Overwatch 2 Lifeweaver Reworked Abilities Revealed

Overwatch 2 hero Lifeweaver is receiving reworked abilities, per a blog post from Game Director Aaron Keller.

Lifeweaver went live alongside Season 4 on Apr. 11 and already Blizzard is deciding to rework the Support hero's abilities. "Currently, Lifeweaver is performing in multiple variations in Quickplay while players are learning the new hero. We 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. Lifeweaver is a complex hero, and he has an amazing kit with abilities that can have a high impact in a match," Keller said in the blog post.

Keller also mentioned that players have said his control scheme feels awkward. So, Blizzard is releasing a number of changes to Lifeweaver's kit in next week's patch.

Overwatch 2 Lifeweaver Reworked Abilities Revealed

Here's the full list of changes coming to Overwatch 2 hero Lifeweaver's control scheme:

• 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.

Here's the full list of changes coming to Lifeweaver's abilities:

• The slow effect on Lifeweaver’s heal will only be applied a short time after it’s charged. We’re currently testing it at 1 second. This was originally designed to discourage players from permanently holding a healing charge, but the current implementation is too strict.
• Tree of Life will receive a health buff and do more healing per pulse.
• Parting Gift will be 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," Keller said.