An Overwatch 2 balance developer has taken to a Reddit AMA and talked about the power of Ana’s anti-healing grenade, saying it feels powerful because the game has too much healing.
In Overwatch 2, Ana has been a big talking point in recent months. She’s one of, if not the most-played hero in the game. People seem to love how she plays and her overall kit. She’s a very active healer and a lot of fun to learn and master. While other supports find it easier to get more raw healing, she brings a lot of utility to the table.
Her ultimate can be used pro-actively to combo with an ultimate, or reactively to save a character about to die. However, arguably her most oppressive ability is her Biotic Grenade. It boosts healing on your players, and stops the enemy from being able to be healed at all. In a world with just one tank, it’s a devastating ability.
It’s been a topic of debate recently, especially as Mauga and the recently reworked Roadhog are weak to it. Now the Overwatch 2 balance team has given their perspective.
A healing nerf could help Biotic Grenade feel less powerful
As part of a Reddit AMA with the hero and balancing team, Blizzard’s Lead Balance Designer Josh Noh answered a question about Biotic Grenade and the power of Anti-Heal.
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He said: “Anti-Heal is a useful mechanic for the overall health of the game as it helps to ensure that healing never gets too far out of control. The complaints around it feeling oppressive are understandable (as debuffs are never something players enjoy being affected by) and we’ll be looking for ways to soften its impact while keeping Ana a viable hero.”
Ana’s Biotic Grenade has seen some nerfs recently, but it seems more are on the horizon. Noh continued: “The simplest solution here is just decreasing the duration of the effect though there is certainly a point where it swings from feeling OP to not useful enough if the time is too low to really capitalize on.”
However, the broader solution seems to be that healing will see further hits across the board. Noh says Anti-Heals power is directly tied to how strong healing is in general. “The reaction around it does also suggest that healing is probably too impactful overall so we’ll be looking to address that in the near future as well, whether that is handled in the case of individual heroes like Roadhog Take a Breather or more systemically.”
Certain Support characters took a pretty big hit recently, and it seems those whacks are set to keep coming. It does seem like a good idea to de-escalate healing and in turn, some damage from the game. It’s easy to see how power-creep has affected Overwatch 2’s balance, so number reductions might be a good idea.
