- January 17, 2026
- 1:25 am
Problem
Doomfist is a unique tank hero with high skill expression, great carry potential, and a loyal core playerbase who enjoys his mobility and versatility.
As of January 2026, Doomfist has the highest tank win rate in Bronze, and steadily gets less and less win rate as ranks go up; he has become a noob stomper, one reason why DPS Doomfist was so despised in Overwatch 1. This is largely due to:
- Slam engagement is weak post universal health buff
- Disrupt playstyle is unviable due to long downtime
- Over-reliance on empowered punch and Power Matrix
- Low error tolerance compared to other dive tanks
Goals
- Lower skill floor and raise skill ceiling
- Reduce frustration against empowered punch
- Re-enable slam engage and disrupt playstyle
- Introduce a reliable Power Matrix alternative
- Improve consistency against more heroes
Changes
Doomfist
Rocket Punch
- Damage increased from 25~75 to 30~80.
- Wall impact damage increased from 10~40 to 15~45.
- Empowered punch's damage amplifier reduced from 1.5x to 1.4x.
- Empowered punch now makes distinct sounds on acquiring and casting.
- Empowered punch now displays a decay countdown timer.
Doomfist’s empowered punch is currently his main play-maker and needs attention from both sides. Informing enemies of its threat creates an alarming expectation and reduces frustration.
Normal Punch's damage is increased by 5~10.
Empowered Punch's max damage is reduced by 8~12.
Seismic Slam
- Gained "Aftershock" perk as base kit.
- Aftershock's slow reduced from 40% to 20%.
- Cooldown in 6v6 Open Queue reverted to 6.5 seconds.
Aftershock as a major perk was hard to balance between "unfun to use" and "unfun to play against". On the other hand, base Seismic Slam has been underpowered compared to Rocket Punch for a long time. This change makes Seismic Slam a more intentional ability and improves Doomfist's overall power.
Meteor Strike
- Inner circle indicator is now visible to allies.
Doomfist’s ultimate removes his presence from the battle, which is against his role purpose as a tank. This change gives Meteor Strike indirect shotcalling value.
Minor perk: Survival of the Fittest
- Removed.
The perk rewards winning fights or late fights more than a neutral or losing one. Doomfist is already good at resolving winning fights and late fights.
Major perk: Aftershock
- Moved to base kit.
- Slow reduced from 40% to 20%.
See "Seismic Slam" above.
Minor perk: Successor's Momentum
- Added.
- Cancelling an ability with another one reduces both cooldowns by 15%.
Instead of buffing his default strategy, this new perk revitalizes his alternative disruptor playstyle, encouraging players to chain abilities for better angles, skillshot punches, and environment-based rollouts.
Major perk: Quick Uppercut
- Added.
- Press reload to punch enemies upwards, dealing 35 damage.
- Cooldown: 10 seconds
- Damage reduced from 50 to 35
- Impact range reduced from 5 to 3.5 meters
- Travel and knockback distance reduced from 10 to 7 meters
- Recovery time reduced from 0.35 to 0.25 seconds
- No longer freezes horizontal movement for both sides
For a perk to compete with Power Matrix, it needs to grant equivalent tools to play around CC, and it needs to be fun to use.
Uppercut is reworked to a dodge ability instead of a killing move. It enables more movement possibilities and does less CC than before.
- January 17, 2026
- 1:25 am
Problem
Compared to her (imperfect) predecessor – DPS Doomfist, Vendetta has improved her error tolerance, poking, telegraphing, and, of course, the frustration to fight against her.
However, she still has the problems below:
- Over reliance on snowballing
- Pre-fight poking harms mid-fight sustain
- Busy VFX and audio
Changes
The two changes below gives Vendetta a unique resource management system. She needs to alternate between Projectiles and Block to maintain a balance, improving her poking ability under ranged fire and penalizing perma-blocking.
When flanking/spawncamping, Vendetta also needs to decide: Should I strike with a half-full meter, or should I throw a projectile to drain it first, at the cost of being heard?
Warding Stance
- Energy meter is now divided into 5 equal sections and refills only up to to 40%
- Mitigating damage now fills energy meter instead
- Vendetta loses Warding Stance, Projected Edge, and Onslaught for 3 seconds when energy reaches 100%
Projected Edge
- Cost reduced from 30% to 20% (1 section)
- Damage reduced from 70 to 60
Palatine Fang (Weapon)
Each strike’s audio signaling volume doesn’t reflect their impacts accurately enough.
- Normal swings now makes less sound
- Overhead slash now makes a wind-up sound, similar to Junker Queen’s Carnage
Minor Perk "Relentless" - Removed
Already over-reliant on snowballed brawling, Vendetta needs an option to deal with longer maps and slower fights.
Minor Perk "Bottomless Malice" - New
This perk offers the option of more range and less block when a fight begins.
- “Energy meter automatically refills up to 80% instead of 40%.”
Major Perk "Swift Vengeance" - Removed
This perk is very situational, and Vendetta has little control over how it works.
Minor Perk "Gut Punch" - New
Vendetta’s Quick Melee attacks can be weaved into her swings smoothly, but so far there’s little reason to do so.
- “Quick Melee after Palatine Fang’s side swing deals 60 damage over 5 seconds.”
This perk unlocks new combos, hitting/approaching key health thresholds:
- swing+melee+dash (215 total)
- swing+swing+melee+dash (260 total)
- swing+swing+melee+overhead (260 upfront, 320 total)
Problem
Doomfist is a unique tank hero with high skill expression, great carry potential, and a loyal core playerbase who enjoys his mobility and versatility.
As of January 2026, Doomfist has the highest tank win rate in Bronze, and steadily gets less and less win rate as ranks go up; he has become a noob stomper, one reason why DPS Doomfist was so despised in Overwatch 1. This is largely due to:
- Slam engagement is weak post universal health buff
- Disrupt playstyle is unviable due to long downtime
- Over-reliance on empowered punch and Power Matrix
- Low error tolerance compared to other dive tanks
Goals
- Lower skill floor and raise skill ceiling
- Reduce frustration against empowered punch
- Re-enable slam engage and disrupt playstyle
- Introduce a reliable Power Matrix alternative
- Improve consistency against more heroes
Changes
Doomfist
Rocket Punch
- Damage increased from 25~75 to 30~80.
- Wall impact damage increased from 10~40 to 15~45.
- Empowered punch's damage amplifier reduced from 1.5x to 1.4x.
- Empowered punch now makes distinct sounds on acquiring and casting.
- Empowered punch now displays a decay countdown timer.
Doomfist’s empowered punch is currently his main play-maker and needs attention from both sides. Informing enemies of its threat creates an alarming expectation and reduces frustration.
Normal Punch's damage is increased by 5~10.
Empowered Punch's max damage is reduced by 8~12.
Seismic Slam
- Gained "Aftershock" perk as base kit.
- Aftershock's slow reduced from 40% to 20%.
- Cooldown in 6v6 Open Queue reverted to 6.5 seconds.
Aftershock as a major perk was hard to balance between "unfun to use" and "unfun to play against". On the other hand, base Seismic Slam has been underpowered compared to Rocket Punch for a long time. This change makes Seismic Slam a more intentional ability and improves Doomfist's overall power.
Meteor Strike
- Inner circle indicator is now visible to allies.
Doomfist’s ultimate removes his presence from the battle, which is against his role purpose as a tank. This change gives Meteor Strike indirect shotcalling value.
Minor perk: Survival of the Fittest
- Removed.
The perk rewards winning fights or late fights more than a neutral or losing one. Doomfist is already good at resolving winning fights and late fights.
Major perk: Aftershock
- Moved to base kit.
- Slow reduced from 40% to 20%.
See "Seismic Slam" above.
Minor perk: Successor's Momentum
- Added.
- Cancelling an ability with another one reduces both cooldowns by 15%.
Instead of buffing his default strategy, this new perk revitalizes his alternative disruptor playstyle, encouraging players to chain abilities for better angles, skillshot punches, and environment-based rollouts.
Major perk: Quick Uppercut
- Added.
- Press reload to punch enemies upwards, dealing 35 damage.
- Cooldown: 10 seconds
- Damage reduced from 50 to 35
- Impact range reduced from 5 to 3.5 meters
- Travel and knockback distance reduced from 10 to 7 meters
- Recovery time reduced from 0.35 to 0.25 seconds
- No longer freezes horizontal movement for both sides
For a perk to compete with Power Matrix, it needs to grant equivalent tools to play around CC, and it needs to be fun to use.
Uppercut is reworked to a dodge ability instead of a killing move. It enables more movement possibilities and does less CC than before.