Game:

Overwatch 2 (2023)

Duration: 4:04

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Overwatch: Does D.Va Need a Buff?

D.Va is widely considered to be the weakest tank in Overwatch. Most people blame the high damage falloff of her mech's weapons, and the size and central location of her headshot hitbox. This video first explains why this is an issue, and then looks at the gameplay implications and practicality of a few of the buffs to D.Va that have been proposed by the community.

Partial Transcript:

The Overwatch community has been clamoring for a buff to D.Va.

The main issue seems to be that, while she's meant to be similar to Winston-- a harassment tank with high mobility and durability at the expense of damage, D.Va is not that durable.

Yes, most of her health is made up of armor, which has damage mitigating properties, and yes, she has a very high HP total when counting both mech and pilot forms, but there is one big, glaring fault.

Her headshot hitbox.

On a normal humanoid character, additional headshot damage is a thing of beauty. It's an elegant way of injecting meaningful choice into a game. It's intuitive for players. Everyone has a head, and it hurts more when you get hit there.

The size and location of a humans head means that it is more difficult to hit, and increases the chance of missing altogether. This serves as a natural form of triangular choice between a high risk high reward option, and a low risk low reward option. What's more, the player must make this decision whenever they aim and shoot at an opponent, resulting in a major change to a game's dynamics.

And then we have D.Va's mech whose headshot hitbox is at center mass, which means there there is no dilemma. This is no meaningful choice. There is no risk and reward. It's always best to aim for center mass, and while it is true that D.Va can only receive a headshot from the front, she can't shoot you without looking at you, so you're safe either way.

This means that, despite her armour and high HP, D.Va is pretty vulnerable.

There have been a few solutions proposed by members of the Overwatch community, and I'd like to examine them.

Some people have suggested making D.Va's headshot hitbox smaller. This would improve her survivability somewhat, but the unfortunate positioning of the hitbox means that it would need a large change in order to have a small effect. This comes with the added usability cost of making D.Va's viewing window a less accurate visual indicator of the headshot area unless Blizzard decides to revamp D.Va's character design, which comes with additional art costs.

Another suggestion has been to move her headshot hitbox. The implication this would have on the gameplay depends on where it's moved. One common idea is to the back of her mech, similar to Bastion's power core in Sentry configuration. This option makes D.Va stronger in a direct firefight, and provides a reward to players who manage outmaneuver her. However, it makes her weaker when trying to escape, meaning that this would jeopardize her role as a flanking or harassment tank. Plus, it would also require visual changes that would put some added pressure on the art team, that is currently trying their hardest to make new skins for everyone to enjoy.

The idea of increasing D.Va's movement speed while firing has also been thrown around. In case you don't know, she currently has a huge 75% movement speed reduction when she's shooting. Changing this would not directly improve D.Va's durability, but it would make her better at following enemies that are trying to disengage, which would certainly help in her role as a disruption tank. Because of her high damage falloff, D.Va typically gambles on being able to close the distance to enemies without taking too much damage in the process. An increase to movement speed while firing helps with both closing the gap, and finishing off opponents caught at close range. It also should be said, that this would only require tuning a single variable, which is quite a lot easier than the two other options mentioned thus far.

Finally, there's always the option of just reducing the damage she takes from headshots. What this would do is make D.Va more durable and let her perform her function a bit better, despite the fact that she would continue to received headshots from people aiming for center mass. There is also some precedent for differing amounts of critical hit damage in Overwatch. For example, Bastion's sentry mode takes more damage then regular headshots.

Increasing D.Va's movement speed while attacking or reducing her headshot damage taken in mech form are the most practical solutions. They also fit her kit and keep her core gameplay the same. Some combination of these two is likely enough to improve D.Va, depending on the degree to which she needs to be a better killer, and the degree to which she needs to be more survivable.

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