Blizzard Tackles Jetpack Cat's Perma-Ban in Overwatch: Details

We’ve seen some absolute monsters in the history of Overwatch. We’ve lived through the era of "Sniper" Roadhog, the nightmare of original Brig, and the GOATS meta that simply wouldn't die. But nothing quite prepared the community for the arrival of Season 1, Conquest, and the literal demon in a blue jetpack. Jetpack Cat isn't just a meme anymore; she's a competitive bottleneck that has Blizzard scrambling to fix a hero that players simply refuse to play against.

It’s a bizarre situation for the "In Game News" team to cover. On one hand, the community has spent years begging for this character. On the other, now that she’s here, she’s spent more time behind the "Hero Banned" UI than actually flying across the map. Our take? The cat’s kit is a classic case of a support hero having too many teeth and not enough leash.

The Perma-Ban Cage: Why No One Wants to Fight the Furball

If you’ve queued for ranked at any point this week, you know the drill. The ban phase starts, and Jetpack Cat is gone before you can even finish your first cup of coffee. She has become the highest-banned character in the game, and for good reason. While she was marketed as a high-mobility support, in practice, she functions like a flanker DPS that just happens to keep people alive.

The issue stems from a combination of perks that turn a "cute" mascot into a backline assassin. Her minor perk, Claws Out, empowers her quick melee damage for six seconds and applies a 30% slow. In a game where movement is king, a slowing melee on a high-mobility hero is a death sentence for most supports. When you pair that with Territorial—a major perk that deals damage to nearby enemies equal to 50% of the character's total healing done—you get a hero that rewards you for doing your job by letting you one-shot the enemy backline.

"We love the cat, but we are going to tone down a little bit of her aggression. When she gets both her minor perk, Claws Out, and her major perk, Territorial, the combination allows her to be an absolute menace that's diving backlines and taking 1v1s. So we're going to tone that down just a little bit and see how that goes, but the cat won't be scratching as much as she is currently."

Blizzard's "Safe, Size, Strong" Strategy is Changing

Speaking with associate game director Alec Dawson, it’s clear that the Jetpack Cat situation has sparked a bit of an internal reckoning at Blizzard. In the past, the team operated under a "safe, size, strong" philosophy. The goal was to ensure every new hero release was high-performing and highly competitive right out of the gate. The logic was sound: nobody wants to play a weak new hero. However, in the era of hero bans, this has backfired.

If a hero is too strong, the community simply deletes them from the match before it begins. Dawson noted that the team is pulling back on this approach. They want heroes to be impactful, sure, but they don’t want them to be so oppressive that they are perma-banned in Competitive. The goal now is to find a "landing zone" where a hero can exist in the meta without feeling like a mandatory ban or a "must-pick" cheese strat.

The Limits of Creativity and Physics Bugs

One of the most entertaining (or frustrating, depending on which side you're on) aspects of Season 1 has been the sheer physics-breaking potential of the cat. Dawson admitted that the team is still figuring out what the "limit" is for some of these interactions. We've seen clips of Jetpack Cat interacting with Cassidy’s Deadeye or Orisa’s ultimates in ways that feel more like exploit territory than intended gameplay.

There was even a mention of a particularly egregious bug involving a Mauga cage being placed on top of a Mei ice block, which the cat then used to physically transport the entire enemy team off the map. While Blizzard wants to encourage player creativity, they are keeping a close eye on when "creative use of game mechanics" becomes "getting old too quickly."

Looking Beyond the Feline Meta

While the cat is hogging the headlines, it’s worth noting that the rest of the Season 1 roster is actually in a pretty healthy spot. Our team has been spending a lot of time with Mizuki, who has become an instant favorite for those who enjoy high-skill-ceiling playstyles. Anran also offers a fantastic flanking alternative for Sombra mains, providing that speedy, disruptive movement that makes Overwatch's dive-heavy maps so much fun to play.

However, it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows. There is still a lot of community heat directed at Domina, who remains a frequent target of the ban hammer, and don't even get us started on Emre’s ultimate. The frustration there is real, and it shows that while Jetpack Cat is the biggest problem, she’s not the only one Blizzard needs to look at as the roster expands.

What's Next for the Cat?

We’ve already seen some light nerfs hit the live servers this week. Claws Out has seen a cooldown increase, and Territorial has had its damage output scaled back. It’s a start, but as long as she has the ability to pick up other characters and zoom them across the map, she’s going to remain a high-priority target for bans. Blizzard's challenge is to keep the "fun" of a jetpack-wearing feline while stripping away the "unfair" feel of her engagement range.

It’s an exciting time for the game, but for now, we’re happy to see the claws get a little shorter. Maybe, just maybe, we'll actually get to play a ranked match where she isn't grayed out on the select screen.

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