What you need to know
- One of the Overwatch 2 community's main criticisms of Season 4's new hero, Lifeweaver, is that he's awkward to play.
- The reason why this is the case is because Lifeweaver players have to manually switch between two different weapons for healing and damage constantly.
- Overwatch 2 Game Director Aaron Keller has confirmed that Blizzard is "looking into alternative control methods" for Lifeweaver's abilities that will hopefully make switching between healing and damage smoother.
- Fans have suggested reworking Lifeweaver's Rejuvenating Dash to be more of a double jump like Hanzo's Lunge, which would then allow Petal Platform to be swapped to its original input. Lifeweaver's Thorn Volley attacks could then be made an alternate fire like Moira's Biotic Grasp.
Overwatch 2's new support hero, Lifeweaver, can be incredibly powerful in the right hands thanks to the high playmaking potential his abilities have. However, now that Season 4 has begun and the community has its hands on him, many players have criticized how clunky the character feels to play.
The reason why Lifeweaver is awkward to control compared to other Overwatch 2 heroes is because you have to manually switch between his two separate "weapons" — Healing Blossom and Thorn Volley — to heal allies and damage enemies, respectively. This wouldn't a problem if Lifeweaver was like Mercy and Torbjorn and only needed to use his secondary on rare occasions, but playing the hero effectively demands a healthy balance of both healing and dishing out damage. And compared to other supports like Baptiste and Moira that can easily transition between healing and damage with an alternate fire, Lifeweaver's dual weapon mechanic is pretty inconvenient.
Some fans have suggested reworking Lifeweaver's Rejuvenating Dash to make it controllable with the jump input like Hanzo's Lunge, swapping Petal Platform with its original ability input and making Lifeweaver's weapon swap an alternate fire input like Moira's Biotic Grasp. It sounds like Blizzard may do this, as in a new Tweet, Overwatch 2 Game Director Aaron Keller said that the developers are "looking into alternative control methods for Lifeweaver's dash and weapon swap in order to make the transition from healing to damage smoother."
The team is looking into alternative control methods for Lifeweaver's dash and weapon swap in order to make the transition from healing to damage smoother. Additional details and timing coming soon.April 12, 2023
We won't know how specifically Blizzard plans to make playing Lifeweaver more intuitive until the studio shares more information, but thankfully, those details are coming soon. Keller also confirmed that a heads up about when Lifeweaver's controls rework is coming will be communicated, too (hopefully it comes during Overwatch 2 Season 4).
If you're interested in trying out the aforementioned suggested changes for the controls, Reddit user u/SammyIsSeiso shared an Overwatch 2 Workshop code for a playable mockup on r/CompetitiveOverwatch. So far, the community's response to it has been extremely positive, with many in the post's replies begging Blizzard to implement the changes officially. Regardless of what the developers decide on, though, we can only hope that the reworked controls are smoother than the ones we have now.
Overwatch 2 is one of the best Xbox games on the market for fans of multiplayer shooters, and it's available now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4. Season 4 is live, too, bringing both Lifeweaver and its new Battle Pass to players. If you're a new player and want a head start on progression, consider getting the updated Ultimate Battle Pass Bundle. It includes Premium Battle Pass access, 20 instant Battle Pass levels, 2,000 Overwatch coins, and several Starwatch skins.
