Overwatch 2 Patch Notes Bring Transformers, Quality-Of-Life Changes, And Demonic Reinhardt

Blizzard has released the latest patch notes for its hero shooter, Overwatch 2. Players have a lot of content to look forward to, such as the Transformers collaboration and the return of the Summer Games playlist. In addition to new game modes, the latest update introduces changes to various heroes and quality-of-life improvements.

As an Overwatch 2 blog post explained, the Transformers event will run until July 22. Participants will have the chance to unlock new player icons, name cards, and even titles. On top of that, the Summer Games can now be played until July 29. Those who participate in the Summer Games will also earn new sprays, player icons, and other cosmetic items.

Reinhardt players may be happy to hear that his Mythic Bound Demon weapon skin changes based on their gameplay. The skin will show “dynamic effects” that respond to their actions, including “charging into battle or holding the line.” The Mythic Bound Demon will be available later this month, on July 23.

Going forward, players will occasionally be asked to take part in a survey on their phone or PC. This is in hopes of helping “identify areas where the game can be improved.” On top of that, a new audio cue is being introduced that’ll let players know when they’re shooting enemies health, shields, or over health.

Below are the official patch notes for Overwatch 2.

HERO UPDATES

GENERAL

• Armor flat damage reduction increased from 5 to 10 per projectile.
• Enemy health bars now display when they are at their Low Health threshold.

Developer Comments: The armor changes have had a positive impact on which heroes and damage types are slowed down by armor health. We’re increasing the damage reduction on it to further widen the pool of heroes that are significantly affected by armor’s defense.

Tanks

Tank Role Passive

• Ultimate generation reduction increased from 30 to 40%.
• Knockback resistance reduced from 50 to 40%.

Developer Comments: Dealing damage to Tank heroes will be slightly less rewarding with the increased reduction to ultimate generation and will help to balance out the increased healing they may receive with the change to the Damage role passive in this patch. While the knockback resistance was generally useful for tank heroes and their emphasis on positioning, it was also reaching the point where it was difficult for players to tell if knockback abilities were having any effect on them.

D.VA

Developer Comment: The maximum duration of Defense Matrix is increased by half a second by reducing the rate at which the resource meter drains when in use, so it won’t take longer to regenerate. The increased damage on Micro Missiles will help the ability feel relatively more impactful against larger health pools.

Defense Matrix

• Maximum duration increased from 3 to 3.5 seconds.

Micro Missiles

• Explosion damage increased from 4 to 5.5 damage (from 126 to 153 max damage with direct impacts)

DOOMFIST

Developer Comments: Most of Doomfist’s survivability is through his excellent mobility, but this boost to his passive Overhealth generation will enable him to stay in the fight longer before disengaging, especially when hitting multiple targets with his abilities.

The Best Defense…

• Overhealth gained per target increased from 35 to 40 HP.
• Delay before Overhealth begins to drain increased from 1 to 3 seconds.

JUNKER QUEEN

Developer Comments: Junker Queen is relatively small and fast for a Tank hero, so Commanding Shout doesn’t need a ton of bonus health to be effective. The increased wound healing better rewards her for managing her abilities well.

Commanding Shout

• Overhealth increased from 150 to 175 HP

Adrenaline Rush

• Wound damage self-healing multiplier increased from 2 to 2.5x

MAUGA

Developer Comments: Cardiac Overdrive is Mauga’s primary tanking ability that keeps him in the fight, but the previous duration was difficult to counter. It is now a more potent effect with a shorter duration to increase the importance of choosing both the right moment to use it as Mauga and when to try mitigating against it as an enemy.

Overrun

• Knockback damage increased from 25 to 30
• Stomp damage increased from 60 to 75

Cardiac Overdrive

• Duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds.
• Lifesteal increased from 60 to 100%.
• Damage reduction increased from 30 to 40%.
• Allies now receive only half of the lifesteal and damage reduction effect value.

ORISA

Developer Comments: The Fortify and Javelin Spin abilities were weakened further than necessary when Orisa was overly dominant. She has not been performing well since then but in this patch where we’re broadly adjusting how impactful the role is. So, there is room again to return some of Fortify’s effectiveness.

Fortify

• Duration increased from 3.5 to 4 seconds

RAMATTRA

Developer Comments: The Pummel damage adjustment is notable as it reduces the number of punches required to knockout a 250 health hero.

Nemesis Form

• Bonus armor increased from 225 to 300.

Pummel

• Pummel damage increased from 60 to 65.

REINHARDT

Developer Comments: One of the core design goals for Reinhardt is to be the hero that shields his team. In the past we’ve reduced the barrier health significantly in order to improve other offensive aspects of his kit to better fit the fast-paced gameplay of Overwatch 2, but perhaps it was too much. We still want to avoid barriers feeling mandatory due to how useful they can be and keep tank diversity at a healthy level. However, with this patch looking at the tank role in particular, we’re increasing Reinhardt’s barrier health again and will evaluate further.

Barrier Field

• Maximum health increased from 1400 to 1600.
• Barrier regeneration rate increased from 140 to 160 health per second.

Charge

• Wall impact damage increased from 275 to 300.

ROADHOG

Developer Comments: The Pig Pen ability wasn’t very useful outside of being used in the Chain Hook combo so we’re increasing its potential threat if an enemy stays within its area.

Pig Pen

• Area damage after activating increased from 30 to 45 damage per second.
• Recovery time reduced from 0.55 to 0.4 seconds.
• Cooldown now begins immediately when used instead of after a short delay.

SIGMA

Developer Comments: Sigma is a tank that does not currently have an issue with survivability when cycling between managing his barrier, Kinetic Grasp, and weapon range. We are however increasing the damage of Accretion to bring back more of the threat it used to pose and increase the satisfaction in landing it, as it also did not benefit from the global increase to projectile sizes.

Accretion

• Impact damage increased from 40 to 80 (120 damage total).

WINSTON

Developer Comments: Winston is one of the top performing tanks at the moment, though when considering how satisfying the individual abilities within his kit are, the Tesla Cannon secondary fire felt underwhelming for how long it took to charge, so it’ll now be a bit more fluid. We also still want Primal Rage mode Winston to be killable, but adding some health to it will help avoid some of the extreme situations where it could happen too quickly.

Tesla Cannon

• Secondary fire charge time reduced from 1 second to 0.85 seconds.

Primal Rage

• Maximum health gained increased from 500 to 700.

WRECKING BALL

Developer Comments: Wrecking Ball has excellent mobility and survivability and will now be more efficient in transferring some of that survivability to his teammates, should he choose to return to them. We’re also making the automatic reload in ball form match his manual reload timing for a smoother transition between modes.

Quad Cannons

• Automatic reload time while transformed reduced from 2 to 1.6 seconds.

Adaptive Shields

• Allied Overhealth transfer ratio increased by 50% (Use up to 50 Overhealth per target to grant allies up to 75 HP).

ZARYA

Developer Comments: Increasing the health on these barriers also means the total energy Zarya can gain per barrier is increased, so this is a boost to both her offensive and defensive capabilities.

Particle Barrier

• Health increased from 200 to 225.
• Duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds.

Projected Barrier

• Health increased from 200 to 225.
• Duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds.

DAMAGE

Damage Role Passive

• Now only half as effective against Tank heroes (10% healing reduction).

Developer Comments: With Tank heroes being the frontline, they have this healing reduction effect nearly all of the time and are generally the most reliant on incoming healing to support them as well. The damage role passive is providing an important function to game overall, but its effect on tanks survivability and pace of gameplay is more impactful relative to the other roles. As such, we are reducing its potency against Tank heroes.

ASHE

Developer Comments: This Big Omnic Butler tanks a lot of incoming fire and will now be more resistant to knockbacks and critical damage.

B.O.B.

• B.O.B. now gains the Tank role passive ability.

CASSIDY

Developer Comments: With his current tuning Cassidy is performing well in too many aspects between his range, burst damage, and survivability, leading to him being a dominant choice among the Damage heroes by an overwhelming amount. The gameplay goal for Cassidy is to be the sturdier, close-range hitscan who is more proficient at dealing with high mobility flankers. With this in mind, we’re pulling back the effective falloff range of his weapon to help align him with those gameplay goals and to open up more hero variety from the Damage role.

Peacekeeper

• Primary fire falloff range rescaled from 25-35 meters to 20-30 meters.

PHARAH

Developer Comments: This is a reversion back to Pharah’s Concussive Blast from before her recent rework. Dealing even a small amount of damage with this ability increases her lethality significantly and made it too reliable in finishing off low health targets, due to its wide area and fast projectile speed, without waiting the full recovery to fire another rocket.

Concussive Blast

• Explosion damage reduced from 30 to 0.
• Explosion knockback radius increased from 6 to 8 meters.
• Knockback increased by 11%.

Support

ANA

Developer Comments: Rather small change here but we’d like to minimize the amount of time Tanks can be taken out of the fight for and they are also the easiest targets to hit with Sleep Dart.

Sleep Dart

• Duration of effect on Tank heroes decreased from 3.5 to 3 seconds.

ILLARI

Developer Comments: Illari will still see this UI alert but allies generally don’t need to as it could occur fairly often and be distracting.

Healing Pylon

• Allies no longer see the “Destroyed” UI when Healing Pylon breaks

ZENYATTA

Developer Comments: We’re reducing the cost of Transcendence as Zenyatta was impacted more than most by some of the changes in this patch.

Transcendence

• Ultimate cost decreased 10%.

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed ranked progress bar UI not showing progress for Bronze 5.
• Fixed voice and text chat not functioning on PC with console players.
• Fixed in a previous update – Weekly and Daily Challenges would get reset to 0 after relog for some players.
• Fixed in a previous update – Screen tearing on PlayStation® 5 during large fights.
• Fixed in a previous update – Season 11 Voice Lines could be heard by anyone at any distance.

Heroes

Cassidy

• Fixed Deadeye tracking phased targets when revealed by Infra Sight.

D.Va

• Fixed an issue with Self Destruct hitting targets behind barriers or collision.

Kiriko

• Fixed teleporting to Echo as clone ends making the “Swift Step” ability to break for the remainder of the game.

Lifeweaver

• Fixed an exploit with Lifeweaver tree hiding Symmetra turrets in the payload.

Roadhog

• Fixed Roadhog’s weapon model/placement being largely higher wearing ‘Kaiju’ skin.