overwatch 2 Season 20 heralded the arrival of the game's first official melee hero in nearly a decade since the franchise began. Vendetta is a deadly combatant capable of annihilating soft targets with her vicious hardlight greatsword, Palatine Fang. With high damage output, decent defensive options, and great mobility, Vendetta offers a playstyle reminiscent of the pre-tank DPS Doomfist. overwatch 2: A dedicated dive hero who can quickly eliminate an entire team if given the chance.
A month after his release, Vendetta is wreaking havoc. overwatch 2Although the degree varies depending on skill level. Despite this, Vendetta received a buff immediately after release. Although she received a small nerf shortly after, overwatch 2 In the mid-Season 20 update, taming the Avenger She-Wolf may not be enough.
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Vendetta is absolutely dominating Overwatch 2 right now.
Overwatch 2's first melee damage hero may need more nerfs
During Vendetta's testing weekend from November 26 to December 1 last year, melee damage heroes were very powerful. But the hero finds himself floundering at high levels of competitive play. overwatch 2 We've given her some important buffs for Season 20's launch on December 9th. A few days later, on December 11th, she received more buffs through a hotfix. This means that almost every part of her kit has been enhanced since players first saw her.
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weapon
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Palatine Fang: Hardlight greatsword. The combo ends with a devastating overhead slash.
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Warding Stance: Block with your sword to reduce frontal damage and block melee attacks. Blocking damage depletes energy.
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ability
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Soaring Slice: Throws the sword in the direction you are facing and flies in that direction.
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Whirlwind Dash: Dashes in a circular slash.
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Projected Edge: Available while Warding Stance is active. Consumes energy to fire a wide projectile.
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passive
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Onslaught: Attacks enemies, increasing movement and attack speed.
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ultimate
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Sundering Blade: Sunders through most defenses and deals significant damage to enemies in front of it.
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perks
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minor
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Siphoning Strike: Overhead strikes gain 40% Lifesteal.
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Relentless: Onslaught can stack 3 more times, increasing attack speed by 5% and movement speed by 5% per stack.
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major
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Swift Revenge: The target is the last player to deal the killing blow to you. Eliminating the target grants 150 overhealth and resets the cooldown.
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Raging Storm: Whirlwind Dash continues spinning and strikes 3 more times, dealing 35 damage in a wide area.
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The mighty hero rampaged unchecked for a week until December 18th. overwatch 2 Vendetta has received a small nerf that reduces her horizontal slash damage by 5. She then dominated the holiday season until the midseason update on January 8th, when she finally received some pretty significant nerfs to almost all of Vendetta's abilities. overwatch 2.
All Vendetta Buffs and Nerfs Since Overwatch 2 Debut
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December 9 (Season 20 release)
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general
- Recovery times for Palatine Fang Overhead, Whirlwind Dash, and Projected Edge have been reduced by approximately 15%.
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projected edge
- Projectile speed increased from 33 to 37 meters per second.
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rising sculpture
- Maximum throw distance reduced from 16 to 14 meters.
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Absorb Attack – Perk
- Life Steal increased from 30% to 40%.
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Swift Revenge – Perk
- Excess health increased from 125 to 150.
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December 11th
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Palatine Fang
- Overhead swing recovery can now be interrupted by Warding Stance.
- Fixed a bug that caused enemies to be launched downwards overhead not working consistently against flying targets.
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Whirlwind Dash
- Raging Storm talent recovery time reduced from 0.4 seconds to 0.25 seconds.
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projected edge
- Whirlwind Dash and Soaring Slice recovery time reduced from 0.35 seconds to 0.2 seconds.
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rising sculpture
- Recovery time reduced from 0.25 seconds to 0.1 seconds.
- Weapon throw range increased from 14 to 15 meters.
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December 18th
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Palatine Fang
- Horizontal swing damage reduced from 50 to 45.
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January 8 (Mid Season 20 Update)
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projected edge
- Damage reduced from 80 to 70.
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rising sculpture
- Soaring Slice now goes on cooldown upon resurrection (does not apply on resurrection or in deathmatch).
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Whirlwind Dash
- Damage reduced from 80 to 70.
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Raging Storm Perk
- Damage per spin reduced from 40 to 35.
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Still, these nerfs alone may not be enough. Vendetta remains a formidable combatant to deal with. This is especially true if Vendetta is a squishy backline support character right after being attacked. overwatch 2 Tanks like Doomfist, Reinhardt or Winston jump in. It's too early to tell if these adjustments will be enough to bring her in line with other characters, but right now it looks like Vendetta will need more nerfs in the near future.
Balancing Revenge in Overwatch 2 is a nightmare
Melee hero win rates are inconsistent across skill level, region, and input.
Unfortunately, Vendetta's particular playstyle overwatch 2 It is difficult to strike a balance across all inputs and skill levels. Rather than becoming a highly skilled character like Frezza, mastering Vendetta is more about positioning. This means that high-skill players with better situational awareness and more solid formations will have an easier time countering Vendetta than casual or lower-tier players, who Vendetta can easily dominate.
This is especially evident when looking at Vendetta's overall win percentage. overwatch 2Hero Stats Tracker. Her win percentages in competitive mouse and keyboard input tend to be much higher at the Bronze, Silver, and Gold ranks in most regions, after which they start to equalize towards the Platinum level. However, lower-tier controller players overwatch 2 Win rates are generally lower at lower and higher tiers of play, but peak at Gold and Platinum tiers, the point where the user's skills surpass the enemy's ability to counter them.
The different regions, skill levels, and entry methods result in wide odds differences, making it difficult to know exactly where Vendetta stands. In fact, there is a 20% difference in Asian win rates. overwatch 2 For bronze tier competitive mouse and keyboard players, this is a comparison of players vs EU players. However, Vendetta's global average win rate is 54.6% for mouse and keyboard, 50.9% for controller players, and 52.8% overall pre-nerf. So fans will have to wait and see if these changes can make Vendetta more consistent and lower its win rate closer to the 50% point. overwatch 2 I shoot for.
Vendetta win rates by mode, region, skill level, and input (as of January 10, 2026)
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game mode |
Mouse and Keyboard (Americas) |
Mouse and Keyboard (EU) |
Mouse and Keyboard (Asia) |
Controller (Americas) |
Controller (EU) |
Controller (Asia) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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quick play |
54.6% |
53.7% |
54.8% |
51.4% |
50.6% |
46.1% |
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Competition (Bronze) |
64.4% |
49.1% |
70.9% |
47.8% |
39.5% |
Not applicable |
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Competition (Silver) |
58.2% |
56.5% |
53.7% |
52.8% |
46% |
57.4% |
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Competition (Gold) |
57.6% |
53.2% |
61.4% |
52.5% |
50.7% |
65.7% |
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Competition (Platinum) |
54% |
53.5% |
54% |
53.6% |
47.8% |
46.5% |
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Competition (Diamond) |
53.5% |
56.5% |
54.6% |
49.8% |
44.7% |
44.2% |
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Competition (Master) |
55% |
52.9% |
38.7% |
52.4% |
43.1% |
83.4% |
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Competitive Battle (Grandmaster/Champion) |
54.6% |
59.1% |
35.4% |
52% |
40.6% |
47.9% |
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Competition (all tiers) |
56.1% |
54.4% |
55% |
52.3% |
47.3% |
52.9% |
luckily, overwatch 2 Clearly there's still Vendetta in the crosshairs. In a recent live streaming Q&A overwatch 2 Game director Aaron Keller came up with the idea of adding sound effects when Vendetta is in the air after using Soaring Slice to make him less stealthy while infiltrating the rear. These potential changes may take longer to implement for logistical reasons, but may have a greater impact than simple numerical adjustments for obvious reasons.
Still, fans won't be doing anything too drastic with Vendetta for a while. It may receive some nerfs via hotfixes over the next few weeks, but it's unlikely any bigger changes will come until then. overwatch 2 Season 21 begins on February 10th. overwatch 2 See how the January 8th nerfs affect win rates at different stages of play. In the end, one thing is for sure: Vendetta has influenced the game and his presence in the match means players will suffer consequences if they don't keep an eye on the backline.
- released
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August 10, 2023
- ESRB
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T For Teen // Blood, mild language, tobacco use, violence
