Overwatch 2 is making it easier to counter aerial heroes, but there’s a catch

Overwatch 2 players will soon have a way to make dealing with airborne heroes way easier, but just not in the way they may have liked.

Ever since the original Overwatch, players have had extreme difficulty countering heroes with aerial-based kits such asPharah, Mercy, and Echo.

freja shooting reinhardt in overwatch 2

For years, players on the ranked ladder, especially on console, would dominate the competition by running Pharah and Mercy together, completely disseminating opponents with damage-boosted rockets.

The game’s latest hero,Freja, while not as aerial-focused as some others, is still a major threat as her kit makes use of an ability called Updraft which launches her forward.

ow freja

Well, the devs are finally adding a new way to deal with heroes like Freja. There’s just one problem.

Overwatch takes action against aerial heroes… in Stadium

In a May 30blog post, the devs referenced Freja’s dominance since her debut and how they smacked her with a hotfixnerfthe day prior byincreasing her mobility cooldowns.

“Our team is paying close attention to how Heroes are performing within Stadium and planning measured changes to make a more even playing field. Our newest addition, Freja, made quite an entrance,” the developers admitted.

Freja in Overwatch 2

“We understand she can be frustrating to play against, so a new anti-air Item will be added in Season 17,” they confirmed.

The addition of an anti-air item is something that could have benefitted the base game years ago, but was never implemented.

Overwatch 2 characters running

Throughout Season 16, the devs have madefrequent changes to Stadiumthrough a series of patches, showing just how important the mode is to OW2 at the moment and this new item is just the latest example.

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It’s not clear yet exactly what the new item will do, but it is clear the devs don’t want certain heroes to be a major problem in Stadium and dominate the meta, especially considering that mode doesn’t havehero bans.