Update April 20 2018: In a recent post on the Overwatch forums by Tom Powers, the community manager for the game. There were details left about changes to Genji and the Genji deflect Nerf updates.
The post was as follows:
Deflect
- Hitbox size has been reduced
Developer Comments: The hitbox on Genji’s Deflect was big enough that it would sometimes reflect projectiles that were pretty far away from him. We’ve tightened up the hitbox, which should solve this problem while still fully protecting him from projectiles that would hit him from the front.
The hitbox size has been reduced on the PTR meaning that these changes will likely be going to the live game very soon. Whether or not this is a massive Genji deflect nerf is yet to be seen, but we also haven’t seen any changes to the visual representation of the defect as of yet either. Could there be more to come for Genji in the future?
Original Genji Deflect Nerf story
In a recent post on the Overwatch forums Jeff Kaplan left a comment about a possible Genji deflect nerf coming soon. A player by the name of “Shadow” was asking about the possibility of changing the visual FX for Genji when he uses his deflect as it’s sometimes misleading as to how big the hitbox is when Genji uses that ability.
Jeff Kaplan responded to the comment on the forums by saying “We’re working on updating both the hitbox and the VFX for an update in May or June (rough ETA, could be longer, no h8 plz)”.
This may be a possible Genji deflect nerf depending on how much they change with that ability as it involves changes to the hitbox as well as the VFX. It’s possible the hitbox might be made smaller, although it’s not said by Jeff Kaplan that it won’t be larger either.
We will have to wait quite a few months to find out what is happening with Genji, but it’s interesting that they’re currently working on the hero.
I guess it also leaves us with some questions about whether or not there might be more adjustments to Genji, or if they’re just going to stick to doing a possible Genji deflect nerf by adjusting the hitbox or not nerfing at all the hitbox and just changing the VFX for the character.
Genji’s deflect ability is a vital part of the character, if you’re a Genji main you do rely on it quite a bit, both to stay alive in fights, but also to get kills. If there’s any Genji mains out there how do you feel about a possible Genji deflect nerf or any changes to that ability in the future for the game?
If you would like to read about more changes coming to Overwatch we also have some news on both the Mei and Reaper buff soon to come to the PTR and also news about the arrival of Brigitte in competitive play here.