Blizzard has been giving fans small glimpses at what changes and upgrades they can expect with the arrival of Overwatch 2 in the future. Overwatch 2 promises to bring a lot of changes to the multiplayer hero shooter, including hero reworks, new maps, new game modes, UI improvements, and entirely new single-player modes. One of the biggest changes coming with Overwatch 2 is that it will be dropping its 6v6 format for a more condensed 5v5 that sees teams only having one tank accompanied by two healers and two DPS heroes.
This format change will see Overwatch 2 playing very differently from the game fans are accustomed to. This massive changed has led to Overwatch 2 reworking most of its tanks as well as some other heroes already having confirmed reworks like Bastion. However, there are still other heroes that will need to be reworked in Overwatch 2 if they are to be successful on the new battlefield. One of these heroes is Brigette, the flex healer whose release brought about Overwatch's infamous GOATs meta that lasted for months and an entire Overwatch League season.
What Brigitte is Like in Overwatch
In Overwatch, Brigitte is a flex healer that is preferred by players for her more tanky aspects as well as her area of effect healing abilities. Both make her an excellent secondary healer to pick that can focus on peeling for endangered teammates while also being able to buff up important team pushes with her ultimate. Interestingly, she one of only a few Overwatch characters with a melee primary attack, but she also has a shield that she can raise, a ranged attack that lets her push enemies away, and can give allies armor packs that can overheat for short periods of time. With her diverse and unique kit, Brigitte has built a dedicated fanbase within the Overwatch community, and for good reason.
Brigitte's history in Overwatch, however, has not always been smooth. As mentioned previously, her addition to the game led to the birth of the GOATs meta that saw teams favoring compositions of three tanks and three healers to better sustain their presence on an objective. The meta was met with mixed responses from the game's community but lasted quite a while despite Blizzard routinely offering nerfs of Brigitte and buffs of other characters to try and encourage other compositions. Eventually, Blizzard opted to introduce a role lock to Overwatch that forced teams to play with a composition of two heroes from each role in the game. Of course, the new composition in Overwatch 2 will further change the meta and the building of teams, which means that heroes like Brigitte will need to be reworked a bit to find a good home within it, especially after her nerfs over the game's lifespan.
How Brigitte Should Be Buffed in Overwatch 2
Healers in Overwatch 2 will have to play a little differently since they will only have one tank to focus on keeping alive. This will likely lead to a team's main healer pocketing the tank while the team's flex hero focuses on healing the DPS and main healer of the team while also worrying about peeling to maintain the team's positioning. A few buffs to Brigitte would make her excel superbly in Overwatch 2's new tank-heavy meta.
To make sure that Brigitte really has a place to shine within Overwatch 2's roster, the team could end up buffing the aspects that make her excel at sustaining short bursts of damage as well as peeling for her teammates. These changes could come in a variety of ways, but there are a few that would make sense with the other changes that have been announced so far. One possible change would be a slight buff to Brigitte's shield so that it could sustain more damage before breaking. This would allow her to not only perform better while rescuing endangered teammates but also would allow her to step up as a temporary tank if her team's tank should fall, which would be disastrous for most Overwatch 2 teams without Brigitte. Another buff that could be made to help Brigitte find her place is increasing the number of charges she has for giving armor to teammates. This would allow her to better cover her teammates, as well as letting her buff her team right before a push with her armor packs' overhealing.
What Brigitte Could Look Like in Overwatch 2
Obviously, these changes would all require a lot of tweaking and testing by the developers, especially depending on how the other heroes are updated to fit the meta. However, if Brigitte is updated to fit more of a peeling and tank-substitute role, playing her could be very fun in the sequel. If Brigitte is changed in that way, she would pair very well with team compositions that are focused on staying together. This would make her work well with heroes like Reinhardt, Orisa, or Sigma that are less mobile and keep the team together, especially with Overwatch 2's new weather and environmental effects that impact a team's play as well.
Brigitte will also likely pair well with strong main healers that can properly keep the team's tank alive all on their own like Mercy or Moira. She will also pair well with DPS heroes that stay close to the tank and the rest of the team. Heroes like Overwatch 2's reworked Bastion, Soldier 76, and Widowmaker will all likely pair well with Brigitte so that she can stay on top of covering them if their positioning gets compromised. However, she will also be able to cover flanking DPS heroes like Genji or Reaper thanks to the range of her armor packs allowing her to buff them right before they jump into the enemy team's composition.
It will be very interesting to see exactly how Brigitte ends up fitting into Overwatch 2's revised meta. There will surely be a lot more changes about the game revealed ahead of its release, but many of them make the sequel sound very exciting. Hopefully, the development team is able to rework the game's heroes in a way that allows Overwatch 2's new 5v5 PvP to be successful, but only time will tell how well it is received.
Overwatch 2 is currently in development for PC, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One.