Added 5 new heroes Overwatch Reign of Talon Season 1 was some of the best new content the game has seen in a long time, and I've fully grown to love the game after taking a few months off. As much as I love direction Overwatch is headed after it drops “2” and debuts its new UI, improved Stadium mode and the introduction of a cascade of new heroes, one of these characters made me ache to play. At this point, I'm pretty much going to vote to ban them every chance I get because I feel like they're too overpowered right now to be worth playing against.
Appreciate how new batch Overwatch the heroes launched with the renewed season 1 are trying to do something different and unique with their sets. Anran's ability to deal stacked burning damage to enemies is a useful feature for a DPS hero to have, and of course the Lifeline Jetpack Cat ability opened the door for all kinds of crazy strategies to implement. However, I feel like Domina has too many perks that make her pretty overpowered at this point, and it reminds me a lot of how broken Sigma was when he was first added to Overwatch back in 2019.
PSA: If you just got back into Overwatch, don't sleep on this feature
Any Overwatch player returning to the game for the first time in a while to check out Reign of Talon won't want to skip a crucial feature.
Overwatch Reign of Talon Tier 1 bans me Domino every chance I get
Unlike most players, I was lucky enough to try out Domino early at a hands-on media preview event held at Blizzard's Irvine campus. Even during this trial playtest, I could tell that Domina was going to be a massive threat in the meta when she was released. Unfortunately my suspicions were correct and now that Domina has been officially released OverwatchI've had more time to experience playing for and against her and realize how powerful her kit really is.
Who is that character?
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Start
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Easy (7.5s) Medium (5.0s) Hard (2.5s) Permadeath (2.5s)
Domina's abilities in Overwatch
- Photon Magnum (Primary Fire): A medium range beam that culminates in a high impact shot.
- Barrier field: A segmented light barrier deployed in front of Domino. Each segment must be destroyed individually, creating dynamic defensive angles.
- Crystal charge: Project an explosive crystal and reactivate it to detonate it.
- Sonic Repulsors: Push enemies back and stun them if they hit a wall.
- Ultimate — The Panopticon: Fire a hard light projectile that traps enemies and detonates upon expiration.
- Passive – reconstruction: Dealing damage with abilities restores shields.
As a poke tank, Domino excels at positioning herself behind her Barrier Array and damaging enemies from a distance with her Photon Magnum. In general, I found Domina struggling to deal with attackers that get close to her, with her Sonic Repulsors being the only real way to separate herself from enemies. Whenever I face an enemy Domina, I try to play a melee hero like Reinhardt when I'm a tank or Anran when I'm a DPS. However, even with this strategy in mind, I feel like I'm still trying to destroy the enemy Domino, which leads to my primary criticism of the current state of Domino.
Why is Domino so frustrating to solve?
Anyone who has played for or against Domino Overwatch he probably knows he can be a tough target to shoot down. Between her Barrier Array and Reconstruction passives, Domina has defensive abilities to survive the onslaught of unprepared players. The Barrier Array is massive and surrounds Domino in a semi-circle, making it difficult to break through, even with the ability to destroy parts of the shield individually. Rebuilding is even more of a problem, as Domina can constantly regenerate her own shields as long as she deals damage.
This problem is further compounded by the fact that Domino's Photon Magnum is particularly deadly. It has great range and deals continuous damage that ends in a burst of increased damage that is difficult for squishier heroes to survive. So Domina's combat loop revolves around picking off weaker enemies with Photon Magnum while also regenerating her own shields, essentially allowing her to ignore a lot of incoming enemy damage with solid healers like Mercy or Baptiste, all while her Barrier Array is standing there as other players will have to break through walls to damage her. I can't count the number of times I've almost finished Domina before she retreats to her back lane and let the enemy DPS kill me because the time it takes to kill her is so long.
No, Overwatch Season 1 Heroes didn't copy Marvel Rivals, but this game did
Some of Overwatch's new heroes have come under fire for “copying” Marvel Rivals, which doesn't hold up even if it feels like it's from a different game.
How Domino should be redesigned to be more balanced
Although I still want Domina to keep most of her abilities and overall identity as a poke tank in OverwatchI think some of these skills need a lot of nerf. Reducing the damage her Photon Magnum does over time, potentially dropping from 60 to 50, would be a good start. I'd also like to see her overall shields reduced to compensate for the fact that Reconstruction can restore them when she deals damage. Going down from 400 to 350 shields would help the Domina feel more proportionate defensively compared to her offensive abilities.
Even after her recent Nerf, Domina is still overpowered
In the February 13 hotfix for OverwatchDomina received a small nerf that reduced the health of her Barrier Array panels, making it easier to destroy individual parts of her barrier. While this definitely helps reduce Domina's survivability, I still feel like it's not enough to make up for what damage she can do while also regenerating her own shields. Until Overwatch releases an update that lowers Domino's overall shields and Photon Magnum damage will continue to be my number one priority in ban.
- Released
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May 24, 2016
- ESRB
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T for Teens: Blood, Tobacco Use, Violence (online interactions not rated)
- Engine
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Proprietary
