Major Rework for Torbjorn Coming Soon to Overwatch

Torbjörn, the plucky engineer of Overwatch, is getting a fairly extensive ability rework today, with the goal of increasing his effectiveness while still maintaining his identity. In a blog post on the Overwatch Forums earlier today, Overwatch Developer Geoff Goodman outlined the changes to the hero, as well as the reasoning behind the reworked abilities.

The major changes to Torbjörn come with his Turret and his Ultimate. While originally the turret would spawn on the spot and need to be upgraded to tier 2, now Torbjörn can throw his turret a small distance, and when it lands it rapidly assembles into tier 2. Torbjörn can destroy his turret from a distance, similar to Sombra and her teleporter, and the turret will not be destroyed if Torbjörn dies while it is still building.

What's in store for molten core?

Everyone's favorite hot-tempered engineer is being reforged. Help us test the Torbjörn rework on the PTR today!

Learn more ? https://t.co/FTRxRRKoVk pic.twitter.com/7RoVCWiXVH

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) September 21, 2018

The second major change comes with Torbjörn’s ultimate, which no longer improves himself and his turret. Molten Core now allows Torbjörn to spray molten slag onto the map, creating pools that damage enemy units inside. Enemy units with armor are dealt extra damage as well. The old ultimate ability now lives on as Overload, which grants Torbjörn improved stats for a short time. This ability also replaces Torbjörn’s armor packs, meaning he can no longer provide armor to his allies, but also no longer needs to scavenge for scrap metal.

“Torbjörn was initially designed to be a specialized hero, intended to be a strong defensive option due to his armor-generating capabilities and controlling areas with his turret. However, the scrap collecting, and Armor Pack mechanics have proven to cause problematic gameplay issues through their “feast or famine” nature,” Wrote Goodman in the update post. “For instance, if you were winning with Torbjörn, you were able to gain tons of scrap to keep your team topped off with armor. However, if you weren’t doing it well, it often felt too difficult to gather scrap effectively. This challenge was amplified on offense as he struggled to use either of his abilities to grant armor or set up and upgrade a turret in a useful position.”