Lifeweaver has only been in Overwatch 2 for less than a month, but the plant-based support hero has already had some significant changes to how he is controlled and what he can do. Since the last update, I’ve had a much better time with the character, but Blizzard has more changes planned as it tries to figure out where the character should fit in its popular hero shooter.
In a new post on the Overwatch website, director Aaron Keller discussed how the team thinks about Lifeweaver going forward. Even though they’ve made some changes to his healing output, which is now one of the highest in the game, the team says that making his attacking the alternate fire, Thorn Volley, more accurate hasn’t changed his kill rate much. On the plus side, he has one of the lowest death rates of any support hero, so I’m glad you all took my advice and are staying away from the fight.
Keller says that the team is still trying to figure out what Lifeweaver is supposed to do in the game. I’ve been trying to do the same since he joined the group. Before Lifeweaver, Baptiste, and Brigitte were my go-to support characters, depending on the makeup of my team and the type of map. However, Lifeweaver feels like a very situational character that I primarily run because he’s new. I like him as a character, and his kit is fun, rather than because his utility feels objectively better than the other options.
His skills, like Petal Platform, which lets a player get to higher ground, and the controversial Life Grip, which pulls an ally to Lifeweaver’s position, are best used as a team. The problem is that most random players online don’t know or don’t care about how to make good plays, and it seems like most of them want to support players to act as heal bots instead of focusing on their other skills. My teammates and I don’t know how to work with Lifeweaver, so I can see why Blizzard wants to clarify his best job in Season 5.
Even when Lifeweaver first came out, I knew he would change a lot over time, just like Symmetra, whose moves have changed more than once since she first appeared at the start of the first Overwatch. I’ve already put more than a dozen hours into Lifeweaver, so whatever changes are made will make him the compelling support character everyone wants him to be. Support players in Overwatch 2 could use some wins.
