Overwatch 2 Mid-Season Update: Bug Squashes Galore!

The mid-season balancing patch for Overwatch 2 has been published, however, there are fewer hero balance adjustments than anticipated. Because the hotfix hero balancing patch to a select Overwatch 2 heroes in mid-December addressed the most common problems, this planned patch corrected more gameplay and visual flaws than usual.

In the early stages of Overwatch 2, new maps, heroes, and metals often appeared and vanished. The Battle for Olympus Team Deathmatch mode will debut with the January balancing patch, in which Overwatch players will compete as heroes with Greek-themed skins and enhanced skills to gain those skins, trademark voice lines, and fame. With the Battle for Olympus taking centre stage and other key hero balancing changes handled in a December update, this balance patch is light on hero changes but tackles several critical flaws hurting the Overwatch playing experience.

 

 

The midseason hero balancing in Overwatch 2 only changed four heroes. Junker Queen has received buffs that will increase her personal healing. When an opponent is affected by the effect of the Wounds and dies, the recovery from her Adrenaline Rush passive ability is increased, so she will continue to get wounds healing until the Wounds influence time runs out. Her Carnage ability’s cooldown will be reduced by 2 seconds for each opponent struck. The direct hit damage of Jagged Blade is reduced from 80 to 50, but it produces 30 Wound damage, which stacks with Wound produced by melee attacks or Jagged Blade return. Junker Queen buffs have been a hot topic among Overwatch 2 fans, and the previous two hero updates have gone a long way toward making her viable again.

Zarya’s energy loss rate will be reduced from 2.2 to 2 points per second, and the wait before energy degradation starts will be raised from 1 to 2 seconds. Brigitte’s shield health will be boosted from 250 to 300. Damage to Moira’s Biotic Orbs now restores a small amount of Biotic Energy. Bug fixes in this version include Ramattra’s Souvenirs’ incorrect placement, dark textures should no longer display during Kiriko’s Whirlwind animation, Reaper’s animation while exiting the “Take a Knee” emote, and various non-gameplay animations. The tracer may now absorb damage from her pulse bombs again, as well as a Kiriko Swift Step problem unique to Capture-the-Flag mode and additional flaws involving Mercy, Ramattra, and Bastion. Bugs in Watchpoint: Gibraltar and Shambali have also been fixed.

Following the publication of the January 5 patch notes, Aaron Keller tweeted that the expected Roadhog redesign might arrive by late January. For better or worse, the Overwatch development team has stuck to hero balance and listening to the community when fixing hero flaws and bugs. That, hopefully, will be a constant throughout this game.