Running the numbers: Pharah gets a huge buff!

General Discussion
1

Here’s how to think about this numerically:

Rate of fire: .9/.75 --> +20%
(sustained rate of fire w/reload: (5*.9+1) / (5*.75+1)=1.16–>+16%)

Below I’m considering her burst/between reload DPS:

Direct Hit DPS: was (40+80)/.9 = 133.3, is now (55+65)/.75=160 that’s +20% !!!

That’s a DPS of 160 folks, which is huge for Pharah’s overall effectiveness. It gets her DPS closer to the ballpark of other DPS heroes. This is especially imporant because Pharah can now make a much better contribution to the team in taking down barriers (nearly always direct hits).

Splash-only DPS(before falloff): was 80/.9=88.9, now 65/.75=86.7,

If fall-off remains proporitional, that’s a mere -2.5% nerf.
Low-tier players who can’t aim (and on console where aim is more difficult) have barely been nerfed at all.

Concussive Blast: 12 to 9 seconds

This means frequency of availability goes from 1/12sec to 1/9sec, or (1/12)/(1/9) = 12/9 or 33.3% more availability.

Concussive Blast is escape, offensive mobility, and boop, all in one. Having it when needed 33.3% more often is huge.

For survivability this far more than compensates the 20% reduction to knockback effect joggling people’s aim.

With the much higher direct-hit DPS, in a “duel” you can kill your enemy 20% faster. Plus your 2nd or 3rd rocket coming sooner means they may have to dodge sooner, which also disrupts there aim sooner. So the the reduced knockback is more than compensated for in multiple ways.

Self knockback +25%, I think is to offset the general reduced knockback, so that the net effect is no change to self-knockback. (100%+25%)/(100%-20%) = 125%/80% = 1.0. If the +25% represents a net increase in self-knockback, that’s just a tiny bit of icing on the cake.

Overall assessment: a huge buff to Pharah, especially at high skill tiers.

tl;dr

The big numbers to look at: +20% direct hit DPS and +33.3% more concussive blast availability.

9 Likes
2

I think you looking at it wrong. Only the Pharah players with aim got better but the ones who just used her for splash damage without even aiming etc. Their number/damage output will go down greatly.

On console, she is very strong and it is due to her splash damage and knockback. They even nerfed her knockback which actually helps with killing her.

3 Likes
3

Numbers show a buff. Reality shows a nerf.

Most Pharah’s who are any good do not even fire at her current live fire rate as they hold for valuable shots. Her clip size and Projectile speed already enforce this. Each shot is precious.

Increased fire rate benefits good Pharah’s none. Decreased splash damage is a damage loss. Decreased enemy knockback makes “Juggling” targets even less viable for direct hits.

This does not encourage accuracy. It encourages spam and hope to hit something.

8 Likes
4

None of that will change the minds of the people that couldn’t already grasp that :expressionless:

Sadly.

I’m on console and I am stoked about it.

5

Read it all. She only gets a net -2.5% nerf to splash DPS. So only slightly less effective at poor-aim spam. But the mobility/boop potential of +33.% availability on concussive blast adds more than compensates.

ALSO, as a spammer against barriers (usually all direct hits) she gets the +20% DPS gain, so is much more effective contributing to taking them down.

6

On paper if you put the numbers like that then it seems like slight buffs. In-game (I just tried it in multiple matches) it is NERFS

  • She kills herself in 7 rockets instead of 6, whohoo :unamused:
  • Her splash damage and knockback NERFS are really significant that you can’t chain splash to kill enemies like you’ve been able to since launch, thx Blizz :unamused:
  • Slightly faster firing is ONLY A BUFF if you can hit direct hits with every rocket, something that happens about 0.05% of the time :unamused:
  • Realistically, the slightly faster firing just encourages spamming more at a general group of enemies and doing a whole hell of a lot less due to splash dmg/knock back nerf :unamused:
  • torb is now a Pharah killer even without his turret :unamused:
  • Soldier is a super Pharah killer with his spread buff
  • The ONE thing they actually buffed, her self boop, is barely noticeable at 25% farther, it’s like going from booping you 5 feet horizontally to 6.25 feet horizontally :unamused:

THEY DID NOT EVEN LOOK AT HER CORE ISSUE: SURVIVABILITY
THEY DID NOT EVEN ADDRESS HER SUICIDE BOMBER MEME ULT
I’m beyond letdown at this rework I’ve been waiting since Nov 2016 for (the literal last time she was buffed)
#BoycottBarrage

4 Likes
7

Re: single/precious shot

Good Pharah players take out most enemies with 2 shots. Doing this 17% faster is huge. It’s that much less time for the enemy to kill you first or escape.

Lack of “juggling” is more than offset by 33% more uptime on concussive blast and being able to kill faster and your enemy having to doge your 2nd or 3rd shot coming in sooner. It’s almost like you didn’t bother to read my OP.

2 Likes
9

I have to agree. She’s going to be more of a sitting duck now against any team with decent hit scans.

Personally, I was hoping for something more along the lines of more limited air time but more air juking abilities to make her air time more fast paced and exciting.

Having the perma-air Pharmecy combo in the game is just a drain on what you can play IMO. Well, better stated, what you HAVE to play because the enemy team decides to go that.

2 Likes
10

Good Pharah players take out most enemies with 2 shots. Doing this 17% faster is huge. It’s that much less time for the enemy to kill you first or escape.

With the nerfs to the splash damage its not possible to reliably two-shot heros anymore. You need now two direct hits to do that, if one rocket is just a pixel off the opponents survives now. Even the best Pharahs dont hit two consecutive direct hits that often in duels with the enemy hitscan. Its definitly a nerf in those situations.

2 Likes
11

Does everyone reply without reading?

NET splash DPS in ONLY reduced by 2.5%.

Yes it may often take 4 rather than 3 shots to kill, but you can get those 4 shots in 25% faster. It roughly evens out.

I guess you don’t know how to use concussive blast for mobility? It is much better for survivability than “juggling” your enemy. So having it 33% more often is huge. I suppose that very lowest levels, if you just hang in the air and trade shots, this is an overall nerf.

3 Likes
12

Do you even play Pharah? (I legit don’t know b/c of hidden profile)
I have played her for over 400 hours, and I am in top 5% of all players for accuracy according to masteroverwatch. I can tell you that the ONLY time I’m 2 shotting heroes is when I commit to a kill and dive ON TOP OF THEM from above, and even then it often has splashing hits in between the directs.

I only average about 40 direct hits PER 10 minute match. It’s not very often as non-Pharah players think. Getting 2 in a row is VERY rare unless you’re REALLY up close and have really good flickshotting. The vast vast majority of Pharah’s killing playstyle since launch has been to chain splash damage together and now that has been nerfed both to damage and knockback. This patch is a big nerf to actual Pharah players
#BoycottBarrage

14

This basically summarizes the issue when they said on the devstream that they wanted to make Pharah better at higher tier of play.

15

That’s a good point, but you could only 2-shot with 1 direct + 1 splash if you got the absolute max splash damage. Otherwise it becomes a 3-shot situation. And you now get your 3 shots in 1.5 seconds rather than 1.8 seconds (time between first & last shot).

AND when really unlucky and no direct hits land, you can still 3 shot a 200hp with splash only. (but you do have to be a bit more accurate to avoid too much falloff)

In the majority of situations, you are far better off.

PLUS you have the 33% more availability of concussive blast to create opportunities sooner and more frequently, and/or to escape fight.

16

I was REALLY hoping for

“50 or 100 HP is now armor since she is the most visually armored non-tank in the game”

“All healers with a radius of effect now extend upwards like a cylinder so Pharah can receive healing also”

“Pharah gains extra armor during Barrage/ Pharah can now cancel Barrage/ Pharah can now slightly move during Barrage”

ANYTHING like that. I guess that’s too much to ask for though :roll_eyes:
#BoycottBarrage

17

Survivability: +33% more availability of concussive blast is huge.

I happen to like the challenge of using her ult at the right time & place.

And the +33% concussive blast availability helps there as well, because it is used to move suddenly & surprise opponents with Ult.

18

Concussive blast is honestly used poorly by most pharah players. Not many use it to displace enemies / move a Rein out of position. It’s not honestly ideal all the time for her own movement and a hitscan that can aim in high tier play won’t give a hoot about this CD change. Especially Widow.

19

That’s not usually a good use of concussive blast. It is for mobility for surprise attack and escape, with occasional boops off the map. Teams rarely coordinate well enough to take advantage of a Rein displacement.

This is definitely a buff targeting the highest skill players. But even low-tier who use concussive poorly, will still have it available 33% more often, so that’s more chances to do something with it that happens to be useful.

20

This is like saying an allahu ackbar bomber only has to wait 9 seconds to blow a few people up with him instead of 12. Great survivability, much wow.
Is 100 hp as armor or cancelable barrage too much to ask for? I guess so
#BoycottBarrage

1 Like
21

This feels like it should have been a console-only change, honestly.

22

Yeah! I’m really excited… seems like I gotta get ready to pull out my trusty old Golden Rocket launcher sometime again. Bit of a dustoff and leading rockets right into the enemy phara’s face should be no problem again. :3