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Mizuki Rework | Overwatch Design Studies

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May 3, 2026 Nix Du 10:34 am Topic: Overwatch Design Studies Fan design of Overwatch’s heroes, levels, events, and balancing. Sort by: Best Expand Problem Mizuki is a character with satisfying gunfeel who has a little bit of tools against every comp. Immediately after Season 1 launch, a reddit post showed Mizuki being the community’s favorite character to play as among the 5 new heroes. However, since Season 2 his pick rate dropped substantially, and he started falling into a “Niche counter pick against niche heroes” trap. Mizuki’s abilities go into many directions and often contradicts themselves: Remedy Aura encourages staying main, and builds off much faster in a brawl environment Kashimoto Return encourages taking off angles, but is not enough to walk in with a dive comp Binding Chain is very strong against shieldless Dive tanks Kekkai Sanctuary is strong against Poke comps and ranged ultimates Other problems with his kit – Binding Chain is the only definitive reason to select Mizuki, making him a niche response pick against nice characters. Kashimoto Return’s offensive value is extremely map dependent. Its “Dash down, return to highground, shoot until it’s ready again” is very ideal and doesn’t fit in a committed Dive/Rush synergy. The reason why Mizuki’s weapon range is short is to restrict him from building Aura charge pre-fight, but this means sometimes he is left with nothing to do before enemies walk up. Goals Rework Mizuki towards a clear direction: Besides chaining Wreckingballs, what other situations is he useful for? Give various rework ideas Resolve Mizuki’s kit’s internal conflicts Give Hashimoto Return enough carry potential, so Binding Chain isn’t Mizuki’s only “carry” ability Changes Mizuki (Dive) Remedy Aura Charge and discharge rate increased by 150%. Now only charges or discharges during Kashimoto Return. Using Kashimoto Return immediately grants 50% charge. Charge remains at 0% when not using Kashimoto Return. Base healing increased by 35%. Combined with Kashimoto Return, these changes fits Mizuki into the typical burst cycles of a dive comp. Mizuki can be more comfortably dealing damage during Kashimoto Return. Wall Climb New passive. Allows Kashimoto Return to be used in more environments and more aggressively. Spirit Glaive Weapon range reduced from 30 to 22.5 meters. Encourages a more aggressive playstyle. Healing Kasa Projectile speed increased from 40 to 55 meters per second. Maximum bounce count reduced from 3 to 2. Healing increased by 10. (from 90/70/50/30 to 100/80/40) Makes Kasa a more intentional ability with less total healing but more saving potential. Kashimoto Return Duration increased from 5 to 8 seconds. Cooldown increased from 12 to 15 seconds. Recall cast time increased from 0 to 0.25 seconds. Allows Mizuki to participate in a dive for longer, while his downtime remains the same. Cast time is increased to match Sombra’s translocator, making it a less frustrating escape for enemies. Mizuki (Brawl) Kashimoto Return Now has “Quickstep” major perk as base kit. Area speed boost increased from 25% to 45%. No longer grants additional self speed boost. Allows Mizuki to replace Lucio, Juno, or Symmetra to speed and rotate a brawl comp. Binding Chain Hinder duration reduced from 1.6s (other) and 1.2s (tank) to 1.3s (other) and 0.9s (tank). Smaller hinder window encourages Mizuki to stay with his team and rely on ally focus fire on the chained target. Kekkai Sanctuary Healing reduced from 50 to 30 per second. Now applies 30% slow to enemies crossing its border. Now grants 75% Remedy Aura charge on cast. Kekkai is only good when your team is holding their ground, and when enemies aren’t all jumping inside. The slow effect allows the ability to act as a soft barrier as your team are forced out of it, or as a trap to help your team chase down escaping targets and bring the fight forward. The Aura charge grant allows Mizuki to skip the poking period and initiate a fight with full aura. Quickstep (Major Perk) Now a part of base kit. Piercing Glaive (Major Perk) Added. Spirit Glaive pierces through enemies until its first bounce. Helps Mizuki build up healing faster in a brawl. The shots stop piercing after bounce, reducing unexpected AOE spam. May 3, 2026 Nix Du 10:34 am Recent Posts Lastest Mizuki Rework | Overwatch Design Studies Sanjay Hero Design | Overwatch Design Studies Mama Hong Hero Design | Overwatch Design Studies

Doomfist Rework | Overwatch Design Studies

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January 17, 2026 Nix Du 1:25 am Topic: Overwatch Design Studies Fan design of Overwatch’s heroes, levels, events, and balancing. Sort by: Best Expand 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 Nix Du 1:25 am Recent Posts Lastest Mizuki Rework | Overwatch Design Studies Sanjay Hero Design | Overwatch Design Studies Mama Hong Hero Design | Overwatch Design Studies April 28, 2026 Nix Du 5:00 am Topic: Overwatch Design Studies Fan design of Overwatch’s heroes, levels, events, and balancing. Sort by: Best Expand 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