Overwatch 2’s Lifeweaver Hero to Get Significant Control Overhaul: Game Director Announces Changes

By Carlton Murphy Last updated Apr 19, 2023

After a difficult start, the Overwatch 2 development team has given some uninteresting facts about the planned control overhaul for Lifeweaver. Players have taken issue with several aspects of the support hero Lifeweaver, in addition to his low healing and a passive ability that can heal foes, making Lifeweaver’s introduction as Overwatch 2’s newest hero a bit underwhelming. Players have also criticized the hero for having a passive ability that can heal enemies.

Since his release, many players have complained about Lifeweaver’s “clunky controls,” and many of them have had to change their setup to make the character work better for them. In response to this issue, Game Director Aaron Keller said on April 18 that significant control adjustments were going to be made to Lifeweaver, and he detailed exactly what those adjustments would include.

Overwatch’s new control scheme, the Lifeweaver

Keller claims the new Lifeweaver controls will be rolled out in a patch released the following week. This patch will also feature some minor buffs and nerfs to the hero. The Game Director said that the secondary weapon, Thorn Valley, equipped by Lifeweaver, will now be linked to the alt-fire button. To make up for this, the speed you can switch between weapons without manually reloading will be reduced.

Lifeweaver controls update next week!

New controls:
• Alt fire will now fire Thorn Volley
• Platform replacing Dash on ability 1
• Platform also cancelable with the same button
• Dash moved to double jump
• Auto-reload of Thorns slowed to compensate (1/2)
— Aaron Keller (@aaronkellerOW) April 18, 2023

Additionally, Dash will be replaced by Petal Platform on Ability 1, and it will now be possible to abort the ability using the same button. Most intriguingly, Lifeweaver’s Dash will be transformed into a double jump, following in the footsteps of Hanzo’s lunge and receiving the same treatment.

Keller added that “this will become the new default, with options to use the old style,” noting that Lead Hero Designer Alec Dawson will be revealing balancing updates later in the week. “This will become the new default, with options to use the old style,” Keller said. Dawson explains that the adjustments to the game’s balance are “still being considered,” which suggests that the team does not want to make a decision too quickly. It is unclear at this time whether or not these additional controls will result in Blizzard delaying the introduction of Lifeweaver in ranked a little bit; however, Blizzard has yet to specify whether or not this will be the case.