The Overwatch 2 devs have confirmed that buffs are coming for Illari, but players are split on how to go about balancing the support hero.
Illari has been one of the more DPS-heavy supports since her release, providing decent damage for those who can consistently land headshots and simple healing due to her pylon, but she’s since been left in the dust as the meta evolved.
Earlier in January, Lead Hero Designer Alec Dawson revealed a series of “harsh” nerfs on the way for Mauga and in the replies, responded to a player asking for Illari buffs.
“Ok,” the Overwatch dev simply responded, sparking a discussion about how the team should adjust Illari in the mid-season patch.
Overwatch 2 players mixed on upcoming Illari buffs
Across social media and Reddit, players began to discuss the planned Illari buffs and how the OW2 devs should implement them.
In one popular thread, a user suggested increasing her damage range while nerfing her healing per second and buffing the length of her primary heal to compensate.
“I would rather she just have weaker heals with a longer range so she can switch between damage and healing at will like Ana and actually stay in a safer position,” they argued.
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Others shared different perspectives, believing that her range shouldn’t be increased as much and rather that her Healing Pylon be modified instead.
“Make it an inverted Torb turret, so the last person Illari heals is the main target of the turret,” one user remarked.
Illari’s unique weapon also remained a topic of concern with many feeling the support needs her primary fire to pack more of a punch.
“Illari’s weapon is pretty bad when you don’t have the giant hit box. Its DPS is lower than battle Mercy. Which is a very low bar. I think addressing the charge time or how many actions delay her charge is a good starting point,” someone else wrote.
An increase to Illari’s damage would also end up buffing her ultimate, Captive Sun, which requires enemies to take 90 damage to trigger the Sunstruck explosion. In any case, expect to learn more about the changes once the new patch drops later this week.
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