Torbjorn's turrets being nerfed in Overwatch - but only on console

Can you cope rivet now?

News by Robert Purchese Associate Editor

Updated on June 27, 2016

Torbjorn's turrets are being significantly nerfed in Overwatch - but only on console (PlayStation 4, Xbox One).

In a Reddit comment, game director Jeff Kaplan said the damage Torbjorn's turrets do on console will be reduced by 30 per cent. This will happen mid-to-late July.

Wrote Kaplan: "In an upcoming patch, we will reduce the damage done by Torbjörn's turret by 30 per cent on Xbox One and PS4. PC will remain unchanged.

"ETA: mid-to-late July depending on first-party certification times."

Kaplan's comment was made in response to a post complaining about Torbjorn's effectiveness on console, where he dominates with a winrate of nearly 70 per cent (percentages taken from Master Overwatch PS4 and Xbox One hero tables). Besides Symmetra, who's winrate is more or less the same, all other heroes' winrates on console are 10 per cent lower or more.

On PC, meanwhile, Torbjorn has a lower winrate of ~60 per cent.

Why is Torbjorn stronger on console? For a combination of reasons. Aiming speed and precision are lower on a controller, versus a keyboard and mouse, so it's harder to get shots off on a turret before it automatically targets and fires at you. It's also rarer to see deliberate team coordination on console because people can't quickly type "Kill the bloody turret!" on their keyboards. They can of course say it using a microphone but people outside of groups rarely do.

Blizzard nerfing Torbjorn's turret damage on console but not on PC demonstrates the company's willingness to independently tweak the different versions of the game so they best suit their platform - something Blizzard has said it would do. Indeed, Torbjorn's and Symmetra's turrets were apparently already toned down for the game's console release (see the video below).

Overwatch's Competitive Play mode is expected to make its much-anticipated return tomorrow, which is exciting - not least because if you're very good at it you can earn yourself a golden Overwatch gun! We hopped onto the Public Test Realm to try out the overhauled Competitive Play mode for the video below.