Overwatch 2 Patch Notes: Targeted Mauga Nerfs
Mauga has been one of the most highly anticipated heroes to join the roster. The giant Samoan Talon soldier has been part of the game’s lore for quite some time and developers have even admitted that he was originally going to be added in the first Overwatch game.
When Mauga finally arrived, however, some players felt that the tank was a bit oppressive. He seemed to be able to gun down enemies on the front lines while taking a ton of damage. Now, developers have opened up about a nerf for the strong tank.
Overwatch 2 Patch Nerfs Mauga
On December 12, the Overwatch 2 team put out a new patch focused on Mauga. Here are the full patch notes:
MAUGA
Incendiary and Volatile Chainguns
- Chaingun damage reduced from 5 to 4
- The number of shots with the Incendiary Chaingun to ignite enemies increased from 10 to 15
Cage Fight
- Ultimate duration reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
Developers opened up about the changes on Reddit and opened the floor for discussion on the game’s current balance. They explained that Mauga is supposed to be aggressive, doing high damage on the front lines but they are hoping to balance him out by lowering his weapon damage to keep him from feeling “extreme.”
One player pointed out that Mauga feels “feast or famine,” explaining that he either works extremely well — maybe too well — or feels like he doesn’t really make an impact. Support heroes also have to focus on him very hard to keep him from getting eliminated since he’s so aggressive.
Blizzard
Associate Hero Designer Blizz_Tess responded that Mauga is meant to be “in the thick of the fight” with his team. While he has a lot of abilities that allow him to really be oppressive, this also means he’s put in precarious situations if his team isn’t supporting him.
They continued: “Mauga's abilities are versatile and have uses in situations where they don't get full value. Overrun, for example, lets players run away from a fight with damage resistance, so they can poke from farther away with alternating his single-fire chain guns. As time goes on and players explore Mauga's kit more, more nuanced uses of his abilities should hopefully make playing as him less polarizing. His abilities also have a lot of tuning points in regards to both how he helps himself and how he helps his teammates, so there's plenty of room to change his numbers as he develops in the future.”
Another player said that using Mauga’s dual gunplay is very fun but they are often left using both weapons at once instead of having fun with alternating between the two.
A developer explained: “We'll have to see how this develops over time as there's always a learning curve for new heroes. Shooting both guns is not always more effective due to the large spread and more random nature of it. Learning when to use each firing mode to your advantage is part of the fun. Generally, if enemies are further than 15 meters or so you'll want to use the alternating primary/secondary fire.”
So with Mauga being so aggressive and violent, which heroes are best to counter him? Developers opened up about which tanks are best to counter Mauga and it looks like that’s Sigma and D.Va. Meanwhile, Zarya, Reinhardt, and Orisa are the weakest against Mauga’s gameplay.
We’ll have to see how the latest nerfs impact Mauga and if the hero roster will feel a lot more balanced.
