Summary
After his launch earlier in December,Overwatch 2’s Samoan Tank Mauga gains some improvements as he heads into the Competitive scene. Mauga arrived inOverwatch 2as part of the game’s eighth season, which also brought the Battle of the Beasts limited-time mode and a Beast Hunter-themed battle pass. Mauga was also the first everOverwatchhero to become temporarily available for a trial weekend ahead of his official release, a practice which may become standard for future heroes.
While Mauga’s twin chainguns can be effective at range when firing only one of them, he’s at his most powerful when opponents get close. With his Cage Fight ultimate ability that traps foes in a large cylinder and gives him unlimited ammo to shred them up, Mauga can become a force to be reckoned with when played correctly. That said, theOverwatchteam still felt he needed some improvements to his own survivability, as well as to his chainguns. Last week,Overwatch’s Lead Hero Designer, Alec Dawson, confirmed that Mauga would be receiving buffs before going live inOverwatch 2’s Competitive Play, but didn’t elaborate on exact numbers.
Now,Overwatch 2has revealed its December 19 patch notes, which detail the exact buffs coming to Mauga as he enters Competitive Play. Addressing his survivability, theOverwatchteam removed 100 of Mauga’s base health, but converted it into armor, which takes longer for opponents to shred through. With this change, his overall health total remains the same, but he’ll be able to stay alive just a bit longer in a crisis. In terms ofMauga’s Incendiary and Volatile chainguns, it will now take only 10 shots from the Incendiary chaingun to ignite an opponent, down from its previous 15 shots. Additionally, the spread of solo chaingun fire sees a slight decrease, which will improve Mauga’s accuracy at range.
Mauga’s unique Berserker passive ability, where he gains temporary overhealth for critical damage dealt, has also seen a 10% boost to its conversion rate with this new update. Combined with the Incendiary ignition buff, Mauga players will now be able to build up overhealth a bit quicker before team fights unfold. The slightly tighter spread of his chainguns also helps in this regard. Before Mauga arrived, Orisa and Ramattra were the only twoTank heroes inOverwatch 2with legitimate long-range capabilities. It’s good to see Mauga’s effectiveness at range see reinforcement before he makes his Competitive debut.
It’ll be interesting to see how Mauga will affect the Competitive scene in the coming weeks and months with these new improvements. Time will tell whether any of his changes will need to be reversed in the future. For non-competitive players,Overwatch 2’s annual Winter Wonderland eventhas also gone live with all its modes, bringing with itOverwatch’s first ever event pass.
Incendiary and Volatile Chainguns
Overwatch 2
WHERE TO PLAY
Overwatch 2 is an always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl. Power up your railgun and disrupt the battlefield as Sojourn, or yield your axe and command attention as Junker Queen. Battle to take control of a robot and move it toward the enemy base in the new Push Mode. Bring the fight to new destinations across the globe in iconic locations like New York, Rome, Monte Carlo and Rio. Daily challenges and frequent updates mean there is always something new to play.
