So I have a couple of ideas for Roadhog’s rework, really something for the devs to look at and give Hog mains a chance to speak, since not many are talking about the potential rework. Which should happen soon. So fingers cross, that the original brawler tank, Hog, gets something beneficial.
Here are some of my ideas to help bring him into OW2 as a proper tank. Side note, I don’t want all of these changes in one, this is an idea dump to make Hog great again. More of a suggestion box and fun idea thread.
- Hook N’Toss - I know people fear Hog getting his one shot combo returned to him. While he does need it to match the natutal aggression and threat of the current tanks ingame, we may have to be careful and not allow such one or even two tap combos take control of the game. We already have sniper issues, or heros like Mccree who have ridiculous TTK diff by two tapping. Hog doesn’t need to compete with that.
So in order to keep Hog’s hero identity here. We keep hook but give it more of a tank control role here. Hook still pulls an enemy, but tosses them back forward to deal AOE damage.
This allows hook to still be a combo piece and a displacement ability, of course with proper positioning it also gives the option to duel in the frontline and control more of a crowd since Hog’s main weakness right now is just getting mowed down. So this ability is aimed at punishing those who invade Hog’s space so freely. As of right now all Hog has to fend off attackers who crowd hin is the slowest shooting shotgun designed in game and breather…which right now there’s many heros that can ignore or laugh at these options when Hog needs to retreat when pressured.
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Increase Hog’s ammo count by 1 or 2, allowing for 7-8 shots, before reloading. This is to, once again increase his threat level when he occupies a space and allows for him to fend off overaggressive players looking to treat Hog like a giant target. Roght now Hog has some of the worst reload downtimes in the game. His reload is not only along the longest reload animations in the game it has an offensive firing speed and it a clunky projectile in all aspects that has grown much too unreliable over the years. His weapon need some more consistency as his main source of dps. Hog literally has no other dps tool and in order to compete with the rest of the tank roster? Hog needs some offensive presence as a brawler.
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Headshot immunity/Breather Smokescreen- Orisa, Doomfist, Rammatra, Zarya all have dedensive stances where they can ignore headshots and damage, while shield heros of course have an ability to provide a lot of cover. The only tank heros prone to sniper fire and poke dps is Queen and Hog. With Queen’s much smaller hitbox along with more options for healing she can bypass some of this damage while still dealing a bunch of dps upfront to recover from it. Yes sniper fire is Queen’s weakness, but Hog actually suffers from it worse than Queen does as he only has one heal but still has to deal damage via his only means of dps, his shotgun, and is a much bigger target in both body and head hitbox.
Even his means to try to displace the sniper is outshined by Queen’s method of tossing her knife. While both are hard as nails to hit properly, Hog needs a straight horizontal throw at a shorter range, which can be cut off, by the edge of a perch. While Queen’s knife can reliably kick the sniper off a ledge quite easily with just the proper angle.
So the suggestion here is giving Hog a bit more defense in breather form to match the other tanks. Its bad enough he is stuck in this healing animation and if left defenseless as he heals. The damage reduction is nice but you can still headshot him. This change would just put him in line with others who gain benefits from their defensive abilities.
Orisa gets overheat reeuction when using her weapon and headshot immunity and CC immunity while she pops her defensive ability, Rammattra gains a ton of armor and can hold his block indefinitely with the ability to swap between blocking and punching at will, Doomfist gets a super charged punch ability when he blocks, amd Zarya gains charge when her bubbles take damage. I see no reason not to give Hog some more to his only defensive ability that literally stops him from acting besides moving, as it is channeled and he has to wait the full duration. You can’t even cancel it.
If you don’t want the headshot reduction a great idea was allowing for Hog to create a smoke screaan around himself which would provide cover and leave a bit of a trail to hide vision. While not a shield it would give him something that his team can benefit from while keeping breather the same but allowing it to have more versatility. The smokescreem would also be an incentive for overaggresisve players to remember to heal Hog…or he cropdusts your vision too.
What are your ideas for Hog? What else do you think would help him compete in the current state of the game.