Spilo's First Impressions on Hazard: Strategy & Hero Design

[@treyw38]

finally my first impressions of hazard

[@crabby6549]

True

[@iaml7945]

The datto comment

[@almightyrasen]

@@iaml7945cultured individuals, the lot of you

[@jessevaldes5954]

Small note about his ult since it wasn't mentioned, you're able to shield it if you put the shield directly over your head. Additionally, if you put a destructible object over your head (like hazard's wall) it'll also block it.

[@psychobear10]

Can illari block it with her pylon ?

[@Jason-rl7nf]

I'm assuming DVA can also delete it like she can with Bastion's missiles?

[@IHJello]

Shield over your head blocks roots from the ground? That makes sense?

[@Jason-rl7nf]

@IHJello What roots from the ground? His ult is spikes dropping on your head from above. Make sense now?

[@violet4794]

so happy to see the design for hazard especially as a fellow scot. The playstyle he seems to encourage of closing distance in tangible increments with a crazy high skill ceiling both mechanically and in terms of macro, I'm really really impressed with his design and i hope we can see more W's in future after these last 3 pretty great heroes

[@YourPalRowan]

Haz Venture feels really good in game to play. They have similar tempo so they can actually dive together and Haz can stay to get venture out and venture can grab any picks that Haz softens

[@TiMonsor]

and they both have no skins, so they really quickly found common ground and became friends

[@boywonderandbatman2092]

You can also push people into the hazard walls as venture for some extra damage

[@bonfirecamp3874]

@@TiMonsor "and they both have no skins" jesus christ the hero isnt even out yet

[@bruh.2516]

@@bonfirecamp3874LOL

[@lunarluxe9832]

@@bonfirecamp3874its a joke chillllll

[@CaelenSawyers]

Haven't seen a comment on this but there's an option in his hero settings to have a confirmation on where you want his spike placed similar to Mei's wall. "Probably" would be helpful for most people playing him I'd think.

[@zOctaa]

I really loved hazard. Only bad thing was waiting in que 50 minutes to play one game and after that 30minutes. Wanna try him some more

[@TiMonsor]

no limits, man. still works in arcade. or a ai bot game - ok for learning the mechanics.

[@Chrys0lis]

There is nothing stopping you from weaving in shoots/block while leaping. His actual combo is shoot -> leap -> shoot when close -> slash -> shoot OR quick melee. You also have the option to buffer a jump after starting leap that increases your window to slash by a huge margin. So you shoot -> leap -> hold jump -> shoot -> shoot -> slash -> shoot OR quick melee. I personally go for the extra shot over block damage but it's up to if you're worried about their damage output.

[@catkawa643]

Spilo please start doing this for all new characters!

[@Xestern]

Ngl, this tank seems very fun in a 6v6 setting

[@narwhalz02]

been playing him in open queue with multiple tanks, def very fun

[@totalwhitetrash]

He's a great off tank, and he releases alongside the 6v6 tests, realistically it's the perfect time to release a new member of a struggling sub-role.

[@Omar04x]

Everyone comparing him to a completely different character proves that he's original, actually. Well more of a collage of abilities from other heroes that function in a completely new way together. Also the versatility and skill expression on his kit is something we hadn't seen in a long time. Don't listen to reactionary people, he's not broken, they just don't know how to fight against him yet since he released HOURS ago.

[@DarthCookieOW]

Correction: we can't know for sure if he's broken or not yet. He feels extremely strong, tho.

[@VoidHxnter]

@@DarthCookieOW People were also kinda underwhelmed with Juno in the beginning (on official release) but then realized she's very overtuned like a week later. Always gotta wait to see how he performs in real games against other tanks.

[@DarthCookieOW]

@VoidHxnter I haven't heard people saying she's underwhelming on official release, tho. She was underwhelming during playtest and then literally got every aspect of her kit gigabuffed for release, lol. Followed by 4 months of little slap on the wrist nerfs, she's still way overtuned (alongside Brig, btw)

[@totalwhitetrash]

Yeah him being a remix of other hero abilities definitely makes it harder to gauge how effective he'll actually be. It'd be like giving Torb's hammer the dmg value of Rein's hammer in a random patch. Would that be incredibly strong? Yes. Would 99% of torb players actually get consistent value from it? Not very likely. Right now, he seems like a jack of all trades. He's not the most mobile tank, but he can take high ground by himself pretty easily. He doesn't have the most CC, but he can definitely make your tank miserable with the CC he does have. His big tradeoff is no self heal, which I think we're all thankful for. Nobody wanted another Mauga or Hog.

[@seraph5765]

That is not how the word ‘reactionary’ is used

[@DarthCookieOW]

You can actually freely shoot (and block) during his jump, so the combo is actually: shoot-jump-block-shoot-melee This oneshots even Reaper.

[@SpktraSK]

Fyi his wallclimb resets after he dashes. doing so makes him climb almost as high as genji

[@onyxeye5896]

He has a mantle so I believe it's 'marginally' higher

[@ItsThatKidGreg]

Interesting that you find his playstyle similar to Dva. So far in my testing, he's felt really comfortable to play, and I'm a Dva main myself

[@Zathren]

Honestly, if he didn't have a shot gun for a primary, he gives me MOBA vibes and I'm here for it. Def gonna try him out Dec 10th.

[@Nazobypass]

Why not right now over the weekend

[@jdezzy5302]

They might be waiting for 6v6 test ​@@Nazobypass

[@Zathren]

​@@Nazobypass PC doesn't have the space. Hoping another game is finished so I have the room.

[@Pekara121]

Speaking of mobas, his wall is like Viscous goo punch 😂

[@Mr_Eyes]

In terms of dealing max burst dmg with the shift, do m1>shift>m1>shift. You can shoot while jumping, and you'll be point blank.

[@YourPalRowan]

Oh, One thing worthwhile to note is Hazard can shoot midair

[@mxc442]

you can shoot while flying through the air before slashing, allowing you to shoot->slash->melee or put up the wall

[@FatMCSteve]

Mauga lowered the bar for the next tank design so much that Hazard looks like peak game design in comparison, despite his few flaws

[@khaledm.1476]

Very true mauga made me be wary of every single tank release and dampened my excitement for new characters massively

[@Omar04x]

Fake af. Hazard is just good, nobody actively comparing him to mauga, they're not even similar. I've seen lots of comparisons to doom, tho.

[@moistwindow6094]

Maybe he's just cool? Can a hero just be cool? Do we really have to find a way to dismiss people liking a character?

[@appleseed445]

@@Omar04xoof that is not what they are saying????

[@shnitzel9052]

@@Omar04x the people comparing him to Mauga are just noting how strong he feels right now. He looks a bit over-tuned from the pugs I've seen, but they seem to be number issues rather than design issues like Mauga. Honestly, since everything plays into his survivability, I'm thinking he could do with a cut to his armor or his block's damage reduction. I would agree his design is good, though maybe not "peak" but he's definitely quality. IIRC it was the new design team that made him and Juno so they are definitely doing good here. Hopefully they tweak his numbers a bit, he's a bit better than "safe side of strong"

[@Shelltoast]

I think he’s strong, but I’ve had an incredible amount of fun playing with him and against him on support, so it’s a good kind of strong. I didn’t like playing alongside playtest Ram or Mauga, but this one really was good. It feels like there’s clear counter-play to his dive and when he’s my tank, survivability allows me to take more off-angles without requiring saving from huge burst damage. This feels like a character that works in both 5v5 and 6v6, which is impressive if it ends up being the case. I’m optimistic about this one.

[@ernestmendez5487]

Oof...As a Rein/Hog player, I can't wait for this gameplay loop: wall, wall, pull--wall, wall, tree--wall, wall, wall, sleep, nade. Lol. I really hope it ain't gonna be that bad.

[@Jotalucas722]

this char is insanely fun in the 7 or so matches i have played with him, the way you can parkour around the map is so fun, another thing that separates him from doom is that he can actually fuckin help his team directly with the wall and more precise boops doom just punches people really hard then dips , it creates pressure sure but atleast on my casual matches it makes doom feel disconected from the team, also a really fun thing to do is to place a wall facing the enemy then after a while break it and leap at the enemy at the same time they wont know what hit em

[@Wickedincarnate]

Brig felt real good into him her barrier is good to block his right click and lunge effectively and he's quite boopable He feels strong but not overwhelming honestly think they did a real solid job here on initial balancing im sure theres some tweaks that can be made but he's been pretty fun to play with and against so far

[@gzmgavin0729]

Background music sounds like Casiopea 😌

[@DoctorQcumber]

The skill ceiling on this hero is gonna be insane. There's no other hero that gets this much out of good aim during movement abilities, save for maybe Lucio. Junk, Hanzo, Sojourn, Widow, and Bap all have some of that, but it's not going to be anywhere near as important. Add to that the gamesense requirement and it will be nuts. My only worry is to be balanced he might have to be trash everywhere outside of t500

[@nonmagicalwitch]

Echo is another one that rewards great aim during her flight, especially her liftoff. Hazard seems like he's got a pretty cool kit, so yeah, lets hope he's perfectly balanced as is

[@martykelly6125]

5:54 chop boops them slightly out of your melee range, so might be better to block at the end of that combo. Love watching your content Spilo!

[@Chrys0lis]

Quick melee does the slash and if you're holding QM it will buffer it immediately after. You will land it even when it seems like they're a mile away after the boop as long as you look downwards aren't too far away.

[@TiMonsor]

why no SpikeBlock placement toggle turned on? You advise against it? I like it more to see where i can put it Mei style.

[@goostagange5193]

It’s a projectile

[@Jason-rl7nf]

You know exactly where it's going to go because it's a projectile you shoot. It will land center of where your crosshairs are. You can also put it on ceilings and walls. So really, you have even more options to put it exactly where you want it compared to DVA.

[@NDalll]

5:44 you can actually do way more. You can jump -> shoot -> block (for like 3-4 missiles) -> Slash -> Shoot -> melee. The block in the middle can be skipped to make it easier to do without losing that much damage. Can (tho incosistently) one-shot a 250hp character

[@Snowshill]

from what I have seen he plays like a ram in perma omnic form, but with some extra quality and smoother gameplay

[@stormRed]

I'll try and remember to use Hazard's hairy balls to enable diving and threatening opposing tanks.

[@ccsam1516]

I really am worried with rmb. I got deleted a few times with him just blocking and doing nothing whilst damage boosted today. It's no fun. The wall can be annoying with the damaging boop too. Especially in small crammed spaces Edit: I haven't personally touched him yet, but what I saw a lot/was on the receiving end of was him getting damage boosted by any means and diving in on someone with the quick blade that totalled to 100+ damage in a single hit followed up by him simply standing in front of you and holding RMB and dealing 100+ DPS without need for aim to multiple targets. Earlier we were on Samoa and 3 of my teammates were held up in the small room in the middle of the circle point and he was getting damage boosted by mercy. He simply hit them all with the leap attack and then held right click for 1 second killing both supports and 1 DPS. I don't mind dive tanks being able to output damage. I've been enjoying doom a lot as of recent in low masters. He needs a lot more prep work to get empowered punch and to deal enough damage to kill someone with it. Let alone getting multiple people with it and killing them with Doom's shotgun following up. He has an ability that doesn't require aim to output good damage.

[@Hekio..o]

Imagine the tank synergy between doom and hazard. Hazard can put a wall behind someone and doom can punch them into the wall. Hazard pushed an enemy team into a hallway and blocks off their exit with a wall and doom ults into the hallway. I've never once wanted 6v6 but this has me curious

[@jonnymayer]

What is the second song he has in the background? Not the pokemon one but the other.

[@bulgrim7650]

I have been testing getting to high ground with him and he can take high ground also he can roof surf on certain maps and also if you want to wall (like Mei's wall )you need to go to settings and make the changes so that you have more control with Wall placement

[@bulgrim7650]

Oh and you leap shoot then slash before you land

[@poeoepeoepopospokfspokf]

i love every part of hazard. just needs the numbers lowered and he'll be awesome!

[@Spluge_McDucktv]

Regardless of anything else, this is still the best tank they have made since JQ. On a side note, can a Dva DM'ing up eat the ult?

[@ghostlypenguin4417]

If it weren't for the long queue times I'd be playing him so much more! It's refreshing to have a tank with so many options and clear opportunities for skill expression, something that Mauga painfully lacked. I'm hoping we get more heroes like him

[@fractalelf7760]

Manga flat out needs rework…

[@brianshin5298]

I’ve gotten more luck doing open queue matches since the queue times are only a few minutes and hoping I get him quick enough.

[@DokuDoki]

If he messes up the combo, he can just briefly hold right click and it feels really cheap

[@NLambo88]

I like everything besides the block it feels very niche. I just wish it was a different shape.

[@FaithfulFrets]

If Winston and junkerqueen had a baby..

[@Kamiron-e2u]

is it me or is hazard venture but better? its differently a dive hero but i dont know how he can escape

[@floofflez1134]

Help, what's the Pokémon song that Spilo used in this video? Brings me so much nostalgia

[@GregMRuiz]

it should be Azalea Town, i think the DS remakes version

[@homepress644]

I feel like they should lean a little bit more towards his dive playstyle Like make him be able to hang on to a wall with the spike in his arm And make his leap a little bit more faster or little bit more range (POV coming from a doom player)

[@yonasdiamond4497]

Agreed

[@funk541]

Played about 2 hours and he's very fun to play.

[@ForbidenXShadow]

Idk wall climb jump is kinda op on him. I think he could hang on gibralter

[@brandonray4493]

1- he looks like the best design of the new tanks. Thats not saying much, but it's something. 2- mobility creep continues to be a problem for these devs 3- tank still sucks in 5v5

[@phobicsloth4527]

So wait does this ult go through Mei wall?

[@knyt0]

it comes from the sky

[@alarastaff]

You can shoot while using shift

[@alphagamer9059]

Wait does he have headshot melee

[@chris61986]

I thought I was the only one who noticed. Huge if true. Guess I'll figure it out tomorrow when I try him out.

[@Samps76]

Is it weird that I find his wall climb to be the more exciting part of his kit? 😅

[@stiltmaster9413]

bhop is probably getting removed on the leap like how it was with doom slam

[@H4VOK_YT]

Pretty sure u can still bhop slam on doom but u have to cancel ur slam with block or punch before hitting the ground it's not the same as old bhop slam but it does conserve ur momentum to some degree

[@shitsquirrel9]

This character is a mashup, reskin, and splicing of existing abilities. They started with Doomfist and tried to make him stronger, almost as fun to play, feel better to play, and a meta counter. I do like the character though, loved his short and backstory, the character is decent. Not played much, had some fun after I started getting more comfortable, but I feel he is absolutely MISERABLE to play against. This character's kit and way hes supposed to be played may be the best fit for my personality and way I WANT to play so far. He is cool, but I think his kit is weird and disconnected a little..? Im a noob, so look at my opinion through that lens. I cant wait to play more with him, I really hope they dont ruin him, I hope he doesnt become a miserable character to play with or play against.

[@Shankster-44]

Ez basic combo just hold melee after the dash and it will slash and quick melee with one input

[@WoWbloodcrazy]

Feels like an easier Doomfist. If for no other reason just for the fact that my block can kill people. Yeah… Doomfist block feels terrible now

[@knyt0]

5:40 he can shoot during leap so that's not the optimal combo

[@michaeltaylor7160]

Feels like a league character. I like league

[@Badoofhmz]

As a doom main can't wait to use block and get instantly hacked by someone I can't see

[@JustCallMeKnux]

You a Pokemon fan Spilo?

[@jyhmz]

I feel like using pokemon songs is a common thing for overwatch streamers

[@d00mnoodle62]

They should make it so block only shoots spikes if you shoot him

[@Ccscenario]

he’s really good idk what you guys are on about

[@lukasg4807]

The first person POV gives the impression he's running around on all 4's like winston. Just kind of feels weird

[@IHJello]

Block does not go through shield

[@eptastic]

uploaded

[@ooofuryooo296]

His damage seems pretty low in the 4 games I've played against him so far. Brig/Ana very effective vs Hazard.

[@aeloh6921]

Finally a second tempo tank im sorry

[@NoHeros247]

Incoming shrek skin lol

[@VoltismProductions]

He seems like a non bullshit doom to me

[@someGuy-kl7cb]

He definitely feels like d.va

[@NotE2seSpecified]

nahh coach mechanics is hilarious

[@abudgie6909]

I’m excited to play hazard. He seems to have a healthy amount of skill expression. I see him as a more brawl style winston alternative.

[@naliskun4222]

he's WAY too overloaded I don't play tank and was able to get 4 wins in a row thoooo I was being carried so idk

[@strawberrana]

What's with the bible verse lmao

[@huckmart2017]

Really sick of these overloaded abillitys that do like 3 things at once. That block ability is going to be so annoying. Also why is it on a resource meter? Is that necessary?

[@JLM1PB]

I enjoyed your content for years thank you for the amazing work Spilo, i'm only unsubscribing because I completely lost interest in this game.

[@antoineharvey-boudreault5565]

i dont like where theyre going with the design, shows the lack of vision, completely stripped away from the initial vision that had made overwatch what it was to replace it to pander to the cishet bland masses

[@daniel-tv4hx]

Wow the design team dropped the ball with him, man looks straight out of Fortnite

[@dscarb8085]

Im so out of the loop, i thought this was a sigma skin 😂

[@shadere2434]

I've been playing blizzard products for 16 years, I can say with certainty that this new hero's design does not fit the blizzard aesthetic they have built for the last 2 decades. Its almost as if they paid a third party to design it.

[@SynchroFPS]

how lol

[@abudgie6909]

This is cope, he looks fine. Even if his body type is a little generic for OW2 tanks. This argument is so forced.

[@jackhenry7656]

Ok Professor blizzard

[@lime_chip]

Man what are you talking about?

[@jaber5345]

This, the character aesthetic gives Ubisoft vibes (not a compliment) Just super uninspired

[@Kanggaxx]

You need to do more personal research, not sit there shooting literal bots like the hordes of populist content creators before you

[@avez]

what tf is a first impression????

[@trueblueranger6]

This character wasn’t even designed, it was smashed together from all the left over stuff they had. Just pretty sleepy feeling tbh. Maybe the play will be fun, but its just cheap design without thought. NONE of his aspects fit together. Also, so classic to have the two most recent mythic weapon skins be for his direct counters (ana and soldier)…. Blizz are so hungry for money its just sad.

[@knyt0]

skill issue

[@chris61986]

How would Soldier counterfeit him? Not seeing it.

[@Veimat-tv6mf]

He is lame... I miss hige movement heros.

[@Zathren]

His leap is only one second longer then Winston jump 😂

[@ecclecticsayonce5131]

He’s pretty high movement tho

[@beatenterprizes]

Bro literally the last hero we got was Juno, the character whose only survivability IS FRICKEN MOVEMENT. AND EVERYONE HATES THE TANKS THAT HAVE ABSURD MOVEMENT

[@Omar04x]

@@Veimat-tv6mf Are we even talking about the same game?? HAVE YOU SEEN JUNO? VENTURE? HAZARD HIMSELF!?

[@H4VOK_YT]

​@@Omar04xTbh they definitely have movement but their movement feels really restricting and super linear compared to heroes like doomfist, ball, genji and tracer where u have crazy omnidirectional movement and doing sick rollouts. The movement that u see with juno glide and venture feels like it locks u in place and i dont have granular control over how u move so it doesn't feel as good.

[@TerribleShmeltingAccident]

broken af. yet again the devs prove they couldnt care less about ow2 (proof is in the owl debacle & micro-transaction cash grab, oh and the juno being released day 1 on ranked...) How about LISTENING to the ppl who play your game? wouldnt fixing op and underplayed heroes b4 adding new shitty crap? why am i even here commenting anymore? i should have been jaded by blizz a long, long, long time ago...

[@FlightX101]

No yes great as an overwatch 2 tank as this is the level they need to be at to have a chance. If they bring in 6v6 then sure we can nerf him down

[@kingintox5743]

Holy shit stop complaining. Nothing but cries. He’s perfectly fine.

[@Omar04x]

@@TerribleShmeltingAccident you're talking nonsense

[@chris61986]

I think the game's pretty balanced. Nobody is really weak right now, except maybe Sombra. Nothing you can do with solo tanks, IMO. One is going to be strong, or there's the counter swap game. Not sure which is worse, but I just don't play tank. Hopefully the 6v6 tests are successful.