Balance is one of the main goals of every competitive shooter game like Overwatch 2. However, achieving it is easier said than done for titles with a big cast of characters across different roles. The designers and developers want to create units that feel strong and fun to play without making them overpowered. After all, no one wants to be one-shot by a tank who can escape as quickly as they can kill. Unfortunately, that’s what’s happening to support and DPS players on the receiving end of Doomfist’s Rocket Punches at the moment.
Doomfist was originally an assassin-type character when he joined the roster in the first Overwatch. He could easily jump onto the opposing team’s backline, punch and kill a 150-HP support into the wall, and get away unscathed. This made him a menace to play against as a hero with little to no mobility. To the delight of many Zenyatta and Ana mains, his one-shotting capabilities were stifled when he was transferred to the Tank role in Overwatch 2, with lower damage on his Rocket Punch combo and the removal of his uppercut. However, the latest buffs to the character have made him even more difficult to pin down.
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Doomfist’s Survivability Buffs Make Him a Menace Dive Tank in Overwatch 2
Doomfist became a niche pick as a tank in Overwatch 2 because other dive tanks like Winston and D.Va are easier to use. Even the challenging playstyle of Wrecking Ball is preferred over Doom because Hammond’s Adaptive Shield, Roll, and Grappling Hook enable him to dive into the enemy team and get away unscathed.
With one less mobility ability since he transitioned into the Tank role, Doomfist just couldn’t compete with other dive tanks in Overwatch 2. However, he got incremental buffs in 2024 that improved his survivability and Rocket Punch angles, making him more viable.
- Survivability Buffs: Doomfist’s passive ability lets him gain temporary overhealth when damaging enemies. The health gained per enemy and the duration of the overhealth was improved during the midseason patch. This lets Doomfist survive longer as long as he hits his shots and abilities. The per-enemy HP was rolled back to its original value when Overwatch 2’s 6v6 experimentation patch arrived in December 2024, along with other nerfs to his Power Block and Seismic Slam. However, he retained the longer duration of his overhealth and even got a slight increase in his overall HP from 375 to 425. The devs also bumped his healing per second in the air during his ult from 75 to 90 and reduced its cost by 8%.
- Rocket Punch Angle Changes: Enemies slide against the wall and receive no extra damage when Doom Rocket Punches them at a certain angle. The maximum angle for this used to be 45 degrees, but it has since been increased to 55. This means that players have more room for error when doing their wall splats.
These buffs and changes let Doomfist survive longer during dives and have better chances of landing his slam, punch, and primary fire combo assassination on squishy targets.
Overwatch Classic Illustrates How Oppressive Doomfist Was
New players got a taste of how difficult Doomfist was to play against with the Overwatch Classic game mode. Doomfist mains no longer need to think about combining their primary fire after wall-splatting enemy supports, as they’ll just return to spawn. Plus, he can get in and out almost unscathed with his Rising Uppercut back. This is even more oppressive in lower ranks and quick play, as newer and more casual players don’t usually coordinate well enough to peel a good Doomfist off their backline. It just goes to show that even if Doom is kind of difficult to deal with right now, Overwatch 2 players still have it better than those in the previous game.
- Released
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October 4, 2022
- ESRB
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