Before I begin, I’m a 4.5 peak Junkrat player with over 1500 hours on the character and have consistently ended above 4.3 for years.
I wanted to bring up how I feel about this problem because Junkrat has been in a rough spot for a long time and leading up to ow2 made me worried on how a niche character like Junkrat would fit in.
To summarize, a list of things ow2 does that indirectly hurts Junkrat includes:
-Transition from 6v6 to 5v5 [removing a tank] (with 1 tank removed, this eliminated the possibility of compositions that can have multiple shields, and Junkrat is considered one of the best shield break heroes in the game. Additionally, games in ow2 rely a lot less on a shield at all, which makes Junkrat even more situational).
-Armor buffs (reduces damage by 30% when any instance of armor is above the hp. (Orisa could have 299 hp and 1 armor and a widow’s 300 dmg headshot would still be reduced by thirty, meaning Orisa only takes 210 damage) I will go more into detail on how this affects Junkrat later).
-A change in map design (maps are exponentially larger and more open, already making Junkrat weak since he’s a close range dps).
-The new push maps (Colloseo and Queen Street for example) are the most open maps in the game and completely take over KOTH as probably Junkrat’s worst map type.
-2CP maps removed (I honestly think this game mode wasn’t that bad for OW but going offtopic. The removal of maps like Temple of Anubis, which is where Junkrat gets the most playtime due to its favor of close range heroes, plummets Junkrat’s pick rate).
-DPS passives (A new passive ability where all dps have a slight speed increase, which does not sound bad until you try to duel any dps as Junkrat and find they can walk past your primary nades at mid /close range, which is usually where GM Junkrat’s take duels).
On another note, I seriously believe the developers aren’t exactly sure what Junkrat’s role is supposed to be in Overwatch 2:
If Junkrat Is a tank buster, why can he do virtually no damage to armored tanks?
-Going back on this; In Overwatch 1, if Junkrat did any damage to armor it would only reduce his damage by 5, so a 120 damage primary only did 115 to armor, and a 600 damage tire only did 595. In Overwatch 2, Junkrat’s primary does 84 damage to any instance of armor, which is embarrassingly low, and his riptire only does 420 damage to any instance of armor, meaning there is virtually no way a tire can kill most tanks, even a damage increase like Zenyatta discord (~30% damage increase?) Cannot help to kill most tanks since most of the tanks have had their health increased over the 600 mark, which is the max damage Junkrat’s tire can do.
If Junkrat is a close range duelist, why does he lose virtually all dps matchups?
-I already addressed this previously but without going too much into it again, while it’s healthy for a hero like Junkrat to have his counters, the speed increase passive for all dps makes it almost impossible to take a traditional duel that skilled Junkrat players would have no problem with in Overwatch 1, even against other close range duelists that Junkrat has a more positive advantage in.
If Junkrat is a dive/aggression punisher, then why nerf his Steel Trap and punish players for using their utility into it?
-I have a whole spiel about the trap changes further along this post, and it’s what inspired me to write this. If you want context on the trap changes, theres a thread on the r/Overwatch Reddit about the changes, but long story short, the changes to trap are already one of the worst nerfs the character has seen yet.
The following quote was taken directly from a Reddit post I made a while ago when I was talking about the trap changes:
“I don’t consider Junkrat’s trap to be in the same category as Cassidy flash and Ana sleep dart, since these can be activated at any time with value that is way more instantaneous and can be way more utilized in any game they are played. On the other hand, Junkrat’s trap requires lots of forethought and prediction to get value from, and actively relies on an enemy not being spatially aware and stepping on it. It’s also one of the two “cc” in the game that can be destroyed (the other being symmetra turret and she can have 3 of them active at once)
The problem, in my eyes, with how trap works in ow2 is that it actively punishes the player for using it correctly. For example, you predict where a Wrecking Ball rolls into your team from and you place your trap in your team to bait and catch him. If it works, you actively have to avoid using your only damage utility (concussive mine) or else the ball will be booped up into the air, the trap will break, the ball gets a piledriver off and your team dies. If you don’t use your damage utility, the ball will run away even more unscathed and try again until it eventually succeeds.
Another instance I could equate this to would be if Ana’s sleep dart no longer slept enemies and applied a “drowsy” effect or something like that and the affected enemies were slowed for an inconsistent duration. Sounds dumb right? and this is an imaginary effect for the same sleep dart that could be used consistently”.
At this time, I have no clue what I would change about Junkrat in his current state since I’m not a developer. But if I’m not completely reworking the hero, I would:
-Revert the trap changes (including the damage increase) and get rid of the chain to stop the random trap breaks (this occasionally happens in ow1 ironically enough).
-Increase his primary damage to 130/140 BUT change the ratio between his impact/splash damage, and favor giving more damage to the impact since this would reward Junkrat players who can aim and not rely on splash damage and spamming to get kills (which is NOT how to play Junkrat by the way).
-Idk what I would do about Concussion Mine.
-Increase his primary projectile speed and concussion mine speed to keep up with the increased speed of the game.
I have faith that whatever the Overwatch devs do to Junkrat, it ends up being beneficial and he get’s the treatment he’s deserved for a very long time.
Thanks for reading.
EDIT: Apparently Junkrat wasn’t given the increased trap damage (80 ->100) like it was stated in the patch notes. Even after today’s recent patch the trap still does 80. There’s been no other notable compensation.
