Junkrat will be reworked on the next Overwatch PTR

Overwatch's Junkrat doesn't get much love these days. His grenades and mines can be powerful when they land, but their imprecise nature—combined with Junkrat's limited means of mobility—means the hero sees little play in higher-skill and professional tiers. 

Overwatch principal designer Geoff Goodman took to the game's official forums today to share a bit of info about an impending rework to the Australian demolitions expert. Replying to a post saying Junkrat's Concussion Mine damage should be reduced in exchange for a lower cooldown, Goodman said the suggestion was "pretty close to what we're trying with him, and what will likely be on the PTR when it comes back up."

"Currently on our internal builds, Junkrat has 2 charges of his Concussion Mine," Goodman said. "This allows you  to do all kinds of cool stuff like launch yourself into a fight and still have a charge to escape with, or launch yourself up into a Pharah and still have a charge to try and kill her with."

It was already possible to double-jump with Junkrat's Concussion Mine, but it required placing a Mine and then waiting for the eight-second cooldown before launching into the air. "That is still possible, which allows for a triple jump now if you want/need that, but now it is a lot more reliable to do with 2" Goodman said, "It has been a ton of fun to play with so far."

Goodman also said the team is looking at making Junkrat's ultimate ability a bit better, possibly with either a movement speed or health increase on the tire. "We wouldn't do both things," he said, "but in either case it should be more reliable to use in more situations."

There's no timeline yet on when the next Overwatch PTR will activate, but with the most recent test server drawing to a close (in preparation for Doomfist's arrival on the live servers tomorrow), it's possible we could see it as early as next week.

Bo Moore

As the former head of PC Gamer's hardware coverage, Bo was in charge of helping readers better understand and use PC hardware. He also headed up the buying guides, picking the best peripherals and components to spend your hard-earned money on. He can usually be found playing Overwatch, Apex Legends, or more likely, with his cats. He is now IGN's resident tech editor and PC hardware expert. 

Latest in FPS
Fragpunk FPS
Fragpunk review
Battlefield 1
The best Battlefield game of the last decade is 95% off until Thursday
Grab the brilliant Doom 2016 for its lowest price ever
Rainbow Six Siege year 9 season 2 key art - two Rainbow Six Siege operators facing each other
'Siege 2 was never on the table': Rainbow Six Siege X director explains why the 10-year-old FPS doesn't need a sequel
rainbow six siege sledge
After holding out for 10 years, Rainbow Six Siege is finally going free-to-play (kind of)
rainbow six siege x dual front mode
Rainbow Six Siege is getting its first permanent mode in 10 years, and it throws every Siege rule out the window
Latest in News
Man facing camera
The Day Before studio reportedly sues Russian website for calling infamous disaster-game a 'scam'
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch
Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers
Sony, which is making a Helldivers 2 movie, is also making a new Starship Troopers movie, but it's not based on the Starship Troopers movie we already have
Assassin's Creed meets PUBG
Ubisoft is reportedly talking to Tencent about creating a new business entity to manage Assassin's Creed and other big games
Resident Evil Village - Lady Dimitrescu
'It really truly changed my life in every possible way': Lady Dimitrescu actor says her Resident Evil Village role was just as transformative for her as it was for roughly half the internet in 2021
Storm trooper hero
Another live service shooter is getting shut down, this time before it even launched on Steam