During the pre-match segments leading to the Overwatch League’s grand finals between teams Atlanta Reign and Shanghai Dragons, Overwatch fans got to see a preview of hero changes coming to Overwatch 2. Outside of the switch to 5v5 player versus player gameplay, reworks to popular heroes are likely to be the most impactful changes to the game. Overwatch 2 seems to be heading in a direction where gameplay is more proactive.

Two heroes that will see complete reworks in Overwatch 2 are Sombra and Bastion. Since Overwatch’s launch, fans have felt frustrated with Bastion’s kit, so it’ll be exciting to see what changes come to this controversial hero. 

Bastion’s new ability kit sees the departure of his self-repair ability. In Self-Repair’s place, Bastion will gain a new ability that fires a grenade that can bounce off walls and ceilings but stick to enemies and floors, exploding shortly afterward. Bastion’s Tactical Grenade will also displace opponents by knocking them backward after it detonates.

In Overwatch 2, Bastion will have three different configurations. Configuration: Recon and Configuration: Sentry will play differently in Overwatch 2. Configuration: Recon will see weapon fire rate reduced by 50% and damage falloff range increased so that Bastion can be more accurate at longer ranges. With a weapon spread reduced to 0, Bastion should play more like a long-range sniper that can comfortably switch between Configurations based on the nature of the match-ups and the status of the fight. Configuration: Recon will serve as an excellent means for Bastion to harass backline heroes or challenge other snipers while still contributing big damage during active fights at close range with Configuration: Sentry.

Configuration: Sentry now allows Bastion to move while firing. However, Bastion’s tank treads don’t move super fast, meaning that his movement speed will be reduced while he’s in this form. Configuration: Sentry will have unlimited ammo just like in Overwatch, but Configuration: Sentry’s damage will be reduced by 40%, preventing the hero from mowing down opponents completely while being able to reposition while in his Sentry mode. 

Bastion gains a new Ultimate Ability in Configuration: Artillery. After activating his ultimate, Bastion turns into a powerful artillery turret that fires three long-range artillery strikes anywhere on the map. Configuration: Artillery seems like an excellent tool in dispersing opponents stacked up on objectives or having low mobility overall. 

Bastion’s Reconfigure will keep Bastion locked between different configurations for longer as Reconfigure gains an eight-second duration and a 10-second cooldown. Bastion mains will have to think ahead of engagements as Reconfigure’s cooldown will necessitate players predicting what type of Configuration will best suit the next team fight and help secure objectives.

Sombra’s rework includes a great buff to her Hack ability, which sees dramatic cooldown reductions, a duration increase, and the additional effect of showing hacked enemies through walls. While these all sound impressive, they are nothing compared to the fact that Hack no longer removes Sombra’s Stealth, even though she glimmers briefly while hacking from stealth. 

Hack will also see some nerfs to it as the cooldown for Hack is no longer halved after hacking health packs, hacked health packs will stay up for a shorter amount of time, and ability locks for hacked opponents are now reduced to one second instead of five seconds. 

Stealth’s fade-in time will be reduced by 50%, but the detection radius for Sombra has increased to four meters. Changes to both Sombra’s Stealth and Hack will reward players with good timing and the skills to weave in and out of fights, especially with Sombra’s new passive ability.

Opportunist is Sombra’s new passive which gives her 50% increased damage against hacked targets. Because Sombra will likely prioritize hacked targets over non-hacked opponents, her machine pistol’s damage has been reduced to seven and the spread is reduced by 20%. 

Sombra’s EMP will lose its shield damage ability but remove 40% of enemies’ current HP, making it a more devastating Ultimate Ability against all hero compositions in Overwatch 2. Sombra should become a priority DPS pick for teams in Overwatch 2, especially since her new passive can quickly delete Hacked targets as long as she calls out her targets for her team to focus on. 

Overwatch 2 seems to be headed in a direction where all heroes feel active and gameplay feels more fulfilling across roles. No doubt that there will be changes to Tank and Support characters that will enable their damage potential in fights, but the changes to two Damage-type characters that were typically seen as conditional picks shows that Overwatch 2 devs are thinking about how to help all heroes contribute to fights while still feeling unique. 

More details about Overwatch 2 are likely to come as the grand finals of the Overwatch League reach their conclusion. We’ll be sure to report on any changes as soon as they’re known.