Overwatch Patch 1.32 The Death Of GOATS

Overwatch patch 1.32. January 8th

The tombstone of GOATS comp

Blizzard just released the latest patch notes for Overwatch which kind of threw the current meta on its head.  I also strongly think that this will be the death of GOATS comp and throws Brigitte out the window! I just want to jump right in to it:

Armor

This is one big change and the most unspoken about nerf to the game right now. Just because it doesn’t seem like that big of a jump, going from -5 to -3. But putting this in the hands of heroes who have a medium damage and high rate of fire like Soldier 76. You will see a substantial difference in the strength that this nerf will have on tanks. I feel like they are trying to nerf the tank meta without the intention of buffing medium ranged heroes like McCree and Soldier.

Brigitte

When brig first came out, she was possibly the most broken hero that blizzard has ever made for overwatch. With countless nerfs to brig, I feel like this time they have officially nerfed her out of the higher SR games. Before, you could rally well before your next push, give your team armor, then walk in to the next fight and begin charging ult again. With this 30 second rule in play. You will have to use it during or right before you begin a solid attack. With this change to her and the change to the way that armor works. This might be the end of brig.

D.VA

D.VA has been one key to the GOATS comp for a while. With her defense matrix, she could use it to mitigate a lot of damage that is applied to her frontlines. She could catch an Anna grenade, Zarya’s graviton surge, and Junkrat spam. Now with this nerf to D.VA this will allow others to play in to the cooldown of her defense matrix. 1 second might not seem like a long time but in higher SR matches you can get the timing down relatively easy.

Reaper

This has got to be the biggest change in the patch notes. You might want to brush up on your Reaper skills because 50% life steal is insane. Now, Reaper can technically heal himself more than any healer could. The life steal change means that his max heals (if you land all of his pellet shots) is 70HP. Whereas before, he would heal a max of 42. Reaper shoots 2 shots per second. Which means Reaper can heal himself 140HP per second….that’s nuts. I know you won’t always be hitting all of your pellets on an enemy but if Reaper is shooting at a tank he would most likely be healing himself for 100HP per second. One thing to note, which I am just finding out for myself, mercy can damage boost a Reaper and the amount of life steal that Reaper gains increases as well. With the increase in life steal it would be a better idea to damage boost a Reaper dealing damage than to heal him, as a mercy.

In conclusion, this patch should be reviving Reaper in higher SR matches because the new change should allow Reaper to brawl almost as hard as a Rein. The new Armor game change will allow him to become an absolute nightmare to tanks. The new armor change will also probably bring back a lot of tracer players. I feel like Blizzard has wanted to change the mandatory GOATS comp idea for a while. Let me know if any of you guys have any other heroes you think will be revived in the comments down below