What you need to know
- Overwatch 2 developer Blizzard is giving Lifeweaver, the game’s new support hero coming in Season 4, a major buff to his healing.
- Specifically, Lifeweaver will be able to fully charge his Healing Blossom in just 1 second instead of 1.2 seconds, raising his maximum healing-per-second considerably.
- This buff is likely coming due to strong feedback that Lifeweaver’s healing felt too weak and slow in early access preview builds.
- When Lifeweaver launches alongside Season 4 on April 11, this buff will be included in the patch.
Overwatch 2’s new support hero Lifeweaver hasn’t been added to the live game yet, but developer Blizzard has already announced that he’s getting a big buff once he becomes available at the start of Season 4.
In a post on Twitter, Game Director Aaron Keller has confirmed that on April 11 — the launch day for both Lifeweaver and Overwatch 2 Season 4 — a tweak is being made that will reduce the charge time of Lifeweaver’s Healing Blossom from 1.2 to 1.0 seconds. This will allow players to prepare fully charged blossoms that heal 65 HP considerably quicker.
While this buff might not seem significant, it’s important to note that even small adjustments like this one can (and often do) have a huge impact in lightning-fast shooter games like Overwatch 2. Getting a full 65 HP chunk of healing out 200 milliseconds faster will help Lifeweaver players save critically injured allies that might have died otherwise, and overall, the character’s healing will now be more in-line with other support heroes when he arrives.
Lifeweaver healing buff coming day 1 of Season 4. Charge time for his primary heal will be reduced from 1.2 to 1.0 seconds.April 7, 2023
Blizzard doesn’t typically make balance adjustments to new heroes before they’re released, but I’m not surprised that the studio did in this case. A very common piece of feedback that both media outlets and Overwatch 2 content creators gave while trying Lifeweaver out was that his healing was too slow, and after playing him myself in a preview build, I came to the same conclusion. With this buff, though, he’ll be able to put out chunks of 65 HP of healing every second, which is 10 HP better than the 55 HP/second healing of Mercy’s Caduceus Staff.
As for Lifeweaver’s overall place in the Overwatch 2 metagame, we won’t know anything concrete until the character is publicly available and the community tests him out across all the different levels of casual and competitive play. In my experience, though, both Petal Platform and the Tree of Life Ultimate can be used for playmaking in very effective and creative ways. The controversial Life Grip ability has the potential to hurt more than help, though, and the hero’s large hitbox makes him a pretty easy target for damage characters.
Overwatch 2 is one of the best Xbox games on the market for fans of multiplayer shooters, and it’s available now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4. Season 4 is scheduled to go live on April 11, 2023, at which point both Lifeweaver and the new season’s Battle Pass will become available. If you’re a new player and want a head start on progression, consider getting the Ultimate Battle Pass Bundle once Season 4 comes out. It will include Premium Battle Pass access, 20 instant Battle Pass levels, 2,000 Overwatch coins, and several Starwatch skins.
