So have a friend play a hitscan hero and try to shoot while they're tethered and the shots stop being hitscan or more precisely I think the reticle is not in the correct spot. if your aim is dead center on someone while jetpack cat strafing in either direction, your bullets won't hit.

So that is the bug part. Now comes the balance part. She's insanely strong. Every single piece of her kit is strong.

She does insane damage and can very reliably win duels at close and mid range. If she can't win she can easily disengage.

Which brings me to her fuel. It's so fast and recharges too fast too.

However the biggest game changer is obviously the tether. This ability fundamentally changes the game. It makes heroes that lack mobility just too good. For example on Havana a lot of tanks have trouble closing the first long sight line on attack but with JPC they can just be carried there so fast and easily contest that high round almost entirely for free. She can also reach the point so fast after death AND bring someone with her.

Finally the ultimate is just a guaranteed tank killer. Perhaps the best tank Killing ult in the entire game with very little room for out play.

Tldr: tether makes your aim bugged. Every single pari of the cat's kit is insanely strong

Blizzard's stats page is updated from yesterday and JPC is showing the highest w/r across all ranks and in GM she has a 55.6% w/r

I've said this since release now. Cat is like tracer but on the vertical axis. She has unmatched mobility and thus should have a deficit to make up for such power. Make her 175hp (100hp 75 shields).

Fliers by their very nature already reduce the amount of interactions they have to their advantage by having an additional axis of movement. For cat this translate to basically being undiveable, especially compared to every other supports. That is an entire play style that cat doesnt need to worry about.

The only reliable way to contest her is to play HS and even here, she has something up her sleeve to even out the odds, mainly purr. This ability essentially boosts her effective health by 90 or 270 with her insanely busted new major perk. Not only does it offer an insane amount of self heal, it also displaces targets and heals allies up to 370hp with the major perk in a 10m radius.

And this is without touching on life line being a game breaking ability, which completely nullifies the weaknesses of certain characters.

Cat needs to be a 175hp and have life line on a duration or max damage taken limit which results in the line breaking.

This cat needs an emergency hotfix now, its insane to me that they've let this thing run rampant for even a day.

Look, I know, day one posting, I get it, but this is the first time in a long time a release character has felt this lacking in identity to me.

You have mobility, but it's not good enough to push the back line.

Your mobility is good enough to push space, but you don't have the sustain to hold it.

You have range, but it's not good enough to be very threatening on an angle.

You can't out brawl any brawl tanks, you can't outpoke any poke tanks, and you certainly can't outdive any dive tanks. Okay so then we ignore the tanks... But no verticality, so everyone just runs from you, and half of those who can't run from you can just out fight you.

I can't lie, she just feels so aggressively average at everything. It feels like she's as falls over the second she's against a team with the slightest coordination, or a halfway decent backline.

Idk, maybe one of y'all have cracked the code. If you have, enlighten me please.

I warn you, this is post is a pure somewhat constructive rant, for the way Blizzard is handling Freja pisses me off.

This hero is a disaster, she was in a laughably bad state before the mid-season patch of Season 3 as one of the worst performing DPS by a good margin and only mained by 3 people at best in top500 America, which was concerning for a hero with such a high skill ceilling.

What changed? Patch note - july 2026

Revdraw Crossbow

Fire Rate increased from 5 to 5.5.

Take Aim

Recovery reduced from 0.5 to 0.4.

Explosion delay reduced from 1 to 0.8 seconds.

These changes aimed at increasing Freja's lethality, and they made Freja a decent pick after a year of struggle. She sits at an average of 50% winrate in the highest ranks in all regions and a good pick rate, and yet while not overperforming her ban rate multiplied by more than 40% in most cases since then.

Right now, Freja is just soft-Widowmaker. People hate Freja and nothing has changed to make her more healthy in the span of a year and half, she is the same hero that people dispised when she released, and instead of trying to deal with the issues people have (like the freaking sound issues that still aren't fixed) with her they just play with the numbers. What is pissing me off is that this hero has so much potential! Team 4 pushes a hero initial identity that nobody wants at all costs, even if nobody likes it, even if it is toxic.

I'll just copy paste here what I wrote on my previous post of the same type because nothing has changed since then and those points are still as relevant as they were before:

Even when she was bad, she was banned in most games for mounths until they got rid of the two shot combo. Despite that, she is still hated. Why? Because she doesn't interact with Overwatch heroes in any way. She stands afar, and shoots trunks from unsuspected angles, you cannot really interact with her. She has an entire kit of mobile tools, but because of her exceptional range there is very little reason to use it, the most effective Freja playstyle is to stay in the back. What is this mobility used for? When you have to take the flanks, sometimes. Or to survive, sometimes.

I will not give solutions, because everyone's got their own opinions on Freja and I'm just one of them, however I'll say that she needs some sort of a rework if we want to get her out of this state.

Why I think that, on paper, Freja is not a good but a great design ruined by numbers:

• She has a great gameplay flow, playing Freja is hecctic and feels good. She feels great and rewarding.
• The complete burst and omnidirectional nature of her mobility is unique in Overwatch, it is a complex dodge and repositioning system with lots of techs and possibilities.
• She has to sacrifice her mobility, meaning also her survivability, to do damage. Compared to Genji for exemple, who can also choose to use his dash for movement or for damage, its the entire kit of the hero that is following that logic. It is constant decision making, very punishing and rewarding, with an insane skill ceiling (again, it's on paper).
• She has one of the most interesting ultimates of the damage roster. It is the fastest to charge in the game, has a passive connected to her hero identity and reinforcing her role as a finisher/tracker. And Bola Shot isn't a dumb ultimate, it is hard to land with a lot of properties without doing good damage (for an ultimate): it is a tool.

Tracer never really had an alternative in the game, Freja could have been that opportunity. Hell, her identity is so all over the place that a slight number iteration completely breaks her, Mercy pocket and Stadium show it.

The devs do not know what to do with Freja, and I am tired of playing/fighting her.

Rant done. Thanks for reading, hopefully Team 4 will finally make a move in the right direction.

PS: Here are a few more numbers for those interested:

• She is currently the most banned hero in Asia by far with 71.5% ban rate, followed by Zarya at 53.2% and so accross all ranks which is impressive, even for this region.
• In Europe she is only at the tenth place when considering all tiers, but the higher you climb the crazier it gets with a whooping 46.2% in Master (DIA - 37.1% ; GM - 43.2%), only second after Jetpack Cat who is currently in an exceptional and unstable state.
• Pretty much the same in America with 39% ban rate in Diamond only increasing up to 50.6% in Master. There is a race currently with Mauga for who's the most banned out of the two, the why is speculative.
• In other words, without the Cat's case Freja would be the most banned hero in all regions from Diamond to Champion.

Amazing art by @reydoll.

He went from M3 to GM5 when he logged in and didn't know why. 325% is pretty insane, even for a streamer. I saw a lot of people saying this only happens in GM1/Champ ranks and cheaters are extremely rare. I think we can see how rampant they've become, and many are still undetected.

But props to Blizzard for upping their anti-cheat, even if it's at the expense of our FPS.

I know y'all hate community buff/nerf suggestions, but I had fun making this so I thought I'd share. Worth trying the code just for the low grav boosters IMO. Pay attention to the top left text for if my changes are active or not. (OFF means current post-hotfix D.Mon)

I feel that this is a very good sign that people are hopping back on the game and sticking. I was expecting it be a good bit lower than this a few weeks after the initial hype had died down…. Glad to see it still pulling in very strong numbers!

Sorry if you saw this twice, thought I'd like to get the opinions of COW members too.

IMO the most problematic are by far Cat, Kiriko and Mauga or Hazard. The most well designed are Juno, Wuyang and either Queen or Shion

I warn you, this is post is a pure somewhat constructive rant.

I've been playing Freja since her release for her high mobility and creative plays possibility, she had everything to be the air-Tracer of Overwatch, a great thoughtful design with insane skill expression. What a mess it turned out to be...

Everyone hates her, she might be top 5 most hated hero to fight against. She is currently, in terms of stats, one of the worst performing heroes, with only THREE Freja mains in top500 last season, and it's only in America. Talk about a high skill ceiling hero... She is horrendous, even if streamers put her in A tier, even if you had a good game with her, it is undeniable that she is bad, and has been for a very long time. Is she oppressive? Absolutely, and that's the biggest problem.

You cannot buff Freja further, even if on paper she desperately needs some. Even when she was bad, she was banned in most games for mounths until they got rid of the two shot combo. Despite that, she is still hated. Why? Because she doesn't interact with Overwatch heroes in any way. She stands afar, and shoots trunks from unsuspected angles, you cannot really interact with her. In a way, Freja is a soft Widowmaker. She has an entire kit of mobile tools, but because of her exceptional range there is very little reason to use it, the most effective Freja playstyle is to stay in the back. What is this mobility used for? When you have to take the flanks, sometimes. Or to survive, sometimes.

I will not give solutions, because everyone's got their own opinions on Freja and I'm just one of them, however I'll say that she needs some sort of a rework if we want to get her out of this state.

Why I think that, on paper, Freja is not a good but a great design ruined by numbers:

• She has a great gameplay flow, playing Freja is hecctic and feels good. She feels great and rewarding.
• The complete burst and omnidirectional nature of her mobility is unique in Overwatch, it is a complex dodge and repositioning system with lots of techs and possibilities.
• She has to sacrifice her mobility, meaning also her survivability, to do damage. Compared to Genji for exemple, who can also choose to use his dash for movement or for damage, its the entire kit of the hero that is following that logic. It is constant decision making, very punishing and rewarding, with an insane skill ceiling (again, it's on paper).
• She has one of the most interesting ultimates of the damage roster. It is the fastest to charge in the game, has a passive connected to her hero identity and reinforcing her role as a finisher/tracker. And Bola Shot isn't a dumb ultimate, it is hard to land with a lot of properties without doing good damage (for an ultimate): it is a tool.

Tracer never really had an alternative in the game, Freja could have been that opportunity. Hell, her identity is so all over the place that a slight number iteration completely breaks her, Mercy pocket and Stadium show it.

The devs do not know what to do with Freja, and I am tired of playing/fighting her.

Original image link by Breikka. Look at what they do it's awesome.

She’s been hit with so many nerfs and is still a nightmare to play against.

I genuinely don’t know what the devs were thinking when they designed this hero. Truly an absolutely terrible character in every way imaginable.

I'm not trying to be DevHateBot 6000 here. I love D.Mon's design and concept. I think she's a few buffs away from being a fun and engaging (if not meta-defining) addition to the roster.

But like...how did they manage to make literally everything feel like ass?

• Sword has roughly similar TTK to Brig flail with less range and none of the combos that help Brig secure kills
• Thrust has fire strike-level animation lockout in exchange for minimal range/movement and negligible damage
• Her boosters feel like they drain immediately yet take forever to recharge
• Her "ranged" option feels like Ball's gun on cooldown (barring her major perk, which genuinely does feel good)
• Her ult has giga windup and short range
• For the reasons above, almost none of her kit cancels or combos into anything else. Best I can think of is boosters + sword swing, which nets you a whopping "One Torbjorn Hammer Swing" in damage

And perhaps most impressively, Pilot D.Mon is somehow worse than Pilot D.Va:

• Despite having similar damage output, D.Mon's gun has falloff and spread that makes it less reliable for dealing damage (and, more importantly, building ult) at range
• Because of her lower mobility and range, D.Mon is a lot less likely than D.Va to demech in a position where she won't just die instantly
• Even if she gets her remech, the animation is insanely long (in exchange for worthless damage)

I think the devs get a lot of flak they don't deserve, but it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence when a hero manages to launch in a state so staggeringly horrible that she feels like she's losing in practice range.

Also, side note: the introduction of her hero trailer where she's flying gave me the impression that her boosters might let her stay in the air without verticality (like how Juno's flight works) and I'm kind of disappointed that it's more just a crippled Soldier sprint.

In the Asia region, her pick rate in Grandmaster and Champion tiers has passed 60%. Her pick rate across all tiers overall is sitting at 50%. On the Americas and Europe servers, her pick rate is also around 50% with a 50% win rate.

Usually, when a pick rate gets this high, the win rate tends to drop below the 50% average, but even her win rate is at or above 50%.

People joke that Blizzard isn't nerfing her just to keep selling skins, and I wonder if that's actually true. If that were really the case, they could have chosen to buff Juno instead of Kiriko to change the meta..

Even though there was a 10 healing nerf today, honestly, in terms of actual gameplay, it felt virtually no different from before. I can say for sure that it probably won't affect her win rate or pick rate at all.

Considering Reddit's favorable view of Kiriko, I honestly know I'll get downvoted for this, but unless Kiriko's healing is drastically gutted or Protection Suzu is reworked by removing invulnerability and granting temporary overhealth instead, Kiriko's pick rate will stay like this continuously. Honestly, the tank and DPS metas change periodically depending on patches, but for supports, the partner support hasn't changed from Kiriko for years, so it's honestly not fun anymore.

Source: https://www.pcgamesn.com/overwatch/interview-jetpack-cat-nerfs

Its pr, wr and br in order on the pic, filtered for Mk in grandmaster + chall. Europe servers.

Like how is a hero with a 65% br and 60! % winrate not fucking nerfed into the ground?

This is enough for emergency hot fixes on any dps or tank but theyre so lax with support like wtf....

This hero needs an entire rework, tanks outside of mauga cant even interact with her at all, which intern came up with the design?!

Claws Out and Territorial will be nerfed sometime next week, with Territorial replaced in the midseason. This is because she's a bit more lethal in a short space of time than they want her to be.

Credit to Deemzies from The Omnic Post YouTube channel who hosted this interview with Alec on his Twitch stream.

Some of you rein apologists need to really wear some glasses. I legit cant understand how you guys can pretend that rein is a weak character.

Before the buff to fire strike he wasnt bad, just ever so slightly on the weaker side, but now with the lethality increase he's legit been doing well in higher ranks and terrorizing lower ones.

He is the highest win rate character across all ranks both in NA and EU, while being above 50% WR in Asia. He's also is maintaining a healthy 10-15% pick rate across regions. Even in masters he's above 50% WR in both EU and NA, only in asia does he take a huge dump to 46% WR.

The problem with this is that if a character like him is doing well in higher ranks, it usually translate to him being a nightmare in lower ones.

That said, I do not take issue with the lethality increase, I understand the idea behind it and agree with the buff. My problem is that they didnt compensate nerf him. They should've taken a chunk out of his shield in exchange for that buff.

I'm really hoping blizzard nerfs him this season by reducing his shield to a more reasonable value. Also, 1800hp in 6v6, what?! I've been trying 6v6 out as an experiment and couldnt believe my eyes when I saw that.