Overwatch update 1.47 patch notes adds Echo, nerfs Mei and Pharah

Blizzard has been very active over the last few weeks with its library of games, with Overwatch's development team being among the busiest. While Blizzard has been hard at work overhauling certain aspects of its competitive game to line up with the Overwatch League, the team has also been preparing to release an all-new character to the hero roster. All of that has finally arrived with Tuesday's massive 1.47 update.

We first met Echo back in mid-march. She's the evolved robot, left behind after a terrible accident destroyed Dr. Mina Liao's laboratory and presumably left her dead. As an advanced omnic, she has opted to join the good fight with the heroes of Overwatch. Here are her abilities:

(Primary) Tri-Shot: Echo fires off three shots at once in a triangle pattern.
(Secondary) Sticky Bombs: Echo fires a volley of sticky bombs, which detonate after a brief delay.
(L Shift) Flight: Echo bursts forward and then takes to the skies.
(E) Focusing Beam: Echo will charge up a beam and fire it at opponents, dealing greater damage to targets who have less than half their health remaining.
(Q) Duplicate: Echo's Ultimate scans any enemy hero and allows her to duplicate their abilities for a short time.
(Passive) Glide: Echo can glide while falling.

If you want a better idea of how to play Echo, Overwatch's top Twitch streamers might be able to help. Watch up to six hours of eligible streams and you can pick up a handful of Echo sprays. The Overwatch website will have more information on that.

There are also some noticeable balance tweaks with today's new update. Let's take a look at the heroes affected:

Ashe

The Viper
- Magazine size increased from 12 to 15
- Shots no longer queue up the next shot if pressed slightly before recovery has finished
- Unscoped shots to reach maximum spread increased from 4 to 6
- Unscoped shots can now be fired much more quickly after firing a scoped shot
- You can now start reloading much more quickly after firing a scoped shot

Genji

Shuriken (Secondary Fire): Recovery lowered from 0.75 to 0.65 seconds

Mei

Endothermic Blaster: Maximum ammo reduced from 200 to 120
Endothermic Blaster (Secondary Fire): Ammo cost reduced from 20 to 10

Pharah

Rocket Launcher
- Explosion damage increased from 65 to 80
- Impact damage decreased from 55 to 40

Reinhardt

Steadfast passive knockback resistance reduced from 50% to 30%

There are also some changes to the game's heroes that are currently active in Experimental Mode only. For the full list of changes, check out the full Overwatch 1.47 patch notes.

Beyond the hero changes, Arcade Mode is getting a new Competitive Open Queue. This is essentially Competitive Play mode with hero pools instituted, but without role restrictions or role queues.

Lastly, today's update comes in the wake of the first batch of synced-up hero pools for Competitive Play. For this week, Widowmaker, McCree, Reinhardt, and Brigitte have been taken out of rotation.

There's a lot to keep up with when it comes to Overwatch, so be sure to follow Shacknews. We'll look to stay up to date on the latest Overwatch news.