An Overwatch Torbjorn rework is set to drastically alter how the hero plays, with Overwatch creators Blizzard discussing the plans for the oft-maligned character and how he could potentially fit into the game’s meta in the near-future. With Torbjorn being all but completely useless in multiple situations, Blizzard has sought to improve the defensively-focused hero, giving him much more attacking potential.
Torbjorn is vastly underpowered compared to the rest of the Overwatch roster. Though his turrets can be a headache for the enemy team when he’s playing on defense, the fact that he has to stand around and hammer away at his turret make him a poor choice for those playing on attack. Fortunately, Blizzard is planning a Torbjorn rework that should fix some of the problems that players have with the character.
In an interview with VG247, Blizzard’s Geoff Goodman discussed how Torbjorn is currently a “troll pick” on attack or in a non-payload situation. With Torbjorn only becoming a powerful force after he’s unleashed his ultimate ability, Blizzard has been looking for ways to make him more of a threat in general. This has led to them running some internal tests with his turrets and coming up with some big changes to how the hero plays.
“Currently, in our internal build, he just tosses [the turret] out – not super far, almost like a Tracer Pulse Bomb distance,” Goodman told VG247. “So you can kind of throw it like that and it deploys itself automatically on level two. It takes a little time to do that but you don’t have to hammer it or anything.”
Goodman explained that this makes Torbjorn a much more effective attacking hero, as he can “run up, throw it in a flank spot and be immediately shooting again and not feel like you have to sit there hammering it.”
Blizzard is also looking at completely overhauling Torbjorn’s Molten Core ultimate, with it potentially being switched out for a brand new ability. Goodman added that Blizzard has currently decided to “move away [from Molten Core] entirely,” so it seems likely that Overwatch players will see a brand new Torbjorn ult introduced sooner rather than later.
Torbjorn won’t be the first Overwatch hero to receive a major overhaul. Previously, Mercy had her Resurrect ultimate ability switched out for Valkyrie, while Symmetra recently received a major rework that included changes to both her regular abilities and her ultimate. There’s no word yet on when Blizzard plans to introduce these changes, though PC players should expect to see them pop up in the PTR at some point.
