Heyo, name’s Mnemesis, I’m a Doomfist main and I engage with the Doomfist community (I contribute a lot to reporting Doomfist bugs and generally gauging opinions of other players and streamers) as well as the competitive coaching scene/overwatch theory scene.
This is my first forum post on this account (or maybe ever? Been a while lol). I just wanted to share some feedback regarding Doomfist’s balance changes in the past few updates, and also my thoughts on the hero in 6v6. And no, this isn’t about turning him back into a DPS, I do actually prefer him as this hyper-mobile tank playstyle. Feels really unique!
I guess I’ll begin by firstly touching on the December 16th Seismic Slam nerf.
- Shockwave range reduced from 18 to 15 meters.
- Cooldown increased from 6 to 6.5 seconds.
I believe this was completely heavy handed and also completely unnecessary. To paraphrase GetQuakedOn, you could do like 40 rocket punches before the rocket punch radius buff took effect- you could even go an entire game without noticing that rocket punch buff (which is more or less a bug fix), whereas nerfing slam like this affects Doomfist’s survivability and consistency universally. A nerfed slam with a nerfed cooldown means building overhealth less, which means less uptime. A worse slam means more emphasis is put onto Rocket Punching as your engage, which will in turn make Doomfist less interactive for the user, and for the enemy who is more often being punched into walls.
Slam is Doomfist’s best engage for building overhealth and remaining consistent and mobile- nerfing slam when punch is the issue seems quite backwards to me- I propose instead of nerfing slam, you shift some power from punch into slam, and undo the cooldown nerf. A more powerful slam means Doomfist has multiple viable options for engaging, as currently and even in the past few months, Doomfist’s viability/strength has been almost entirely leaning into punching the enemy team, when in reality slam and punch should be equally as effective. If this paragraph sounds slightly contradictory, I can explain it in a reply below to clarify; I’m basically saying that slam didn’t need a nerf, it needed to be balanced out with punch. This just further shifts Doomfist’s playstyle into a one dimensional area.
Next, I want to discuss the nerfs proposed for 6v6.
Full stop, I think this was a terrible way of going about it. I do see the vision, but it’s kind of doubling down on the slam nerf, and it makes Doomfist not only one dimensional, but clunky and extremely situational.
Let’s start with the slam changes:
Seismic Slam
- Cooldown increased from 6.5 to 7.5 seconds.
^There is much wrong with this. As previously mentioned, slam is Doomfist’s initial engage to build overhealth. But with this change, as well as with the previous December 16th nerf, the nerf to Doomfist’s base health AND the nerf to his overhealth built, you now have a Doomfist that neither has survivability nor consistent mobility. Much of Doomfist’s skill expression, engage or escape safely, or even just his ability to disrupt backlines completely rely on slam. 6v6 can have a slam radius nerf, it can have less health or less overhealth built, but why are we nerfing the cooldown more?
Another tank means more opportunities for CC and another insurmountable wall for Doomfist to face, and so if anything, 6v6 is where Doomfist needs more mobility.
In 6v6, Doomfist needs survivability, or he needs mobility. You cannot nerf both, because you have effectively killed his uptime when a 6v6 format is already inherently difficult for the hero! He is naturally less bulky, he builds less health when slamming, his radius is worse AND his cooldown is lesser so you get less chances to build it- it has almost completely killed the hero? I am a 6v6 enthusiast and a massive Doomfist fan, but I know what it feels like to be doing everything I should be, and due to the hero’s power, it just not being enough.
Power Block
- Maximum duration reduced from 2.5 to 2 seconds.
- Cooldown increased from 7 to 8 seconds.
^This doesn’t make sense to me. At all. Block is a benign mitigation tool, and making it less potent serves absolutely zero purpose when you are already cutting his survivability in half (hyperbole but it’s pretty bad). If your concern is empowered punch being too much in 6v6, then seriously take some of punch’s power and shift it into slam so Doomfist at least has some engage options.
This is going to sound sort of… ad hominem, but much of the Doomfist community detests how he feels to play right now, because he’s clunky and he cannot act very independantly- he needs certain tanks to enable him or a perfect enemy team composition, or else he is almost useless. Trust me, I know the Doomfist community has a tendancy to complain a lot- I do too, but I was alright with his state pre December 16th, but this is getting frustrating. In 6v6, his cooldown rotation has been trifled with, his survivability has been cut way down, both as a result of that and the general nerfs to his HP, overhealth generation and block.
tl;dr:
I believe the balance team is “fixing” the wrong things about Doomfist, in a disproportionate way, and I believe punch and slam should be as powerful as eachother, rather than nerfing slam to keep punch stronger, and I believe this is further exacerbated in 6v6, to where the hero is neither fun, engaging nor viable.
My balance note suggestions for 6v6 (optional read)
*Just a quick note, I won’t make 5v5 balance suggestions just because that’s an entirely different can of worms. I would like to see his beta movement techs re-implemented desparately, but I don’t know if the devs are willing to go for that.
Seismic Slam
- Cooldown decreased from 6.5 to 6 seconds.
- Damage increased from 50 to 65.
^ This shifts power from punch into slam and keeps Doomfist’s consistency. Bear in mind we’re still at 425 HP and generating less overhealth.
Power Block
- Maximum duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds.
- Power Block now makes Doomfist immune to CC for the first second of activation.
- Power Block now requires 90 damage to become empowered.
- Cooldown decreased from 8 seconds to 7 seconds.
^ Think of this Block change as “parrying” like from fighting games. Now Doomfist has more options against CC that reward skill and good timing. Additionally, since empowered punch is nerfed, it is now easier to get. Nerfed cooldown for improved survivability, but if we’re adding these other changes, I’m honestly fine to keep it 8 seconds.
Rocket Punch
- Empowered Punch damage multiplier decreased from 50% to 30%.
- Empowered Punch AOE radius decreased from 50% to 30%.
^This is a significant reduction in additional damage, but it is honestly probably necessary considering the buffs in the kit elsewhere. The benefits to this change are that empowered punching an entire team is still very effective, just not as overcentralizing to Doomfist’s kit.
Meteor Strike
- Self healing removed.
- Ultimate cost decreased 16%.
^ This one might be a curveball, but I think we really need to start treating Doomfist’s Meteor Strike like a 4th ability, rather than trying to make it more like an ultimate. The faster it’s built, the more options Doomfist has. It’s better not to stay in the air too long either, as a tank that abandons its team just to heal itself seems… unusual? We like Meteor Strike because it allows us to reset our cooldowns or play hyperaggressively.