Tanks aren't getting "Gigabuffed"

General Discussion
1

I’m kind of getting annoyed at this narrative. I think people are going to see this patch drop and be surprised by how much of it doesn’t end up being noticed.

The armor changes end up cancelling out the headshot changes for a lot of tanks. Most heroes that do a lot of headshotting also have bigger bursts which now all but ignore armor. This means that a lot of heroes end up net neutral with the changes against armor tanks. There’s basically going to be two primary effects from this:
-Tanks who don’t rely on armor are going to be better than they were before at surviving sniper-type characters (and let’s be real, a lot of them actually really need help in this department).
-Tanks who DO rely on armor are going to be better at surviving machine guns / shotguns

The HP regen outside of combat is nice and will make them a smidge less reliant on out-of-combat healing, but also, people overestimate it like crazy.

And let’s not forget, the DPS passive being bumped back up to 20% represented a huge nerf to tanks, who are the primary victims of it. Let’s also not forget, most dps/supports got around a 20-25% boost in HP, while tanks only got a 12-15% boost in HP. Tanks also became the only role that DIDN’T have the support passive since it was effectively useless on them. Tanks were the huge losers of season 9.

And let’s not forget, of the 12 tanks in the game, 8 of them are going to see huge losses against armor on their weapons, while only 5 DPS are seeing big losses and 1 support. The armor changes mean a vast majority of DPS and Supports will be doing more damage to tanks. But they also mean a vast majority of tanks will be doing LESS damage to tanks. So the armor changes are really a lot bigger of a nerf than people realize.

In comparison to Season 9 where DPS got both the DPS passive and self-healing out of combat for the first time, this isn’t even close.

I genuinely think these are extremely clever changes. Reducing the armor nerfs tanks in most situations and buffs them against a few heroes who are frankly already problematic for tanks (Bastion, Tracer, Reaper, Sombra). In return, granting headshot resistance both makes tanks melt less fast PARTICULARLY at higher ranks (where tanks are really, really bad) and also helps non-armor tanks who’ve been suffering for a while already due to armor’s effect on incoming healing and ult charge.

I am absolutely ready to watch y’all eat your words about tanks being “unkillable monsters” as the patch drops and people realize that, in a lot of cases, this will make very little difference (and in some instances, you’ll actually be doing a lot more damage to armor tanks lol.)

17 Likes
2

Exactly

Tanking just isnt fun and it feels like everything i do, no matter how much i try in a game just a button press by support shuts me down. Especially ana, lifeweaver, kiriko, bap, and sometimes brig. a decent mercy is nigh impossible to deal with because of all that mobility, the leach passive, and my short range.

Theres the whole getting melted instantly almost like a one shot, the armor changes that they claim will stop tanks from getting melted instantly, but im skeptical

The dps passive that they are buffing again up to 20% along with tank melting characters getting buffs soon

The cc that they JUST. KEEP. ADDING. like does venture really need to push people around? We all know that its going to be spammed on big slower targets rather than faster smaller ones. How does that counter the hypermobile characters that people always make the excuse for cc needing to be in the game for?

The counterswapping. Good luck playing a character you like

Then theres the blame of “tank diff” no matter if your tank played well they are getting blamed

2 Likes
3

Call it “normalizing the role”.

4

Cc is still a problem but also it’s less a problem because a lot of tanks will be punished with less damage off of the cc.

This change nerfs a lot of tank v tank counterswap in the game except zarya vs dva assuming beams stay at a flat 30% reduced damage vs armor

Queen/Dva is worse against Winston, mauga is worse vs ram, mauga is worse vs most tanks actually. Because of the headshot change hog hooks will do a lot less damage for example doomfist, and ball because of the armor change. Even sigma now does more damage vs Winston and rein because of the armor change etc

5

Honestly, OW2 devs have been needing to give tanks one simple buff since the removal of the off-tank, and that’s simply MAJOR across the board defenses against ALL CC/status effects/boops. They dipped a tiny toe into providing some boop protection, but the removal of the second tank made the leftover one tank the most valuable target for the enemy team to dump CC into, and focus fire (even quickplay randos know how to do this).

With all the talk about how they were going to cut down CC, it’s still just as bad as it ever was, and the lack of a backup tank makes tank almost unbearable. I should be able to tank without fear of being slept, and nuked the moment I have the stones to peak from cover.

5 Likes
6

I get that the protections buffs will help, but I’ll reserve my judgment as to whether or not it solves the problem of tanks still being the most valuable target to dump your CC into. I wholly expect to still see people sharing instances of tanks getting melted the moment they leave cover.

7

How would you stop DVA and Doomfist then?

2 Likes
8

Maybe I should’ve elaborated what I meant by across the board protections. Simply a 50% (possibly not against tank CC, since tanks still should control other thanks equally) reduction across the board in effectiveness. You can still get slept (for example), but it lasts half as long, and possibly shouldn’t even do a full knockdown animation (cuz it’s honestly the knockdown/getup animation time that gets tanks killed). I think it’s worth experimenting with giving tanks more of a quick kneel, or dizzy animation for sleep.

3 Likes
9

No, Tanks receive a “gigabuff” on the 14th and this will be DPSWatch & TANKWatch, tanks are immortal gods and DPS are unstoppable killing machines, the two pampered roles.

10

I dont see how tank or dps are pampered. It is widely accepted amongst the community that dps was a useless role until s9 and tank has been getting progressively more miserable since s2.

Seems like unnecessary support victim mentality when its been nothing but supports controlling the game for most of ow2

3 Likes
11

Don’t get me wrong, these changes alone won’t make tank not the most valuable person to dump cc but think of it this way. Ana lands a sleep on ball and you have a Hanzo and a hog with you there. If you 321 headshot the ball the hog will do like 50% less damage than he currently does and the Hanzo gets a 25% damage nerf.

Tanks are also getting other buffs seemingly like queen getting a buffed shout and ball getting damage buffs and mine buffs so we’ll see but it lessens the absolute worst extremes

… In theory

12

The problem is that this patch, then, won’t do anything for tanks. Either tanks are getting gigabuffed and the role is actually endurable, or this patch makes very little difference and playing tank is just as depressing as it is now.

You’d of course be right, that people complaining about this are wrong, but the core issue would still be there. You have to gigabuff tanks. If it’s not happening this patch, it has to happen in a later patch.

13

The problem is that these changes don’t fix any problems.

5v5 has to go. Just accept it.

1 Like
14

Yes and no. It’s a pretty big buff against a lot of the heroes that do the most damage to tank, (bastion mauga for example) while also slightly nerfing hitscans that just melt the tank for example playing Cassidy it’s trivial to perma dink a queen and delete her hp in a couple shots

What this patch does is close the gap between tanks just completely exploding instantly while also making them slightly more vulnerable in general to others lesser sources of damage

That might sound like a waste of time but it should help make the ttk a tank more consistent, and thus make it easier to balance a tank. There are exceptions, but at the very least it’ll make it feel less like you turn the corner got headshot by widow and a sojourn and you just vanish

It helps mitigate tank busters. Like, the problem that’s been in the game for like a long time actually. 6 years? Probably longer?

1 Like
15

You’re not supposed to say that. You need to be a hyperbolic alarmist, flailing your arms about, screaming how the game’s going to be ruined.

16

They’re “redefining fun”, the same way they redefined the sequel lol

17

Lmao

EmberWing: “5v5 doesn’t work” as 5v5 continues to work and 6v6 doesn’t come back

18

I’m ready to watch them not eat their words and double down on the whole “gigabuffed tanks” thing regardless of anything that happens. Some people are only interested in having paper tanks for various reasons, despite the fact that tanks need to be tanks in order to get people to queue up for the role.

But yeah, good post.

3 Likes
19

Patch will be a net nerf to most tanks. I would say all tanks, but inevitably one or two of them will rise from the ashes as the least-nerfed for the new meta. Looking like Sigma for sure, and I’ll guess maybe Zarya as well.

20

If they’re balanced, you don’t need a button that says “you can’t play the game anymore”. Why should those two have specific counters any more than any other tank?

1 Like