Overwatch 2 Season 1 midseason update patch notes – Hero buffs, nerfs, and changes

Overwatch 2 receives consistent updates to its player roster in terms of buffs and nerfs. With new heroes being added every other season and the many other constantly moving pieces of the game, Blizzard likes to adjust heroes to make sure they are not too powerful but also can maintain a decent level of win rate and playtime. Here are the full patch notes for the midseason changes to heroes in Overwatch 2 Season 1.

Related: Overwatch 2 tier list: The best heroes in Overwatch 2

Overwatch 2 Season 1 midseason patch notes

Below is a list of all changes made before Season 2 of Overwatch 2. The big notable changes this time are the changes to Sombra’s Hack ability, Genji’s offensive reduction with less ammo and damage, effectively killing his Dash combo from one-hit killing most enemies, and Competitive Mode rankings being adjusted to be a little better at determining your Skill Tier and Division. D.Va and Zarya should be a little harder for players to dominate a game with now, and the change to Kiriko should not effect her too significantly. What is most noticeable about the notes below is that Sojourn has not received any nerfs to her very powerful railgun yet.

Hero changes

• D.Va
  • Main fire spread increased to 3.75 from 3.5
  • Boosters’ impact damage reduced to 15 from 25
• Genji
  • Starting ammo reduced to 24 from 30
  • Shuriken damage reduced to 27 from 29
• Kiriko
  • Swift Step leaves Kiriko invulnerable for only .25 seconds instead of .4
• Sombra
  • Can no longer hack enemies that she has already hacked until the effect ends
  • Hacked enemies will get their abilities back in 1.5 seconds rather than 1.75
  • Hacked enemies’ damage taken from Sombra reduced to 25% from 40%
• Zarya
  • Barriers last 2 seconds rather than 2.5
  • Barrier cooldown extended to 11 seconds from 10

Hero bug fixes

• Brigitte
  • Brig’s shield will no longer become invulnerable
• Cassidy
  • Cassidy now drops the flag when using Combat Roll in the Capture the Flag game mode
• Genji
  • Fixed an issue with the Genji Mythic Skin’s hit volumes
• Junker Queen
  • Using Commanding Shout and Rampage now drops the flag in the Capture the Flag game mode
• Kiriko
  • Kiriko can no longer escape map boundaries using Swift Step
• Mei
  • Mei is back in the game
  • Fixed several issues with Mei’s Ice Wall that allowed players and projectiles to occasionally pass through it or slip off it
• Mercy
  • Made a change to the sound of Mercy’s first-person glide to address frequencies that some players found uncomfortable
• Sojourn
  • Sojourn can no longer pick up the flag in Capture the Flag when using Power Slide
• Wrecking Ball
  • Adaptive Shield will no longer make you lose health

General changes

• Competitive calculations that determine your skill tier and division have been adjusted
• Your estimated queue time when searching for a game should be closer to correct
• Console players will now have aim assist when playing crossplay matches with people on PC
• Audio transcription services for reporting disruptive players has entered beta for PC players in some countries
• PC Only – The Default setting for audio mix has been changed to “studio reference”
• Resolved an issue where some players could be stuck in Bronze 5 even after several rank updates
• Console Only – Fixed an issue where the PC interface was being forced on for some console players
• Console Only – Fixed a bug on console where your game could freeze if you opened and closed a Hero cinematic
• Console Only – Fixed an issue where ‘Capture Highlight’ could not be unbound from Left D-Pad
• Addressed multiple leaderboard issues causing inaccurate placement and ordering
• Players who getting healed will no longer see the healing status effect on their screen while they’re full health
• Fixed an issue where players would sometimes be placed into an empty game
• Resolved a bug that prevented players from rejoining their competitive game after being disconnected
• Fixed a bug where typing in chat could purchase an item from the Hero Gallery
• The ‘No Name Card’ selection in the Name Card interface is now selectable
• Fixed a display issue where players were shown the incorrect amount of Overwatch League tokens, which made them unable to purchase items. The display now shows the correct amount of tokens a player owns
• The ‘Avoid Teammates’ button is no longer hiding behind the Recent Players list
• Fixed an issue with the Challenge ‘Farsighted’ not correctly tracking and/or completing
• Fixed an issue with the Challenge ‘Damage Sponge’ not correctly tracking and/or completing
• Resolved instances of the player’s screen becoming blurry/out of focus
• Fixed an issue where some players were missing the Noire Widowmaker skin
• Various visual improvements to the First Time User Experience