper will be the next hero to receive a rework, as it has been hinted at for quite some time.