Is a Widowmaker Nerf needed?

General Discussion
47

Widowmaker’s grappling hook is the least consistent movement ability in the game.

  • Is already interrupted by bodyblocking
  • Is already interrupted by boops
  • Is already interrupted by CC
  • Is already interrupted by inconsistent map geometry
  • Can unintuitively redirect mid-air and fling you backwards
  • Doesn’t properly refund cooldowns at point-blank ranges, unless your body literally clips into wall geometry

Unlike other movement abilities, the grappling hook cooldown is not actually the time that’s listed.

Most movement cooldowns start immediately when the button is pressed, or immediately after the meter has been depleted/the physics impulse has ended.

Widowmaker’s cooldown doesn’t start until after she has completed both the cast and reel animations.

  • The cast animation is variable, having a maximum cast time of 0.833 seconds
  • The reel animation is variable, ranging from 0.1 seconds to 1.0 seconds depending on distance
    • Since most people aren’t looking to do shortrange grapples (for distance and for slingshots) her 8 second cooldown is effectively a 10 second cooldown.

With autoaim;

  • The grappling hook pulls you to designated map props and grappling hook areas that override any potential ledges you might intend to go on
  • The grappling hook always pulls you to the lower of two ledges if two elevated ledges are stacked vertically near each other, forcing you to unintuitively aim higher than the intended ledge in order to properly grapple to it
  • The autoaim will proc towards ledges that aren’t able to be stood on, at all
  • If a ledge is beyond the maximum range of the hook and completely out of reach, the autoaim will proc towards that ledge that is out of reach.
    • Unless you are at an oblique angle where part of that ledge is within range, the grappling hook will seem to go towards a target but will actually hit nothing but air and force you to recast for another 0.833 seconds
  • Autoaim does not proc onto any moving platforms or moving map geometry
  • Auto aim does proc to destructible railings, which can be destroyed mid-cast or can also not pull you up-and-over and leave you plummeting to your death if done over a bottomless pit

Without autoaim;

  • Any ledge you intend to grapple towards requires precise aim
    • Unless you specifically targeted the exact corner of the edge, the grappling hook will hit nothing but air
    • If you manage to manually latch onto a corner, it will sometimes just drop you instead of pulling you up and over, forcing every single grapple hook cast to be a slingshot cast

With some autoaim (slider somewhere in the middle);

  • A mixed bag of the above with/without autoaim bullet points where the autoaim isn’t particularly stellar or reliable regardless of which setting you use

Regardless of autoaim;

  • Some surfaces are completely unscalable – the grappling hook, which is designated to always latch onto non-enemy hard surfaces, doesn’t latch on to some of those surfaces, at all

Experienced Widow players have gotten to the point where they either;

  1. disable autoaim and spend the two seconds it takes to precisely aim to their next intended ledge
    or
  2. keep autoaim and when dived upon, literally aim at the ground a few feet away to do a slingshot that still ends up being within close-combat dive ranges.

D.Va and Winston’s cooldowns outpace Widow’s grappling hook cooldown.

  • Winston’s leap movement speed outpaces Widow’s grappling hook reel speed
  • D.Va’s boosters have both an extended meter and a boop which enable her to either chase on Widow’s coattails or outright interrupt a grappling hook entirely by bodyblocking/booping

Furthermore;

  • Tracer and Genji outpace Widow’s grapple cooldown.
  • All CC abilities outpace Widow’s grapple cooldown.

Any complaints ANYONE has about Widowmaker being too mobile with an 8 second grappling hook have never played Widow, never intend to play Widow ever, and don’t understand how Widow’s grappling hook literally has a mind of its own and CAUSES player deaths on many occasion.

The frustration of Widow “getting away” isn’t because her cooldown refreshes in the nick of time, every time, it’s because she’s playing near her healers like she properly should be, and they pocket her to the point where she outlasts the incoming damage.

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