hero design

Mizuki Rework | Overwatch Design Studies

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

Sanjay Hero Design | Overwatch Design Studies

April 28, 2026 Nix Du 9:56 am Topic: Overwatch Design Studies Fan design of Overwatch’s heroes, levels, events, and balancing. Sort by: Best Expand Menu 💡View Design Process ⬇ Hero Info “Order is liberation.” Using one-of-a-kind technologies, Sanjay executes necessary evil under Vishkar and Talon, shaping the world into his vision of absolute order. RoleSupport SubroleSurvivor Health100 health + 150 shields Perk XP1700 (minor) 4500 (major) You can try Sanjay’s Ultimate Ability on this webpage. Scroll to his ultimate ↓ Passives Subrole: Survivor Passive️ Movement abilities start passive health generation. Notes Ideation Voice Lines Tap to fire only the bolt. Hold to keep spraying the beam. 1.2s of beaming triggers the explosion, and makes the weapon recover for 0.3s before shooting another bolt. The beam disconnects but keep spraying when target is out of LOS or beyond Tethering Range (18m). Player can still spray the beam when bolt misses or after the beam disconnects. The beam’s trailing is more forgiving than Moira’s, but less than Sierra’s. Shoot only bolt headshots for maximum DPS potential. Yes, this weapon feels like a tazer 🙂 Sanjay’s weapon was one the earliest part in his kit to be confirmed. I wanted the weapon to perform like the reverse of Domina’s, and inherit OG Symmetra’s flexible beam. Until around March, the beam was designed to tether to the target until LOS breaks. After Sierra is revealed, and receiving feedback from other designer friends, I differentiated Photon Lance from Sierra’s Tracker Shot by moving a big chunk of damage to the end of each shot as an “explosion”. This gives the enemy a defined period to break LOS, and also requires Sanjay to constantly reapply bolt shots. “Trace established.” “Detonation!” On elimination: “One at a time.” Reconstitution Passive️ Healing allies restore your shields and barrier. Shields restore rate: 20% of healing done Barrier restore rate: 120% of healing done Additional notes Shields restore rate is half as fast as the Medic subrole passive’s self-heal rate. Barrier restoring applies to Sanjay’s ultimate, where he can repair his prism shaped barrier by ~100 per second. Weapon Photon Lance ️ Type Weapon (Primary Fire) Effect Type Projectile + Projectile beam Bolt shot that tethers a beam to its target. Explodes on continuous beaming. Damage: 60 (bolt) + 72 over 1.2s (beam) + 40 (explosion) Headshot: √, 2x (bolt) Fire Rate: 1 shot per 0.5s (bolt only)1 shot per 1.6s (bolt and full beam) Projectile Speed:90m/s (bolt and beam) Beam tethering range:18m Beam maximum range:30m Explosion radius:3m Ammo:100 Ammo cost:5 (bolt) + 12.5/s (beam) Reload time:1.5s Additional Notes Ideation Voice Lines Tap to fire only the bolt. Hold to keep spraying the beam. 1.2s of beaming triggers the explosion, and makes the weapon recover for 0.3s before shooting another bolt. The beam disconnects but keep spraying when target is out of LOS or beyond Tethering Range (18m). Player can still spray the beam when bolt misses or after the beam disconnects. The beam’s trailing is more forgiving than Moira’s, but less than Sierra’s. Shoot only bolt headshots for maximum DPS potential. Yes, this weapon feels like a tazer 🙂 Sanjay’s weapon was one the earliest part in his kit to be confirmed. I wanted the weapon to perform like the reverse of Domina’s, and inherit OG Symmetra’s flexible beam. Until around March, the beam was designed to tether to the target until LOS breaks. After Sierra is revealed, and receiving feedback from other designer friends, I differentiated Photon Lance from Sierra’s Tracker Shot by moving a big chunk of damage to the end of each shot as an “explosion”. This gives the enemy a defined period to break LOS, and also requires Sanjay to constantly reapply bolt shots. “Trace established.” “Detonation!” On elimination: “One at a time.” Photon Coating ️ Type Weapon (Secondary Fire) Effect Type Projectile Four-round homing healing bursts. Healing: 14/round Fire Rate: 4 rounds in 0.4s (+0.5s recovery) Projectile Speed:40m/s Lock-On Range: 25m Ammo:32 Additional notes Voice Lines Projectile locks onto an ally within 25m, and still have a slight auto-homing beyond that range. Alternate between damage (left) and heal (right) to maximize total output. “Hard light reinforcement.” “Restoring structural integrity.” Abilities Compliance Capsule E️ Type Ability Cooldown 15 seconds Effect Type Arcing Projectile Release an exploding capsule that weakens enemies, reducing their damage dealt. Projectile Speed:30m/s Explosion Delay after landing:0.2s Explosion Radius: 4m Explosion Damage: 5 Damage Reduction Rate:50% Weaken Duration:2.5s Additional notes Voice Lines The Capsule rolls for 0.2s before detonating. Weakened enemies get audio and VFX feedback, plus a sound filter to make hits sound lighter. When there’s more than 1 Sanjay on a team, their Weakens don’t stack. Weaken is subtractive, not multiplicative. A player with nano boost (150% damage) drops back to 100% when weakened. “Neutralizing aggression.” “Pacification complete.” “Stand down!” Prime Vector Shift️ Type Ability Cooldown 14 seconds Effect Type Movement + Area Shoot a floating zipline that moves allies on interact. Zipline’s endpoint can be destroyed. Deploy Time:0.5s Max Distance:25m Zipline Speed:18m/s Zipline Uptime:6s Zipline Endpoint Health:125 Additional notes Voice Lines Zipline can start and end in the air, not attached to any surface. Zipline is two-wayed, but only its endpoint (not origin) has the destroyable device. Press interact to attach to zipline and start moving towards the direction based on player’s movement input before connecting. Players on zipline are vulnerable to most hard and soft CCs. Press Jump to detach and jump off the zipline. Like Teleporter, a player need to wait for 1s before using it again. Sanjay can hold Shift to immediately start ziplining after casting. Sanjay’s Photon Lance beam can still tether enemies while ziplining. Zipline’s interact priority is lower than Teleporter and Lifeline, but above everything else. “Position realigned.” “Moving important personnel.” Converged Amplifier Q Type Ultimate Ability Cost 2250 pts Effect Type – Fly up in a prism shaped barrier with no front or rear protection. Fire faster with infinite ammo. Enter third person view when healing. Cast Time: 0.6s Duration: 8s Barrier

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 Menu 💡View Design Process ⬇ Hero Info “Float like feather, strike like steel.” A reputable landlord and a legendary WuXing metalbender, Mama Hong came out of retirement to protect her land against Talon-affiliated forces. Full Name洪滿山 (Hong Mun Saan) RoleTank SubroleInitiator Health450 health + 175 armor Perk XP1700 (minor) 4400 (major) Mama Hong is a dive tank with decent poke capability. Drawing inspiration from Hazard and Mauga, she makes space by marking enemies with Concussion from a distance, exposing them to Manslaughter’s impact. By hitting skill shots midair, she can dive into enemy backlines and do heavy damage. Her ultimate is a combo of Soft CC + Survival like Orisa’s Terra Surge, but is vulnerable to multiple enemy sightlines. She makes up for it with a long range finisher. Passives Subrole: Initiator Passive️ Gain a heal over time from using movement ability. Concussion Passive️ Quick Melee and Primary Fire apply Concussion, making enemies vulnerable to Manslaughter. Duration: 4s Additional notes Voice Lines Narratively, Mama Hong is a master of the Metal Wuxing element. Unlike Anran’s Ignite, tanks don’t have extra consussion resistance. Concussion don’t have any effect besides enabling Manslaughter’s detonation. Concussed enemy hears a dull metal sound and sees subtle ripples on the corners of the screen. Weapon Rising Maw ️ Type Weapon (Primary Fire) Effect Type Arcing Projectile Arcing cannonballs that apply Concussion on direct hit. Cast Time: 0.3s Damage: 40 (Impact) + 10~50 (splash) Splash radius:2.5m Rate of fire:1 round per 0.9s Projectile speed:55m/s Projectile radius:0.325m Ammo:5 Reload time:1.5 seconds Additional notes Voice Lines Each shot has a cast time like mei, and a falling arc like torbjorn. Splash damage doesn’t apply Concussion. Elimination: “Crushed under the might.” Elimination: “Daa dou nei saang saai!” (Crushed to pieces!) Abilities Manslaughter E️ Type Ability Cooldown 8 seconds Effect Type Area + Targeted Slam weapon to send a shockwave. Launch and implode Concussed enemies around. Cast time:0.5s Impact radius: 12m Implosion Delay:0.6s Damage:5~25 (shockwave) + 100 (implosion) Launch height:3m Additional notes Voice Lines Shockwave is blocked by environment and barrier. Shockwave is spherical. The shockwave launches enemies lower than Wreckingball’s Piledriver, but disrupts enemy movement all the same. Manslaughter. “Reverberate!” “Baau! (Implode!)” “Break!” Toad Pounce Shift️ Type Ability Cooldown 8 seconds Effect Type Movement Leap onto a wall, then pounce off from it towards the ground indicator. Damage: 25 Leap range:12m (arc) Max duration on wall:2s Launch range:15m (towards indicator) Additional notes Voice Lines When landing on a wall, Mama Hong can stick to the wall for up to 2s, during which she can choose to hop off or launch herself. Mama Hong can use any attack during the movements but not when on a wall. The pounce itself deals low damage, but can combo with Manslaughter. A subtle shout on jump, and a toad sound on wall-landing. On regular landing: “Featherweight!” Iron Mantle ️ Type Ability Cooldown 8 seconds Effect Type – Maintain a bowl shaped barrier and take half of its damage mitigated. Barrier dimension:2.25m radius hemisphere Barrier health: 450 Barrier duration: 0.4s ~ 3s Move speed reduction: -50% Additional notes Voice Lines Can be cancelled early. The barrier moves and turns with Mama Hong, but doesn’t block attacks from within or behind. Mama Hong can’t attack during Iron Mantle, except Quick Melee. Since Mama Hong takes half of its damage mitigated, enemies can see and hear hitmarkers when hitting the barrier. “Sanctuary!” “Gam Dzung Dzau!” (Golden Bell Shield!) On barrier broken: “Caang m’ zyu laa!” (Can’t hold it anymore!) Lion Roar Q Type Ultimate Ability Cost 2150 pts Effect Type Area + Projectile Beam Inhale to gradually pull enemies and absorb frontal projectiles, then release a linear soundblast with knockdown. Pull / absorb range: 16m, 55° cone Duration: 2s~4s Pull speed: 3~6m/swhile applying 25%~50% slow Soundblast radius: 1.5m~3m Soundblast length: 10m~20m (length) Soundblast damage: 80~160 Knockdown duration: 1s~2s Additional notes Voice Lines Mama Hong can look around but can’t move, attack, or cast abilities during Lion Roar. The pull and slow starts mild. Enemies can outrun the pull in the first second. Barriers block the pull. Casts instantly. To enemies/self: “SII…” “HAAU!” To allies: “Lioooon…” “Roar!” On elimination: “M’ sai zang zaat!” (Don’t even try fighting back!) Perks Brute Force Minor Perk Imploding an enemy grants 35 overhealth. Borrowed Force Minor Perk Lion Roar releases all projectiles inhaled. Feather Steps Major Perk Toad Pounce can leap for a third time if the second leap lands on a wall too. Echoing Bell Major Perk Quick Melee hit during Iron Mantle applies Concussion to enemies within 6 meters. Design Process Hero Fantasy Mama Hong has been the forbidden knowledge of the community. Teased well before Overwatch’s 2016 launch, her “Manslaughter” ability was memed upon. Anyone who pays attention can find her resemblance of the Landlord Auntie in Kung Fu Hustle. This character is a spicy, blunt Landlady, who is also a kind hearted Kung Fu legend that mastered the skill of “Lion Roar“, using soundwave to destroy enemies and even buildings. She also puts up great defense using her “Chi”. It’s been my obsession to make Mama Hong into a real hero that uses “Manslaughter”, “Lion Roar” and “Chi” defense. I also want to shed lights upon other Kung Fu skills in the movie, like “Toad Stance” and “Iron Ring Punch”. Dual Weapon? Marks? Gameplay wise, I initially wanted her to be a dual weapon bruiser. Unlike Torbjorn and Mercy, she will actually use both weapons with maximum efficiency. I also gave her the “marker” gameplay identity: Mark enemies with ignition, then make them combust. Enemies marked will think twice before engaging Mama Hong, hence space is made. Her two weapons both feature a left click (normal attack) and right click (special attack). Using special attack makes her switch to the other. So her flow will be: Attack – Special (switch) – Attack –

Geiger Hero Design | Overwatch Design Studies

March 11, 2026 Nix Du 9:12 am Topic: Overwatch Design Studies Fan design of Overwatch’s heroes, levels, events, and balancing. Sort by: Best Expand Menu 💡View Design Process ⬇ Hero Info A raging maniac and a fearless Junker arena fighter, Geiger earned the respect from Junkerqueen and now serves as her right hand man, protecting Junkertown from outcasts and invasions. RoleDamage SubroleFlanker Health200 health + 50 armor Perk XP1750 (minor) 4600 (major) Official concept art from overwatch wiki Passives Subrole: Flanker Passive️ Health packs restore more health. Extra health restored: 75 Sneak Shot Passive️ Hold Quick Melee to shoot a dagger. Cast Time: 0.4s Damage: 40 (quick melee) + 60 (projectile) Projectile Speed: 125m/s Projectile Size: 0.2m Additional notes Voice Lines Can trigger from either Right Click or Quick Melee. Quick Melee happens instantly, and the dagger is shot after 0.4s of holding. Quick Melee’s 1 second cooldown begins after the cast of Sneak Shot, similar to Venture’s Clobber passive. Can bind to right click too. “Oi, hold this for me.” “Little sting for ya.” “Blink and bleed.” On elimination: “Knife in the pocket, mate.” Weapon Gutwrench ️ Type Weapon (Primary Fire) Effect Type Projectile Piercing boomerang blade that flies back early when another blade is fired.[Hold to quickly juggle blades at close range.] Damage:30 (fly out) + 10 (return) Headshot: ✓, x2 (fly out) x (return) Projectile Speed:60m/s (fly out)90m/s (return) Projectile Radius:0.25m Range:40m Fire Rate:1 shot per 0.25s ~ 0.67s Ammo:18 Reload Time:1s Additional notes Voice Lines Inspired by official concept art. Tap faster to fire faster with a shorter range. Hold to juggle the blades on maximum fire rate (1 shot per 0.25s) within 15m range. The blade returns between 0.25s (minimum) and on max range. Also returns when hitting map collision. Maximum DPS: 160 (15m, all body) 280 (15m, all crit) When enemies are beyond 15m, the player needs to tap fire based on enemy distance, recalling the blades at the right time so they don’t travel for unecessary distances. On elimination: “Come back here, ya little ripper.” On elimination: “Boomerang with teeth.” On elimination: “Bite this murder stick ya drongo!” On elimination: “That blade knows the way home.” Abilities Cyclone E️ Type Ability Cooldown 8 seconds Effect Type Melee + Movement Spin and move in third person, reducing damage taken. Bounce towards current movement direction when hitting enemies. Duration: 2s Speed Boost: 300% for 0.45s (initial)50% (default)300% for 0.35s (bounce on enemy hit) Initial Speed Boost: 300% for 0.35s Damage:50 Damage Reduction:65% Enemy Knockback:3m Additional notes Voice Lines When starting the ability or hitting an enemy, Geiger accelerates towards his current movement input. Each enemy can only be hit by Cyclone once per second. When multiple enemies are stacked or lined up, Cyclone can zip through them very fast. Cyclone is still vulnerable to all types of CC. “Try hittin’ the crazy bit!” “Full scrap tornado!” “Later, ya dogs.” On elimination: “You’re in the blender!” Vaultbreaker Shift️ Type Ability Cooldown 8 seconds Effect Type Melee + Movement Slam a crowbar to pole-vault into the air. Cast time: 0.3s Slam range: 4m Slam damage: 90 Pole vault cast time: 0.2s Pole vault distance: 6-12m (horizontal)3-8m (vertical) Additional notes Voice Lines The combined cast time before Geiger pole-vaults is 0.5s. Geiger can do a short/long/high jump by holding S/W/Space when casting the ability, similar to Winston’s Leap. Geiger can attack mid-air after a short recovery. “Open up!” “Crowbar down, Geiger up!” “Watch the landing, mate!” On elimination: “Broke ya bones!” On elimination: “That’s scrapwork, mate.” Rust Ripper Q Type Ultimate Ability Cost 2400 pts Effect Type Projectile Throw a sawblade frisbee to bounce between enemies and apply Bleed. As it returns, strike it back to enemies with any Melee attack. Cast Time: 0.4s Projectile Speed: 40m/s Projectile Radius: 0.5m Bounce Range: 12m Damage: 80 (impact) + 100 over 2s (bleed) Maximum Strikebacks:3 (4 total throws) Additional notes Voice Lines When bouncing, sawblade becomes a strong projectile that can’t be mitigated by Defense Matrix, Kekkai Sancturary, etc. When bouncing, sawblade slightly homes but can’t hit target with no LOS. After all hits are done, it returns like Junkerqueen’s Gracie. Geiger can strike the frisbee back towards aiming direction with Quick Melee, Cyclone, or Vaultbreaker. Rust Ripper ends when the Sawblade reaches 3 throws or when a throw misses. Geiger is encouraged to combo abilities with Rust Ripper. For example, striking back the sawblade while hitting enemies with Cyclone/Sneak Shot. To enemies/self: “Round trip through the meat!” To allies: “Saw out, limbs in danger!” On strikeback, to enemies/self: “One more round!” On strikeback, to enemies/self: “Do it again!” On strikeback, to enemies/self: “Stike thrice!” On elimination: “Bleed me a river!” Perks Blood Storm Minor Perk Gutwrench gain 15% lifesteal against enemies within 10 meters. Flexible Steel Minor Perk Cyclone bounces 20% further when hitting an enemy. Dopamine Crush Major Perk Vaultbreaker hit increases attack and reload speed by 25% for 2 seconds. Adrenaline Shot Major Perk Sneak Shot hit reduces ability cooldown by 25%. Design Process Hero Fantasy In my heart Geiger is the coolest and the most definitive “Junker” by a huge margin. In the Wastelander cinematic, he’s a crazy fearless crackhead with a million different melee weapons. But at the same time he fights with intelligence and knows to respect an enemy with integrity. Geiger’s hero fantasy is a blade dancing brawler. Unlike Vendetta, he demands less resource to bounce between groups of enemies, and deals consistent mid-range AOE damage when enemies are pressed into tight spaces. Weapon To differentiate him from Vendetta, Reaper and Venture, I wanted Geiger’s weapon to be more range-flexible with one special gimmick. Initially, that gimmick was bouncing blades. But then Mizuki happened – maybe for the best, since the redesign is more focused and more skill-expressive. The redesign was inspired by Invisible Woman’s boomerang shots in Marvel Rivals, plus one twist: Player can increase the fire rate by tapping faster, at the cost of its range. Holding the key will

Doomfist Rework | Overwatch Design Studies

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

Maximilien Hero Design | Overwatch Design Studies

January 13, 2026 Nix Du 4:33 am Topic: Overwatch Design Studies Fan design of Overwatch’s heroes, levels, events, and balancing. Sort by: Best Expand Menu 💡View Design Process ⬇ Hero Info Aside from his position as Talon’s accountant, Maximillen is the figure behind many impactful events. Gambling on the edge of conflicts, he uses wealth and connections to build his own power. RoleSupport SubroleTactician Health150 health + 100 shields Perk XP1750 (minor) 4600 (major) Passives Subrole: Tactician Passive️ Store excess ultimate charge. Ult charge stored: up to 25% Backed Hand Passive️ Give your excess ultimate charge to your Ace. Ult charge given: up to 25% Additional notes Voice Lines Ace is selected with Max’s ultimate “Ace in Play”. Only grants excess charge stored via the Tactician subrole passive. Grants via ult points instead of fixed percentage. The target ally hears a surging sound on activation. Weapon Executive Wristwatch ️ Type Weapon (Primary Fire) Effect Type Hitscan Two-round burst hitscan weapon. Damage: 40 (per round) Headshot: ✓ (x2) Rate of fire:2 rounds per 0.8s Ammo:24 Reload time:1.5 seconds Additional notes Voice Lines Shot radius: 0.12m (same as Illari) Damage falloff range: 25-45m (longer than Ashe, shorter than Illari) Damage falloff rate: 50% Recovery time reduces when alternating between primary and secondary fire. Elimination: “The house always wins.” Breach Laser ️ Type Weapon (Alternate Fire) Effect Type Beam – Hitscan Three short beams with a rotating triangular spread. Damage: 135/s (45 per beam) Headshot: x Range: 13m Spread:3.6 degrees (initial) – 2 degrees (after 0.75s) Additional notes Voice Lines Beam radius: 0.1m (less than Symmetra’s minimum radius) Rotation speed: 180 degrees/s Narratively, Max uses this weapon to cut holes on doors and walls, hence the name and the spinning 3-dot pattern. Elimination: “Think twice before you get close.” Abilities Spade E️ Type Ability Cooldown 8 seconds Effect Type Melee + Projectile Slash with a card and fling it out. Place a Spade on enemies hit, allowing allies to lifesteal from them. Damage: 40 (slash) + 40 (projectile) Headshot: x Slash Range: 4m Projectile Speed:70m/s Projectile Size:0.35m Spade duration:4s Ally Lifesteal Rate:30% (15% on tanks)Stops applying when ally already has more than 40% lifesteal. Additional notes Voice Lines The slash and projectile themselves lifesteals too. The slash’s animation allows enemies at range to react to the following projectile. Enemies with Spade see a overlay effect on their screen. Healing from Spade charges Max’s ultimate ability. To self/target: “Bleed the pot.” To allies: “Claim your cuts from them.” Heart Shift️ Type Ability Cooldown 1 second Effect Type Targeted + Area Place area healing on an ally, which grants movement speed too when an enemy is eliminated inside. Selection Range: 25m Area Healing: 25/s Area Healing Radius: 12m Speed/Damage Boost:25% Boost Duration: 2.5s afer elimination Additional notes Voice Lines Max cannot place Heart on himself. Heart expires after losing Max’s LOS for 5 seconds. “Go earn your healings.” “Make my investment worth it.” “Go, impress me.” On elimination: “Well done.” On elimination: “Stay in motion, agent.” Ace In Play Q Type Ultimate Ability Cost 2400 pts Effect Type Targeted Place an Ace on an ally. The ally instantly revives for one time during the effect, then places a Spade on their eliminators. Enemies don’t know who carries the Ace until they get very near. Selection Range: 25m Cast Time: 0.6s Initial Healing: 100 Ace Uptime: 7s Ace Reveal Range: 5m Ace Health On Revive:Up to 350 Additional notes Voice Lines Enemies can hear when Max ults, but can’t see the Ace icon over the ally until they’re up close. All enemies see the Ace icon from the moment when one enemy sees it. Ace’s secrecy enables lots of mind games for example, Max can place the Ace on himself, but tell an ally to charge in anyway, tricking the enemies into thinking the ally have the Ace. The Ace cannot revive from an environmental death. With Max’s passive, he always gives excess ult charge stored to his Ace. This can be used to quickly ready an important ally ult. In the middle of the fight, Ace’s 100 instant healing can save an ally, but might also spoil who received it. On deploy, to enemies: “An Ace is on the table. Play wise.” On deploy, to Ace/self: “Fear nothing, my Ace!” On deploy, to allies: “Ace has been deployed.” On revive, to enemies: “YOU MISPLAYED.” On revive, to Ace: “Now, shall we continue?” Perks Contingency Minor Perk You can damage and kill your Ace. This puts a Spade on yourself too. Feed the Greed Minor Perk Hitting enemies with Spade restores ammo. Shared Pot Major Perk Heart’s radius increases by 50% for 3s when an enemy is eliminated inside. Liquidation Major Perk Reset Spade cooldown when your Heart carrier dies. Design Process Weapon Weapon feels closer and closer Max’s identity as they iterate. After Zen and Lucio, Max will be the third support that doesn’t heal with a mouse button. The House ️ 🔫 Discarded for: Identity mismatch. Leave the red dot weapon for a pistol oriented DPS. Smart pistol with red dot scope. Executive Wristwatch ️ Discarded: Projectile shots encourages choke spam, not a match for Max’s personality of precision and calmness. Four-round burst dart projectile weapon. Tracker Chip ️ 📟 Discarded for: Discouraging enemies to engage for half of the fight. Make your next shot reveal target position. Press again to detonate the chip. Executive Wristwatch ️ Final design Two-round burst hitscan weapon. Breach Laser ️ Final design – first “shotgun beam” in the game Three short beams with a rotating triangular spread. Sustain Max started with a “mobility + self sustain” ability, borrowing the tech of Kiriko’s clone power in Stadium. I then wanted to jump out of the “movement and heal” cliche and design a different sustain ability. “Marking enemies for lifesteal” came to mind. After a few changes, the ability allows Max to do the “Slash and Laser (alt fire)” combo to survive close combat. The lifesteal rate is tuned