Overwatch Evolution: The Heroes and Their Lost Abilities

As an online hero-shooter, Overwatch 2 continually undergoes adjustments aimed at refining gameplay balance and preventing specific heroes from overpowering others. Often, these balance tweaks involve fine-tuning existing hero abilities, but at times, they necessitate a complete overhaul, resulting in the removal of certain abilities. Across the evolution of Overwatch and Overwatch 2, various abilities have been retired, all in the pursuit of a more balanced gaming experience.

While Overwatch 2 provided an opportunity for several heroes to receive substantial reworks tailored to the game's new design, some heroes underwent transformation during the original Overwatch's lifespan. In the game's early days, there was a pressing need for these balance changes as the meta naturally evolved, allowing Blizzard to adapt to the ever-changing gameplay dynamics that emerged beyond pre-release testing. Even in the later stages of the game's life, it became apparent that certain abilities needed removal, leading to some abrupt and substantial hero alterations.

Here is a comprehensive list of the abilities that have been removed from Overwatch heroes:

• Bastion: Configuration: Sentry
• Bastion: Self-Repair
• Bastion: Configuration: Tank
• Cassidy: Flashbang
• Doomfist: Rising Uppercut
• Hanzo: Scatter Arrow
• Mercy: Resurrect (old)
• Orisa: Halt
• Orisa: Supercharger
• Orisa: Protective Barrier
• Reaper: Soul Orbs
• Symmetra: Photon Shield
• Symmetra: Photon Barrier (old)
• Symmetra: Teleporter (old)
• Symmetra: Shield Generator
• Torbjorn: Level 3 Turret
• Torbjorn: Armor Pack

Some of the most notable ability removals include Hanzo's Scatter Arrow and Mercy's original Ultimate version of her Resurrect ability. Scatter Arrow was a highly contentious ability that allowed Hanzo to unleash an arrow, shattering into six projectiles that ricocheted off surfaces, enabling him to inflict substantial damage to foes with minimal aiming required. Mercy's initial Ultimate allowed her to perform mass revives of teammates within her vicinity, but it has since been reworked into a regular ability, permitting the revival of only one teammate at a time.

Certain heroes, such as Bastion, Symmetra, Orisa and Torbjorn, have grappled with finding a suitable kit over the years, leading to significant changes. Torbjorn's former Ultimate was exceptionally potent, elevating his turret to Level 3 status, resulting in considerable damage output and necessitating a comprehensive turret rework. Bastion also underwent substantial rework in Overwatch 2, with his Ultimate, Self-Healing, and Configuration: Sentry abilities being replaced with a more streamlined and balanced set.

Symmetra stands out as a character that has undergone numerous changes, despite currently maintaining a relatively balanced status. In the early days of Overwatch, her ability to provide teammates with armor was significant, featuring abilities like Symmetra's Photon Shield, Shield Generator and Torbjorn's Armor Pack. All of these abilities were eventually phased out of the game. Her original Ultimate allowed Symmetra to establish a teleporter from the team's spawn to any location on the map, but it was substituted with a reworked Photon Barrier skill and demoted to a regular ability, with a significantly shorter range between entry and exit portals.

Although Overwatch 2's Orisa did not witness as many kit changes during Overwatch's lifespan, she underwent significant reworks in the transition to the sequel. Overwatch 2 reduced the number of barriers a team could employ by limiting the Tank role to one and removing Orisa's Protective Barrier ability. Additionally, her Halt ability was replaced by the new Energy Javelin, and her previous Ultimate, Supercharger, was exchanged for Terra Surge.