Geoff Goodman from the Overwatch team has shared additional insight in our upcoming rework of Torbjörn:
Hey everyone,
We’re giving Torbjörn a fairly extensive rework to his abilities and weapons that you can check out on the PTR later today! The goal of the rework is to increase his effectiveness in a wider range of situations while preserving the identity of the hero.
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. 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.
In order to make the hero more flexible in a wide variety of situations, we started by making the turret much easier to deploy and removed both the Armor Pack ability and scrap mechanics. Molten Core proved to be extremely tricky to use alongside the new turret changes, so we changed it into a new area denial ultimate ability that can be utilized more freely. Lastly, we’ve moved some of the old Molten Core functionality into a new ability— Overload—which replaces Armor Packs.
Rivet Gun
What changed?
Torbjörn’s Rivet Gun was a little unwieldy to deal damage with consistently due to its projectile speed and somewhat unintuitive trajectory. We’ve increased its offensive potential by increasing the primary fire’s projectile speed and decreasing its reload time.
- Primary fire projectile speed increased from 60 to 70
- Reload time reduced from 2.2 to 2 seconds
Rivet Gun’s alternate fire has been rebalanced by decreasing the recovery time between shots so that it matches the same cadence as its primary fire. The damage was lowered slightly as a result though overall, it’s more powerful. Not only is the secondary fire more responsive now but the spread pattern is significantly easier to predict.
- Recovery lowered from 0.8 to 0.6 seconds
- Total damage per shot lowered from 150 to 125
- Reload time reduced from 2.2 to 2 seconds
- Spread pattern adjusted and random spread reduced by 50%
While Rivet Gun’s functionality remains largely the same it has been tuned up to be more consistent when dealing damage and switching between the primary and alternate fire should feel much smoother.
Ability 1: Deploy Turret
What changed?
The turret is now a thrown projectile that will automatically build upon landing instead of needing to be manually built. Turret levels have been removed and you no longer need to hammer the turret other than to repair it. Torbjörn’s turret will also now assist you by firing at enemies damaged by Rivet Gun’s primary fire, giving players some control over the AI targeting. Note: It will not attempt to target enemies not in its line of sight.
1. Deploy Turret is now a thrown projectile
- Half cooldown begins upon deployment
- Full cooldown begins when the turret is destroyed
- A new turret cannot be placed if the turret has taken or dealt damage within the last 3 seconds
2. New Interact input ability added to manually destroy your turret.
- This gives players the ability to start the cooldown earlier if the turret is stuck in combat
3. No longer explodes if Torbjörn dies while it is still building
4. Turret levels removed
- Turret automatically builds over 3 seconds
- Deals the same amount of damage as the previous level 2 turret
- 250 health
The turret now requires much less time commitment to set up, allowing Torbjörn to throw it in position and get going right away. With more control over who it targets, Torbjörn can redirect it onto exposed enemies or higher priority targets by tagging them with his Rivet Gun. From the enemy perspective, destroying a turret should feel more rewarding as it will put the ability on cooldown.
Ability 2: Overload
What is it?
This new ability replaces Torbjörn’s Armor Pack ability. When Torbjörn uses Overload he gains temporary armor along with improved movement, attack, and reload speed for a short duration.
- Adds 150 temporary armor
- Temporarily grants 30% increased movement speed
- Temporarily grants 30% increased Rivet Gun and reload and attack speed
- Temporarily grants 30% increased Hammer attack speed
- 5 second duration and 12 second cooldown
Overload takes some of the functionality we loved about the old Molten Core and adds to it in the form of a cooldown ability that can be used often throughout the match. It provides both offensive and defensive advantages, giving it a good deal of flexibility depending on when it is used.
Ultimate: Molten Core (New)
What is it?
Torbjörn powers up his claw arm, enabling him to create burning pools of molten slag that continuously damage any enemies standing on them. He can use this area denial in a variety of ways to control choke points, objectives, separate enemy players from their allies, cut off escape routes, or slow an enemy advance. * Enters a new weapon mode for 6 seconds
- Launches up to 10 molten projectiles that spawn a damaging pool where they land
- Deals extra damage to enemies with armor (e.g. enemies affected by Brigitte’s Rally or Repair Pack)
1. Bounces off walls and ceilings until coming into contact with the ground
- Base damage increases from 130 to 190 against enemies who have armor:
1. Heroes with armor: Bastion, Brigitte, D.Va, Orisa, Reinhardt, Torbjörn, Winston, Wrecking Ball
2. Heroes who can grant armor to their allies: Brigitte
The new Molten Core maintains the functionality of zoning enemies from safely entering crucial parts of the battlefield with his ultimate while being more readily useful in situations where you aren’t able to keep a turret up.
We’ve gone through many iterations, each with their own unique challenges, before landing on what we think is a fun, new Torbjörn. We’re excited to hear your feedback so please try out the changes on the PTR and let us know what you think!