Overwatch experimental updates are always interesting, as some wildly controversial changes have been seen inside these patches. However, it seems like the most intriguing aspect of the latest update is not the actual changes to Overwatch, but instead the bugs that came with them.
While an odd experimental bug tied to the popular Overwatch hero Lucio is making the rounds, as it sees the character killing teammates with his Crossfade ability, this rare glitch does not even come close to what is happening with Genji. For whatever reason, the beloved Cyborg Ninja is being given access to a permanent version of his Ultimate inside the experimental playlist — a bug that is just as overpowered as it sounds.
A clip of this bug in action shows Redditor Devek11 playing as Genji on the hybrid map Hollywood. The clip opens with the player wielding their Dragonblade, cutting down a Zarya in a way that one would expect. After the Ultimate ability goes away, the meter resets to 0% like it should. However, things take a turn after the player goes to throw their shuriken at a downed Reinhardt player. Instead of throwing the ninja stars at the slept enemy, the Genji player delivers a sword attack.
The moment seems to catch the player off guard, as they run into the last point of Hollywood to do more testing. Sure enough, the sword-using hero is seen with a permanently active Ultimate inside the clip, with only sword strikes being made available to the Genji fan. While this bug does instantly remove Genji’s ranged ability, that hardly matters, as the hero can still deflect shots and deliver a two-hit kill to most of the hero roster. Fortunately for Devek11’s opponents, the player avoids using this permanent Dragonblade against them — waiting patiently for the match timer to tick down instead.
Currently, there seems to be no known cause for this bug, as the player that suffered from it has no idea what triggered the issue. Overwatch fans viewing the clip seem split as well, though the consensus seems to be that the issue is tied to the experimental patch changes. Specifically, Redditor Mexicorn believes that the cause of the bug is tied to the game struggling to read Genji’s new “extended Ultimate duration on kill” mechanic, which sees Dragonblade lasting significantly longer if a Genji player can eliminate weaker targets first. No matter what the actual cause is, though, hopefully the issue is fixed soon, as something this broken could quickly ruin competitive matches of Overwatch.
With everything from a screaming Ana bug to Symmetra’s teleporter malfunctioning, there are clearly some hero-related issues that Blizzard will need to fix. As of now, though, players testing out the experimental changes should focus on taking out enemy Genjis as quickly as possible.
Overwatch is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.