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Overwatch 2 officially goes live on 4th October, debuting Season 1 and kicking off a brand new era for the game. Ahead of the launch, developers released patch notes for the new season. In Overwatch 2 seasons will last for 9 weeks and bring in new maps, heroes, game modes and more. As of now, Overwatch 2 will be releasing a new hero every season. The Season 1 update is nerfing tanks like Orisa, the new Junker Queen and D.Va. and some general changes to all heroes. Let’s look at all the updates to hero balance coming to Overwatch 2 Season 1.
Overwatch 2 Season 1 Balancing Changes
The following changes are coming to the game on 4th October.
General
Temporary health now grants 50% reduced ultimate charge instead of zero ultimate charge.
Damage Role Passive - New Passive: Eliminations grant 25% increased reload and movement speed for 2.5 seconds. Does not stack with itself but will refresh the duration.
All heroes now refund up to 30% ultimate power on hero swap
Junker Queen
Commanding Shout
Allied health bonus reduced from 100 to 50 HP
Allied duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds
Temporary health no longer decays over its duration
Cooldown increased from 11 to 15 seconds
Orisa
Base health increased from 250 to 275
Base armor increased from 250 to 275
Energy Javelin cooldown reduced from 8 to 6 seconds
D.Va
Boosters impact damage increased from 10 to 25
Micro Missiles cooldown reduced from 8 to 7 seconds
Call Mech ultimate cost reduced by 12%
Brigitte
Inspire duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds
Baptiste
Biotic Launcher primary fire damage increased from 24 to 25
Biotic Launcher primary fire minimum falloff range increased from 20 to 25 meters
Mercy
Pressing Crouch during Guardian Angel now launches you straight up
Angelic Descent can now be activated by holding Crouch while airborne
Bastion
Ironclad passive is enabled again (20% damage reduction while transformed)
Reaper
Hellfire Shotguns spread reduced from 8 to 7 degrees.
Sojourn
Railgun energy gain from non-player targets (barriers, turrets, etc.) reduced by an additional 50%.
Sombra
Hack ability lockout duration increased from 1 to 1.75 seconds.
Overwatch 2 also announced a new push map debuting in Season 1
The developer announced the new Esperanča map, set in Portugal coming to Season 1 on 4th October. Esperanča is a push map, similar to Colosseo and New Queen Street.
