Overwatch 2 Roadhog Rework: What's Changed?

Intrigue about the upcoming Roadhog rework has reeled players in, hook, line, and sinker! Finally, more details about said rework are available as Roadhog is the next hero on Blizzard's reworking scheme in Overwatch 2 after Sombra's success earlier in Season 7. 

As revealed on November 13, Roadhog's rework includes a brand-new ability called Pig Pen, alongside tweaks to his existing abilities Take a Breather and Scrap Gun, the former now using a resource meter. His Chain Hook and Whole Hog ultimate remain virtually the same. 

All these changes will hopefully combat the complaints that the old Roadhog hook wombo-combo was unfair to play against. The new Overwatch 2 Roadhog rework will be live on November 14, alongside other general bug fixes in a patch notes update. Keep reading to find out more!

Overwatch 2 Roadhog Rework: Release Date

Although the new changes were only announced yesterday on social media, the Overwatch 2 Roadhog rework will be going live today, November 14. Take a look below to see the exact times for each region. 

• 10 AM PT
• 6 PM BST
• 7 PM CET
• 2 PM ET

As the new patch notes and Roadhog's rework become live, Overwatch 2 game queues will be disabled to allow the changes to take effect. Players will have to install the new updates from the Battle.net launcher.

Overwatch 2 Roadhog Rework: All Abilities

On social media, Blizzard recently unveiled their plans for the Roadhog rework, including his new ability, a trap that slows and damages enemies that walk into it. Unlike Junkrat's Steel Trap ability, these enemies aren't stuck to one spot and can still move. 

Take a look at the Developer Comments from the Blizzard forums about the Roadhog rework: "The overarching goal of the Roadhog rework was to improve his frontline presence on the battlefield as a Tank hero and reduce the frustration enemy players had with how consistently deadly his hook-combo has been in the past.

Roadhog’s previous Scrap Gun primary and secondary fire has been reworked into one primary-fire shot. It is still most effective at close range but now also deals more reliable damage from further away.

His Take a Breather ability is now resource-based with a new resource meter, being changed to Secondary Fire for a more convenient control scheme. Take a Breather can be used more frequently but will need to recharge its resources over time, increasing its flexibility as a tanking tool and making it not as easy to counter.

Roadhog now has a new ability called Pig Pen, a deployable trap that activates when enemies are nearby, dealing damage and slowing them. This CC enables Roadhog to have control over a wider area and, with a little bit of pre-planning, can be used to either help protect his allies or further enhance the effectiveness of his hook combo."

Scrap Gun

• Previous Secondary Fire functionality removed.
• Instead, Primary Fire shoots a shrapnel volley of 4 large projectiles in the center of the shot.
• Total damage per shot increased from 150 to 160.
• Shotgun pellet count was reduced from 25 to 16.
• Shotgun pellet damage increased from 6 to 6.25.
• Each shrapnel projectile deals 15 damage.
• Critical damage multiplier reduced from 2x to 1.5x.

Take a Breather 

• Now activated by holding Secondary Fire.
• A new resource meter has been added. This meter depletes while Take a Breather is active and recharges when not in use, similar to Moira's Biotic Grasp. Take a Breather requires 12 seconds to reach full charge from empty.
• The cooldown for each use has been decreased from 8 seconds to 1 second.
• Take a Breather can heal up to 450 health over 3 seconds at full charge with the resource meter
• Take a Breather no longer amplifies healing received upon ending.
• Take a Breather will remain active while its assigned hotkey is pressed.
• Damage reduction decreased from 50% to 30% while using Take a Breather.
• An option to “Toggle Take a Breather” has been added under "Options > Controls > Roadhog."

Pig Pen

• Pig Pen is a new ability assigned to "Ability 2" by default.
• Launches a trap ability that slows and damages nearby enemies.
• Inflicts a 40% movement speed slowing impairment.
• It deals 60 damage when triggered and 30 damage per second in an area.
• 3-second duration once activated.
• Cooldown is 12 seconds.

Overwatch 2 November 14 Patch Notes

The long-awaited Roadhog rework won't be the only thing going live on November 14! There are also some minor quality-of-life bug fixes for Zarya, Sombra, and Lifeweaver, and general updates to ensure a smooth Overwatch 2 gameplay experience. 

Lifeweaver

• Fixed a bug that caused Life Grip to cleanse Orb of Discord from its target.
• Fixed a bug where players that hopped off Petal Platform before fully raised would become immune to Sombra's Ultimate, EMP.

Sombra

• Fixed an interaction that resulted in Sombra getting pinned by a charging Reinhardt instead of teleporting to the thrown translocator.
• Fixed a bug where Hack wouldn't work as intended when enabled as a Toggle key.
• Fixed a bug that resulted in Invisibility failing to recast after exiting combat.
• Fixed an issue where Discord Cooldown UI was displaying on an invisible Sombra in some cases.

Zarya

• Fixed an issue that could result in Zarya’s Projected Barrier failing to deploy.

General Fixes

• Resolved loading issues that were occurring in the Shop.
• Fixed an issue with Rumble on some abilities activating for all players in the match.

Final Thoughts

That's everything we know about the rework for Tank hero, Roadhog, and his brand-new ability, Pig Pen. Make sure you hop into Overwatch 2 on November 14 to test him for yourself. GL HF in your future games!

Want more Overwatch 2 content? Check out our articles on the best crosshairs, the ranking system, unlocking all heroes, rarest skins, playing cross-platform, and the system requirements to play.