Season 3 of Overwatch 2 will begin on February 7, and Blizzard has posted patch notes in preparation for the next season, which outline anticipated changes. There are a lot of changes to heroes in this patch, some of which are designed to make Mercy less powerful.
The forthcoming patch mostly affects Mercy, with her movement ability cooldown increasing from 1.5 to 2.5 seconds. While her healing rate is decreasing from 55 per second to 45 per second, it will increase by 50% for teammates with less than half of their health.
Mercy’s self-healing is now equal to 25% of her output, and she no longer benefits from the support passive where she heals over time. These adjustments are aimed to force her to spend more time healing her teammates in order to replenish her own health, rather of spending that time damage-boosting high-damage heroes like Sojourn, Widowmaker, and Ashe.
In the future update, Wrecking Ball will receive several improvements that will make him more capable of operating independently. As 150 of his current health is diverted into shields, they will gradually refill. The cooldown on his Pile Driver ability has been lowered from 10 to 8 seconds, while the arming time on his Minefield ultimate has been lowered from 1.5 seconds to 1 second.
Reinhardt will also be receiving buffs and a nerf in the future patch. With the damage increase, Reinhardt’s Fire Strike can now one-shot heroes with 200 health if he lands both charges. To keep adversaries from being mistakenly knocked out of melee range, Reinhardt has had 40% taken off the knockback range of his main attack.
We highlighted some of our prior Patch Notes articles You can find them listed below-
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So that he can’t one-shot anyone with Earthshatter, his ultimate ability, its direct hit damage has been lowered from 250 to 170. While this has no effect on the damage dealt to foes at greater distances, the duration of their knockdown has been raised from 2.5 seconds to 2.75 seconds.
Because of the possibility of having many tanks on a team in non-role queue playlists, all tank heroes’ health has been lowered. As for the heroes, this patch makes a few minor adjustments to things like Cassidy’s damage falloff range, Torbjorn’s turret health, and Junkrat’s concussion mine damage.
The entire patch notes for Season 3 of Overwatch 2 may be read on the official website or down below:
NEW MAP: ANTARCTIC PENINSULA
Travel around the Antarctic Peninsula’s icy terrain. Find the icebreaker ship that tried and failed to save Mei-Ling Zhou and her friends, and investigate the abandoned station where the Overwatch Ecopoint team once looked for the source of a dangerous anomaly endangering the globe.
STREAMER PROTECT, A NEW FEATURE
In-game options to enable Streamer Protect are now available to players. By using these settings, players can protect their anonymity when broadcasting matches online.
GENERAL UPDATES
Accessibility Improvements
- Improved Subtitles Options: text scalability, character portrait icons, speaker name, text color, background color, and subtitle preview in the options menu
- Added mouse cursor size setting for PC
- Added setting to select custom colors for Group and Alert colors in the UI. Preview feature added to preview custom colors in the accessibility options
Challenges
- Added challenges to unlock “Silhouette” player icons for all heroes
- Added tracking for each of the roles for the Weekly “Role Mastery” challenge
- Added Ramattra unlock challenges
- Partial progress through the season three Battle Pass is now carried over to the “Wins for Ramattra” challenge
Endorsements
- Players can now endorse the opposing team
- All players can now be endorsed in Free-For-All game modes
Game Report
- Players can view scoreboards from previous matches within the View Game Reports menu found in the History tab of the Career Profile
Mystery Heroes Changes
- Previously, each team could have up to three of each role in a mystery heroes game. In the game Mystery Heroes, you play the role of Reinhardt. You also have Mercy, Ana, and Lucio on your team. There are already three Support heroes on your squad, thus respawning as one will not be an option if you die. When you respawn, you’ll be assigned a new role as either a Damage or Tank Hero.
- In Custom Games, navigate to Settings > Modes > All > Random Hero Role Limit Per Team to alter the maximum number of roles each team is allowed to have. This option is only active when the Respawn as Random Hero option is turned on.
Overwatch Credits are back
- Overwatch Credits, which were previously labeled “Legacy Credits” and were not earnable in Overwatch 2, can now once again be earned through progressing in the Season 3 Battle Pass
- All players can earn up to 1500 credits as free rewards, and another 500 credits are available as premium rewards in the Season 3 Battle Pass
- Credits can be spent in the Hero Gallery, which now contains nearly all seasonal Epic and Legendary-tier skins released prior to the launch of Overwatch 2. This includes many skins that were previously only available for purchase with Coins in the “Just for You” section of our Shop
Ping System Update
- Pressing Ability 1 or Ability 2 when the ping wheel is open and when these abilities are on cooldown now prints these cooldowns in chat
Example: If Baptiste’s Immortality Field is on cooldown and you press the key/button to activate the ability while the Ping Wheel is open, the cooldown for the ability will be printed in chat
COMPETITIVE PLAY
Season 3 competitive play begins now! Here are some of the latest updates aimed at improving the competitive experience in Overwatch 2:
- Skill tiers and divisions will adjust after every 5 wins or 15 losses and ties (formally 7 wins or 20 losses and ties)
- Players can select the “View Competitive Progress” button from the Competitive menu to view their progress toward receiving a rank update
WORKSHOP UPDATES
- Workshop Editor is back!
Workshop Moderation Tools
We added new menu options when reporting a player. Our goal is to give players more ways to report inappropriate behavior so that we can take action in a timely manner. As a result, you can select the category and sub-category that best explain why you are reporting the player or their custom content. The major categories include:
- Inappropriate Communication
- Inappropriate Name
- Cheating
- Gameplay Sabotage
- Inappropriate Custom Content
HERO UPDATES
ALL HEROES
- Maximum ultimate charge retained when swapping heroes reduced from 30 to 25%
TANK ROLE PASSIVE
- The health totals for all tank heroes will be lower when playing any game mode that does not have a role queue. Health totals will remain the same for tanks when playing any Role Queue enabled game.
TANK
D.Va
- Mech base health in Role Queue modes remains the same at 350
- Mech base health in non-Role Queue modes reduced from 350 to 200
Doomfist
- Base health in Role Queue modes remains the same at 450
- Base health in non-Role Queue modes reduced from 450 to 300
Junkerqueen
- Base health in Role Queue modes increased to 450
- Base health in non-Role Queue modes reduced from 425 to 300
Orisa
- Base health in Role Queue modes remains the same at 275
- Base health in non-Role Queue modes reduced from 275 to 125
Augmented Fusion Driver
- Damage falloff range reduced from 25 to 15 meters
Ramattra
- Base health in Role Queue modes remains the same at 450
- Base health in non-Role Queue modes reduced from 450 to 300
Annihilation
- Damaging enemies with the ultimate now slows the duration timer down instead of pausing it entirely. Lasts up to 20 seconds
- Ultimate cost increased 12%
Reinhardt
- Base health in Role Queue modes remains the same at 325
- Base health in non-Role Queue modes reduced from 325 to 175
Charge
- Cooldown reduced from 8 to 7 seconds
Fire Strike
- Damage increased from 90 to 100
Earthshatter
- Direct hit damage reduced from 250 to 170
- Knockdown duration increased from 2.5 to 2.75 seconds
- Ultimate cost increased 7%
Rocket Hammer
- Knockback impulse reduced from 10 to 6
Roadhog
- Base health in Role Queue modes remains the same at 700
- Base health in non-Role Queue modes reduced from 700 to 550
Whole Hog
- Maximum duration increased from 6 to 8 seconds
- Ultimate cost increased 8%
Sigma
- Base health in Role Queue modes remains the same at 350
- Base health in non-Role Queue modes reduced from 350 to 200
Gravitic Flux
- Ultimate cost increased 7%
Winston
- Base health in Role Queue modes remains the same at 350
- Base health in none non-Role Queue modes reduced from 350 to 200
Barrier Projector
- Health reduced from 700 to 650
Wrecking Ball
- Base health in Role Queue modes reduced from 600 to 450
- Base health in non-Role Queue modes reduced from 600 to 300
- Shield health increased from 0 to 150
Pile Driver
- Cooldown reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
Minefield
- Ultimate cost increased 9%
- Arming time reduced from 1.5 to 1 second
Zarya
- Base health in Role Queue modes remains the same at 250
- Base health in non-Role Queue modes reduced from 250 to 100
Graviton Surge
- Ultimate cost increased 8%
DAMAGE
Cassidy
Combat Roll
- Movement is no longer blocked by enemy player collision
Peacekeeper
- Primary fire falloff range increased from 20 to 25 meters
Junkrat
Concussion Mine
- Maximum damage reduced from 120 to 100
Mei
Blizzard
- Ultimate cost reduced 5%
Pharah
Barrage
- Ultimate cost reduced 5%
Reaper
Death Blossom
- Ultimate cost reduced 8%
Soldier:76
Heavy Pulse Rifle
- Number of shots to reach maximum recoil increased from 4 to 6
- Recoil reduced 12%
Sombra
Machine Pistol
- Damage per projectile increased from 7 to 7.5
Hack
- Health pack hacked duration increased from 30 to 45 seconds
Symmetra
Photon Barrier
- Ultimate cost increased 10%
Torbjorn
Deploy Turret
- Turret base health reduced from 250 to 225
Widowmaker
- Base health reduced from 200 to 175
SUPPORT
Ana
Biotic Grenade
- Effect duration reduced from 4 to 3.5 seconds
Brigitte
Repair Pack
- Healing over time reduced from 55 to 50 per second
- Applying a Repair Pack now instantly heals for 25 health on impact
Rally
- Ultimate cost reduced 10%
Lucio
Sound Barrier
- Ultimate cost reduced 7%
Mercy
Guardian Angel
- Cooldown increased from 1.5 to 2.5 seconds
- Holding the backwards directional input and canceling the ability with Jump now moves 20% slower
Caduceus Staff
- Healing-per-second reduced from 55 to 45
- Healing is increased by 50% for allies under half health
Regeneration Passive
- Regeneration Passive removed
New Passive: “Sympathetic Recovery”
- Mercy heals herself for 25% of healing done with the Caduceus Staff
Moira
Coalescence
- Ultimate cost reduced 5%
Zenyatta
Orb of Destruction
- Ammo increased from 20 to 25
SEASON 3 MAP POOLS
Push
- New Queen Street – Morning
- Colosseo – Morning (NEW)
- Esperança – Morning
Hybrid
- Blizzard World – Morning
- King’s Row – Evening
- Midtown – Morning
- Numbani – Morning
- Paraíso – Morning
Escort
- Dorado – Night
- Havana – Night (NEW)
- Junkertown – Morning
- Circuit royal – Morning (NEW)
- Rialto – Morning
- Shambali Monastery – Night
Control
- Antarctic Peninsula – Night (NEW MAP)
- Ilios – Morning
- Lijiang Tower – Night
- Nepal – Evening
- Oasis – Evening
BUG FIXES
GENERAL
Ping System
- Unified the range for most targeted ally pings to 35 meters
- Fixed D.Va hearing the “Behind You” VO in unintended circumstances when enemies are pinged
- Fixed a bug where pings could be fired by the Communication Wheel if the Ping Wheel had been canceled (by not moving the mouse or with a manual cancel)
- Fixed free camera spectators hearing “Need Healing/Need Help” sound effects (not voice-over) if the hero requesting healing was injured and within 30 meters of the spectator’s free cam
- Fixed Mercy’s Soul Pings not displaying her Resurrect cooldown time remaining in some circumstances
- Made all pings available to be placed in the Communication Wheel
- Fixed the issue where OW1 players with pings in the Communication Wheel couldn’t change their options in the Communications menu
- Fixed self-pings being able to fire Hero-specific pings (Example: Group Up could cause Mercy to say she’d like to Resurrect a teammate)
Other Fixes
- Fixed an issue where some players were unable to receive or send invites
- Fixed an issue with Junkerqueen’s Mythic skin ‘Zeus’ not having glowing hair on console
- Resolved a bug where all maps were toggled off by default when starting a new Custom Game
- Fixed a bug where sometimes Health Packs were displaying the cooldown circle while the health pack was available
- Fixed a bug where the Social Screen would not display friends correctly on some consoles
- Improved the performance when viewing the friend’s section of the Competitive leaderboard
- Fixed an issue with Cyber Genji displaying broken animations when using emotes or souvenirs
- Healing VFX on players being healed should no longer clip through the environment
- Resolved an issue with the level of bloom on several maps
MAPS
Blizzard World
- Fixed lighting in several areas around the map
Busan
- Meka Base: Fixed areas near forklifts that players could become stuck on
Dorado
- Fixed lighting in some areas of the map
Esperança
- Fixed some areas that should have been slippery for players but were not
- Fixed some areas where players could become stuck
- Added a missing flag to the loading screen of Esperança
Oasis
- City Center: Fixed several reflection issues
- Gardens: Fixed multiple lighting issues
Colosseo
- Fixed ambient lighting across the map
Shambali Monastery
- Fixed areas of the map that should have been slippery but were not
- Fixed areas of the map that allowed players to leave the playable space
- Fixed areas players could become stuck
- General bug fixes across the map
HEROES
Ana
- Fixed a bug with Ana’s OWL skins missing their eyepatch
Doomfist
- Fixed an issue where Doomfist would spawn with an empowered punch if killed by the environment while blocking
- Fixed a bug where Environmental eliminations from Rocket Punch were not credited if the target slammed into a wall before dying
- Fixed a bug where Seismic Slam would sometimes fail to break breakables
- Resolved an issue with Seismic Slam not animating correctly when used to cancel Rocket Punch
- Fixed an instance where Doomfist could use Primary Fire during the Meteor Strike outro animation
Genji
- Fixed a bug to make Genji’s attack animations smoother
Junkerqueen
- (Fixed in a previous update) Fixed an issue where Carnage could activate the cooldown reduction on non-player objects
Junkrat
- Fixed an issue with Steel Trap sometimes failing to place
Kiriko
- Fixed an issue where using Swift Step would sometimes cause Kiriko to fall through the map
- Fixed an issue where Swift Step was missing effects when arriving at the target
- Hero Melee animations should animate more consistently when under the effect of Kitsune Rush
Mercy
- Fixed a bug where Mercy’s heal target would heal to full if the Mercy player disconnects from the game if they were actively healing
Moira
- Fixed an issue where Coalescence was not benefiting from Kitsune Rush
Ramattra
- Fixed a bug with Ravenous Vortex not spawning if it gets stuck between the Push bot and the barrier it pushes
- Fixed a bug where damage from some abilities was not counting toward the ‘Incomparable Pain’ achievement
- Fixed an issue with the Heroic Highlight Intro being blurry in the Hero Gallery
Sigma
- Fixed an issue where Sigma’s Hyperspheres were sometimes missing
Sombra
- Fixed a bug with Sombra’s Passive tooltip displaying the incorrect value
Symmetra
- Symmetra can no longer fire her Photon Projector while casting Photon Barrier