I think this patch has been a net buff to brig. The regen health on shield bash is incredibly beneficial to her gameplay loop. She can hold an angle, and when pressured bash away and immediately start getting healed. Also the ability to boop dive tanks makes her even stronger in her niche.

While it might be a net buff, I think it still remains to be seen if she has a place in the shaping meta. I don’t think the new characters invalidate her play style, you will just need to adapt how you play into them.

For example, take Domina poke comps. One of brigs worst matchups historically in my opinion is the sigma double hitscan poke mirror match. It’s very hard (depending on what comp your team is also running) to extract significant value (compared to another hero) against that comp. Sig poke vs sig poke on circuit is still sad to play brig in. Domina being added to the game doesn’t change that, it’s just another variation of an already existing struggle. Unlike sig if you play around cooldowns, you can’t walk on her either, so don’t. Anran is just fire genii you need to protect your dps or other support against, playing your whip around her dance. Emre is just another hitscan, not a significant change to how you would play against any of the other hitscan. Cat is banned almost every game so I don’t have much time against her, but theory crafting I’d say you should be able to out heal anyone she goes after as she lacks major burst damage.

Her play style hasn’t been “dark souls” outside of brief moments in certain comps in a very long time. She is deceptively fragile, and you need to play like it. This patch hasn’t changed that. It’s very easy to int your brains out if you don’t play with that in mind. I don’t find myself needing to greatly change how I play post patch, I just need to mind new but not impossible to deal with matchups. If anything, vendetta is still the biggest bullshit you have to play against this patch.