After almost a year of waiting, details of the Overwatch 2 Roadhog rework have finally been revealed. The changes will reportedly go into effect across all modes when they launch on November 14, 2023.
Alec Dawson, lead hero designer on Overwatch 2, shared details during a Q and A livestream centred around the Roadhog rework. During this stream, several new abilities and changes were revealed, and have been compiled below with help from @OWCavalry.
Roadhog's new Pig Pen ability has players talking. It's a proximity trap that slows and damages nearby enemies before cooling down for 12 seconds, with effects that linger for three seconds. The trap deals 60 damage when triggered and a further 30 damage per second to any enemies that remain in the area. Dawson later took to Twitter, clarifying that the Pig Pen ability cannot be absorbed by D.Va's defence matrix or deflected by Genji.
Roadhog's scrap gun also saw an extensive rework, with the secondary fire totally removed. A reduced number of shotgun pellets are fired, with four large projectiles included in the centre of each shot. These larger projectiles deal 15 damage each, while total damage per shot increases from 150 to 160 and shotgun pellet damage increasing from 6 to 6.25. Headshots' damage multiplier is also reduced from 2x to 1.5x.
Self healing is now activated by holding the secondary fire button, with its cooldown lowered to just one second. A new system of 'charges' will deplete while healing, eventually regenerating when the ability isn't being used. The healing it gives is determined by how many charges are available - at full charge, Roadhog can heal 450 health over three seconds, but his damage resistance when healing has been reduced from 50% to 30%.
We'll have to wait and see how these changes impact the game's hero tier lists, but will be sure to update our guides accordingly. There's a good chance that a critical bug or two will see Roadhog (or preferably Hanzo) removed from the game after the changes go into effect, so Roadhog players should jump back into the game ASAP to get familiar with the new loadout.