Not even a year after Mauga’s explosive release, the Overwatch 2 balance team is already investing how to make major “tweaks” to the tank’s abilities and role.
Mauga, the hero who infamously created the mirrored tank meta upon his release, has been a constant subject of discourse in Overwatch 2—and while fans have been publicly discussing the controversial character, Blizzard’s devs have been looking at him behind the scenes. Today, lead gameplay designer Alec Dawson unveiled those plans while speaking on Twitch, sharing plans to shift this bombastic warrior into a dive tank.
When specifically asked about Mauga’s current placement in OW2‘s meta, Dawson stated the tank is, “Average, slash slightly below average.” He also noted the hero is best used with a coordinated team playing to his strengths, like in competitive.
Dawson did mention the dev team already nerfed aspects of his kit, but they’re still “looking at some things longer term for Mauga” and “there may be tweaking along the way.” Judging by Dawson’s statements, the dev team seems interested in transforming Mauga into a dive tank like Doomfist who specializes in taking out squishy heroes quickly.
Currently, Mauga’s incendiary chaingun can ignite enemies after 10 shots, granting him extra health and guaranteed critical hits. This ignition is commonly used against tanks, as their larger hitboxes make it easier to consistently light enemies on fire. Dawson said the team aims to make it more “rewarding” for Mauga to ignite and dive squishier heroes; they’ve already toyed with the idea of using fewer shots to burn heroes who have smaller health pools.
Mauga’s most problematic ability is Cardiac Overdrive, which creates a zone around him that heals himself and other players whenever they deal damage. While this ability has already gone through many experiments, Dawson did say there could be “some bigger steps we can take” to curb Mauga’s overall sustain, but he does not explain further.
These changes come after Season 11 tank buffs were announced, which aim to improve the tank survivability. It is unclear when (or if) these “tweaks” will come to OW2, but it’s clear Blizzard doesn’t want another Mauga-heavy metagame.
