I was actually getting pretty decent at Hanzo over the past few months and actually really liked his Season 12 iteration despite knowing he was pretty bad from a competitive standpoint. However, since Blizzard made Hanzo a 1-shot character again in the most recent balance update (Season 12.5), I have become about half as effective with him, maybe worse. The smaller arrow size really hurts his consistency and the slower draw speed makes it much easier to get into trouble with people just walking at you. If it was just me having these issues, I’d just chalk it up to a skill issue on my end, but I have yet to see another Hanzo player make him work since the update. I don’t have any raw data for this, but I know my anecdotal experience has been disheartening to say the least.
So, am I missing something here, or is he just horrible to play right now? I’m disappointed about the changes, since I was one of the few people who really liked how they handled him in base Season 12, but I understand why Blizzard went the route they did. But, given what I’ve seen in my casual games, I have no idea who is actually getting him to work right now. Would folks rather see his Season 12.5 changes reverted, tinkered with a bit more, or do you think he’s fine? Personally, I’d rather see his changes reverted. Would love to get some other takes on this because most of the folks I play with have largely agreed with me that he’s been fairly broken for the past few weeks.
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As someone with many hours on Hanzo, the changes have definitely hurt more than helped imo. The one shot feels really nice those times I can hit it, but my accuracy rate has also dropped by about half
Agree though that would rather revert changes
Accuracy means nothing it probably is back to s8 but crit accuracy would be the same and is what matters he is very good once you get used to charge time
I think blizzard must have known he gonna suck from stats alone (bascialy the same hitbox size as ashe who is 2 tap hitscan, and 2 times bigger than widow who is hitscan with zoom and more dmg). I see this changes as more of throwing their hands up and saying that they can’t make hanzo work, he’s back to s8 (albeit weaker form) and have fun
Hanzo has been thrown under a buss tbh, and not because of these nerfs alone, he has been left to rot for a long time. The 1 shot that they brought back is good but changing the projectile size and draw speed both for it is more of a nerf than buff.
“I was actually getting pretty decent at Hanzo over the past few months”
Here is the thing, you practice and grind the hero, learn and develope a muscle memory for the draw speed, projectile size and speed, hitting targets on different ranges and then Blizzard decides to nerf the projectile size, speed or draw speed so now you are left with old and useless muscle memory that you have to trash and re-learn. Ofc you are going to suck and feel less impactful, because all your work has been thrown to the garbage. I hate the changes like that since you have to relearn. With hitscan you dont have that issue since you point and click.
In comp he is a throw pick, better go ashe (which before the 1 shot, she was a better hanzo really) or widow which im not even going to discuss about.
I personally rather have the changes right now instead of the pre 1 shot. I get that getting 1 shot sucks and OW2 removed most of those combos or primary attacks but I would say that getting headshots with hanzo consistently requires more skill than some ability combos back in the day.
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I can’t get over the slower draw speed, I’m just too used to the old one and my muscle memory keeps kicking in.
I guess I’ll end up adapting eventually but right now I don’t like how the hero feels to play.
Ofc hanzo is not going to perform well in comp. The nerfs (-25 hp, -0.075 projectile size, charge time) are not only extremely harsh, also messing with muscle memory.
Just compare to mei, who also got her old breaking point back a few patches ago. All mei lost was a little projectile size, while it is still bigger than pre season 9. Or you compare to widow, who is basically season 8 widow with bigger hitbox but longer charge time. Then look at how much nerf hanzo got. Current hanzo is just straightup worse season 8 hanzo besides storm arrow.
That being said, I’d rather just keep the current. As it will getting better with new muscle memory building up.
Yeah youre missing scatter and the rest of his identity
Interesting to see other takes on this, and I’m glad I’m not the only one who was having issues. I guess I’ll have to keep plugging away at him, but it’s kind of a tough sell right now. If I want to play precision long/mid range, Ashe is right there and, when I want to just spam projectiles down choke points and melt Tanks, Torb is better at it while also being tankier himself. I’d be really curious to see what Blizzard’s internal stats were after the change, but, looking at comments, I’m starting to understand why, even if those stats were as bad as I’m personally suspecting, they’re keeping him where he is right now.
unload 1 rapid fire into the enemy tank, and watch the dps nerf glitch without end to make sure it never happens again, they will just not register.
Unfortunately, Spamzo is the only playstyle that benefits from latest change. Slow charge, smaller arrows and reduced hp make aggressive plays rarely worth attempting. It is simply better to stand in the back and shoot at corners. Sooner or later you will get these one-shots or storm arrow freebies.
Same here.
I was good with him before his recent change, could actually accomplish things and get nice kills and contribute with a character I could never play before.
Now, it’ll look for all the world my arrow should go right into their skull but it does nothing, because it’s now the smallest projectile/bullet/whatever in the entire game. It’s minuscule, as small as a single pixel, and you need to be dead on 100% accurate with it with a character that has arc and travel time.
He’s trash now, I think only onetricks and people that are absolutely cracked on aim and hyped on energy drinks and spend hundreds of hours in aim trainers can do anything with him whatsoever now.
Hanzo is the worst he’s ever been. They didn’t just revert him to what he was before, they also gave him a longer charge time and his ult is worthless and unusable now.
He’s getting a buff, there’s no way he isn’t. Compared to how he was back in S8, he’s worse in every way whereas it’s the exact opposite for literally everyone else.
- Slower draw speed means longer periods of slower movement.
- A contradictory nerf to his health that was made so he could OHK himself before they buffed his damage. The other reason I say it’s contradictory is because of the reason they nerfed Widow’s HP way back several seasons to 175, which was her effective range. Hanzo operates best at close to med range, but thanks to low mobility and other things, close range is where he DOESN’T want to be.
- That damage revert still leaves him weaker proportionally speaking since he takes out less health than before. He used to do 5/8 of most HP bars, now it’s 1/2 so ANY amount of healing can force a third shot from a guy who is now firing 20% slower.
- A few months ago, his ult was “buffed”, but was ultimately a nerf.
- And now on top of being squishier, slower for longer and slower to fire, and being more restrictive to play, he now requires the same precision he did before S9.
People can have whatever opinion they want even if they’re logically wrong in one form or another as blizzard’s patch history can show in multiple cases, where’s Hanzo’s 50% arrow speed buff as compensation for losing:
- 10% of his hp
- 50% of his ult’s potential damage and area denial duration when they increased it’s travel speed by 50%
- 20% of his draw speed and with it, moving slower 20% longer
- And 50% of his arrow size
All since S9. I’ll take that 50% arrow speed buff or something comparable since he’s lost A LOT more than anyone else has through direct nerfs since OW2 launch. And these are just since S9.
I think they should revert arrow size. With Juno and stuff enemies are so fast so often, aiming tiny arrows is hard.