Roadhog is Finally About to Hook off in Overwatch

More tweaks coming to the popular online shooter

Roadhog

Heads up Heroes, more tweaks are coming to Overwatch and they are reportedly due any time now.

The focus of the update? The rotund, masked tank, Roadhog. The reason for this has come from feedback the team at Blizzard have received over quite a period of time about his ‘hook ‘n’ pull’ attack. The attack allows players to hook enemies, stopping them in their tracks and pulling them directly towards Roadhog, lining them up for a full on assault from the formidable tank. Players have criticized this attack as being overpowered and have requested it be tweaked as many have reported unfair advantages from the attack. This includes being hooked through walls, being knocked off the map and being owned, unfairly (not just because they suck).

You can watch this video giving you some more detail from Force Gaming about how the tweaks will affect the game:
Gamesradar have reported on this news in which Geoff Goodman, principal designer on Overwatch, details the three major tweaks that will alter his offensive ability:

“The hook victim will now move into the position directly in front of Roadhog, rather than just a straight line towards him”.

So when you hook an enemy when playing Roadhog they’ll appear directly in front of you, this is to make it fairer on Roadhog players who have reported that enemies can get positioned to the side of Roadhog, making it possible for them to escape, muting the effectiveness of the hook.

There will also be a “cap on how far ‘to the side’ you can be pulled, so you can’t just hook someone, spin 180, and dump someone off a cliff”.

Additionally, there will be a “line-of-sight check” when it comes to seeing if a hook connects with its target. This means that Roadhog will only be able to hook players he can see. This is a much-needed fix, as in the past the portly renegade could grab characters through walls, which caused quite a bit of fuss. Goodman expands on this “if this check fails, the hook breaks off and returns to Roadhog. This means if you get hooked and move out of LOS [line-of-sight] quickly (either you dashed, were falling, were pushed, etc), the hook will now break early and not pull the target”. This sounds great as Roadhog seemed to be able to interrupt any quick maneuveurs that some characters may use to try and get out of Roadhog’s way.

Goodman has stated that these changes to Roadhog will be imminent, coming as soon as possible, maybe even this week. I would argue that one of the key draws to Overwatch is how in how well-balanced it is and these tweaks certainly continue to improve the formula.

Are you glad to hear about these changes or are you annoyed that your main is getting nerfed? Let us know in the comments below or on the RGM Forums.