We all know it by now: GOATs comp is an overpowered plague upon Overwatch that ruins any sense of diversity or fun at the upper tiers of play. Already, we’ve seen 90% GOATs run in OWL week 1, and that doesn’t make for interesting or entertaining viewing in the slightest. It’s evident Blizzard is aware of the issue and has been fumbling blindly for a solution (e.g. multiple Brig nerfs, Reaper buff, armor tweaks, etc.), but the heart of the matter is that nothing they’ve done has yet addressed the two core issues of GOATs comp, those being:
- Tanks do far too much damage, particularly Zarya and D.Va
- Excessive auto-pilot AOE healing renders everything virtually unkillable when paired with armor and multiple barriers.
That said, what I’m proposing is varying levels of reworks for four out of the six core heroes that allow GOATs comp to function the way it does. These changes aim to rein in the aspects of GOATs that are too powerful while simultaneously providing buffs in other areas so as to allow these heroes to remain viable picks in their own right.
Zarya
Particle Cannon:
- Primary fire damage decreased to 45 - 140/s (was 95 - 190/s)
Particle Barrier / Projected Barrier
- Damage absorption increased to 400 (was 200)
- Duration increased to 3s (was 2s)
- Gains 1 Energy per 10 damage inflicted (previously 5 damage)
Commentary: In her current state, Zarya is extremely powerful in chaotic, close-quarters battles where it’s difficult to keep track of her barriers, as she can gain energy very quickly in these situations and then immediately go on a powerful offensive with her massive damage output. These changes are designed to rein in her offensive power while greatly enhancing her defensive capabilities, allowing her barriers to absorb twice as much damage for a longer amount of time.
D.Va
New Ability: Extended Barrier (replaces Micro Missiles)
- The sides of D.Va’s mech temporarily project a 1000 HP barrier 5 meters in either direction (both sides share the same HP pool)
- Duration: 4s, or until barrier is destroyed
- Cooldown: 8s
Commentary: Micro Missiles was originally conceived as a means of giving D.Va some offensive capability while Defense Matrix was active, in order to compensate for the latter’s greatly reduced uptime. However, in higher levels of play, where use of Defense Matrix is much more sporadic and tactical, this ended up giving D.Va an offensive strength rivaling several heroes in the damage category with virtually no drawback. This new ability instead provides D.Va with an additional means of protecting her allies, providing her with more defensive utility than ever before without compromising her mobility or standard damage output.
Brigitte
Inspire
- Grants 15% damage resistance instead of healing
Rally
- Provides an additional 15% damage resistance to allies within its effect radius (in addition to current bonus armor)
Commentary: While manageable on its own, Inspire has proven to be problematic when stacked with other area-of-effect healing abilities, to the point where the sum total healing can easily outpace most damage sources at times. By changing the effect of Inspire to grant damage resistance instead of healing, it ensures that Brigitte’s allies are still tougher to take down while it’s active, but the advantage no longer feels insurmountable if other healing sources are active at the same time.
Lucio
New Utlimate: Reverse Amp
- Exists alongside Sound Barrier: press Ultimate key to toggle between Ultimates, then activate with primary fire or cancel with secondary fire
- Increases radius of song effect to 20m while active
- In addition to standard effects for allies, songs have the following negative effects on enemies:
– Speed Song: Reduces movement speed by 30%
– Healing Song: Reduces healing by 50% - Amp it Up has no effect on enemy debuffs
- Duration: 8s
Commentary: By granting Lucio this secondary Ultimate carried over from Heroes of the Storm (albeit with some adjustments), he now gives teams the ability to counter enemy team compositions that are highly reliant on mobility or concentrated healing, while still allowing teams to utilize the defensive capability of Sound Barrier instead if desired.
And that concludes my series of proposed reworks that, if implemented correctly, should put an end to GOATs comp once and for all without compromising the individual integrity of its constituent heroes. Let me know your thoughts: where you think they might be too powerful / not powerful enough, or any aspects of GOATs not addressed by these changes that you think would still allow it to remain the dominant team setup.