Overwatch 2 Game Director Aaron Keller Assures Players That Mauga Will 'Feel Strong' at Launch

Mauga is a new tank in Overwatch 2 that will be officially added to the game at the start of Season 8. Ahead of its launch, Blizzard has given players time to try Mauga out for a limited time.

However, the community quickly realized that Mauga had issues with survivability. Fortunately, game director Aaron Keller addressed those in a recent post, stating that Mauga will get huge changes at the beginning of the upcoming season.

Buffs Fit for a Tank

According to Keller, the stats show that Mauga is on the "average to weak side" of the spectrum. Even highly skilled Overwatch 2 players have a hard time getting a lot of value out of him during testing. As a result, Keller and his team went back to the drawing board and assured players that Mauga would "feel strong" at launch.

So, what are the changes that players can expect in Season 8? Well, the developers have experimented with replacing a portion of Mauga's HP with armor. The initial number that is being tested internally is 150 but that value is still subject to change, especially since Overwatch 2's next season won't be out for a couple of weeks.

Overrun, an ability where Mauga charges forward to knock enemies up in a small area, is going to receive some notable changes as well. For one, the ability will no longer be interrupted by Sombra's Hack. On top of that, the damage reduction when he charges forward is increased from 30% to 50%, thus allowing Mauga players to not worry about survivability when using Overrun.

(Photo : Blizzard)

Another ability that is getting buffed is Cardiac Overdrive. For those who don't know, this enables Mauga and his allies to take reduced damage for five seconds. Furthermore, it grants a lifesteal effect where 60% of the damage dealt is converted to healing. Keller said that Cardiac Overdrive's lifesteal will be increased, though he didn't disclose an exact amount.

What makes Mauga stand out is that he can use his trusty chainguns, namely "Gunny" and "Cha-Cha," to wreak havoc on the battlefield. While these weapons are fairly accurate when fired one at a time, their accuracy suffers heavily when used together. That's why the Overwatch 2 development team is experimenting with different firing rates and spreads to ensure that these weapons can reliably take out the competition. More details about this are likely to be revealed soon.

Much-Needed Changes

Despite the fact that Mauga's abilities look good on paper, he can actually be easily countered by certain heroes. One Redditor noted that Ana counters Mauga so hard due to the tank hero's huge size, which makes landing Sleep Darts so easy to do.

Another Redditor stated that huge hitbox and insanely long reload speeds make him useless, most notably in team fights.

Hopefully, the Overwatch 2 developers will be able to rectify most, if not all, of Mauga's weak points before Season 8 launches on December 5.

What can you say about the buffs that Mauga will receive in the upcoming season of Overwatch 2?