New Hero: Ashe (Damage): Ashe’s arsenal of weapons makes her a versatile offensive hero, capable of setting up the perfect situation to shoot down dangerous enemies from range or deal high area-of-effect burst damage to groups of heroes. Her primary weapon is the Viper, a lever-action rifle with two firing modes: semi-automatic and aim down sights. In semi-automatic mode, the Viper shoots rapidly with a high spread. Aiming down the sights lets Ashe line up precise shots, increasing damage at the expense of speed. She can turn any situation into her favor with her Coach Gun a short-range, high-impact sidearm that deals big damage and clears the way by knocking back nearby enemies. It can also be used to knock herself back for added mobility, either to reposition herself for a clear shot, or to escape pursuing enemies. Ashe’s Dynamite ability is a thrown explosive that detonates after a delay. It deals damage in a wide radius and sets enemies on fire for additional damage over time. She can also shoot the dynamite to detonate it early, allowing her to damage unsuspecting enemies. Her ultimate ability, B.O.B., sends Ashe’s loyal omnic companion rushing into the fray, shoving aside the frontline to rough up targets in the backline. To learn more about Ashe, click here.

HERO UPDATES

General

Made jump height consistent across hero roster

Mercy

Valkyrie
- Ultimate cost reduced 15%
- Healing per second increased from 50 to 60

Developer Comments: Mercy's ultimate was charging a bit too slowly after her base healing was reduced in a previous update. These changes should restore some of her ultimate’s strength and let it build up more quickly. Reaper

Hellfire Shotguns
- Spread randomization reduced by 50%
- Spread pattern adjusted
The Reaping
- Life steal increased from 20% to 30% of damage dealt

Developer Comments: Reaper's specialty is fighting at a very close range. The more consistent spread pattern and increase in healing from his passive ability will make him more capable of standing toe-to-toe with his enemies. Roadhog

Chain Hook
- Decreased the delay before pulling a hooked target from 0.5 seconds to 0.3 seconds
- Now greatly reduces the target’s momentum upon being hooked
- Cooldown now begins immediately, instead of after the target has been pulled
Scrap Gun
- Spread pattern adjusted for both primary and secondary fire
- Spread randomization reduced by 50%
Whole Hog
- Knockback maximum velocity increased by 25% (from 8 to 10 meters per second)
- Horizontal recoil decreased slightly

Developer Comments: Roadhog is receiving several large changes to make his abilities more consistent. His Chain Hook had issues with breaking when enemy targets jumped or fell behind environment collision. It will now slow them down in the air more when the hook lands, and wait less time before it starts reeling them in. Since Chain Hook’s cooldown now begins immediately upon use, it no longer varies based on Roadhog’s distance to the hook target. We’ve also moved some of the projectiles closer to the center of the spread pattern on his Scrap Gun, which gives him a more consistent damage output for its primary and alternate fire. Previously, there was a long-standing bug that caused close-range targets to fly much further than expected. After this bug was fixed, we still wanted to keep some of the knockback burst it provided, so we’ve increased the overall velocity cap to maintain some of that functionality. Symmetra

Photon Projector
- Primary fire beam charges up 20% faster

Developer Comments: It's still difficult to use Symmetra's Photon Projector beam effectively, even after its range was increased. By speeding up the primary fire charge rate, it takes less time to ramp up to its full damage potential and will be a stronger option when she’s presented with targets to charge up on.

USER UPDATES

General

Removed the “Unlock All” option in the Hero Gallery

BUG FIXES

A.I.

Fixed a bug that caused Mei bots to attempt landing headshots on Wrecking Ball while he was immune to them in Roll mode
Fixed a bug that caused bots to get stuck near Point A on Eichenwalde

Heroes Brigitte

Fixed a bug that prevented Brigitte’s Whip Shot from going on cooldown if it was interrupted before the chain retracted

Doomfist

Fixed a bug that prevented victims of Doomfist’s Rocket Punch from ragdolling if they were eliminated by it
Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Rising Uppercut from damaging enemies
Fixed a bug that prevented Doomist’s Seismic Slam from dealing damage if he hit by a knockback ability the moment he landed

Junkrat

Fixed a bug that caused Junkrat to return to his idle animation if he was stunned while using RIP-Tire

Lúcio

Fixed a bug that caused some allied heroes to say their “under attack” voice lines when receiving a friendly Sound Barrier

Orisa

Fixed bug that prevented Orisa’s Fortify from canceling Doomfist’s Rising Uppercut air control effects

Reinhardt

Fixed a bug that allowed Reinhardt’s Earthshatter to hit Brigitte when she blocked it with her Barrier Shield if she was strafing during high latency periods

Roadhog

Fixed a bug that prevented Chain Hook from going on cooldown if it was interrupted before the chain retracted
Fixed a bug that prevented Chain Hook from destroying breakable objects when pulling the target backward
Fixed a bug that caused Roadhog’s Whole Hog visual effects to cover a wider area than the spread of projectiles

Symmetra

Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra to charge up her primary weapon on enemy ice walls

Torbjörn

Fixed a bug that prevented Santaclad Torbjörn’s ultimate voice lines from playing when activating Molten Core
Fixed a visual issue that prevented Molten Core’s magma globules from appearing in the correct place with his Barbarossa or Blackbeard skins equipped
Fixed an animation issue that caused Torbjörn’s claw arm to suddenly appear when Overload and Molten Core were used in quick succession
[PS4/XB1] Fixed a bug that allowed Torbjörn to have aim assist during Molten Core

Tracer

Fixed an issue that caused Tracer to accelerate slightly slower and decelerate slightly faster than other heroes

Wrecking Ball

Fixed a bug that prevented Wrecking Ball voice lines from playing when previewed after opening a Loot Box

Zarya

Fixed a bug that allowed heroes to charge through a Graviton Surge without getting trapped

Hero Gallery General

Fixed an issue that caused some heroes legs to twitch when viewed in the Hero Gallery
Fixed a bug that prevented players from rotating heroes in the Hero Gallery while the UI was hidden

Social

Fixed a bug that allowed players to hear the voice lines of heroes controlled by players they muted

Game Browser and Custom Games Maps

Fixed a bug that prevented the payload from healing attackers if they were damaged while pushing it on Assault/Escort and Escort maps
Fixed a lighting issue that caused a skyscraper in Hollywood’s skyline to appear pitch black

OVERWATCH PATCH NOTES – OCTOBER 9, 2018

A new patch is now live on PlayStation 4. Read below to learn more about the latest changes. To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum. For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

New Seasonal Event: Halloween Terror 2018 The fright for the future returns! In addition to playing the limited-time brawl, you'll also be able to unlock new seasonal items—including six new legendary skins like Banshee Moira, Jack-o’-lantern Wrecking Ball, and Enchanted Armor Pharah—alongside our growing collection of bone-chilling gear from previous years. Learn more about Halloween Terror here. Color Blind Option Updates Customize how team colors are displayed in your user interface (e.g. nameplates, HUD, health bars, and hero outlines) with a set of nine different colorblind-friendly colors to choose from. You can also colorize enemy and friendly UI separately. These options can be found under Options > Video > Color Blind Options. All changes made will be saved and ready for you to see in the next match you play!

GENERAL UPDATES

General

Updated the audio mix to add more clarity and dynamic range for all sounds in the game

Developer Comments: We’ve added more heroes and features to the game, so the audio mix has become more complex, which required us to rebalance sounds across the game. In this update, we extended the range of third-person weapon sounds, increased the range of first-person weapon impacts in the world, and generally balanced third-person footsteps and ability sounds.

HERO UPDATES

General

Updated visuals for all shields and barriers to increase readability
Enemies’ health bars will now become visible to players if an entity they create deals damage to an enemy (e.g. Symmetra’s turrets)

Brigitte

Barrier Shield
- Shield health reduced from 600 to 500

Developer Comments: The health of Brigitte’s barrier was extremely difficult for most heroes to deal with, especially as she closes the distance to her targets. This change still provides Brigitte with substantial survivability but should also be more rewarding for opponents who pressure her. Doomfist

Hand Cannon
- Damage falloff now starts at 15 meters

Developer Comments: Doomfist is all about getting up close and personal with his enemies, but his Hand Cannon's spread was tight enough to do surprising amounts of damage at longer ranges, especially against bigger targets. This change brings his weapon in line with other shotgun-style weapons by making its damage fall off beyond 15 meters. McCree

Combat Roll
- Cooldown reduced from 8 to 6 seconds

Developer Comments: Previously, McCree’s Combat Roll cooldown felt too restrictive, which sometimes prohibited players from using it. The new, faster cooldown allows for more flexibility when choosing between using it for mobility or an instant reload. Pharah

Concussive Blast
- Cooldown reduced from 12 to 9 seconds
Rocket Launcher
- Attack speed increased
  - Lowered recovery time between shots from 0.9 to 0.75 seconds
- Damage redistributed between explosion and impact
  - Explosion damage reduced from 80 to 65
  - Impact damage increased from 40 to 55
- Explosion knock back reduced by 20%
- Self-knockback amount increased by 25%

Developer Comments: We wanted to increase how responsive Pharah’s Rocket Launcher felt, because a full second of recovery between shots made it feel sluggish. To balance out the improved recovery time, we shifted some damage from the rocket's explosion to the direct impact damage. The overall damage potential is now increased when landing direct hits and decreased slightly when only dealing explosive damage. We reduced the amount of knockback each explosion causes, as it made it very difficult to aim at Pharah with rockets coming in at a faster pace. The Concussive Blast cooldown reduction should allow the ability to sync up more closely with the Jump Jet cooldown when used for mobility. Mei

General
- Updated visual effects for all abilities

Orisa

Fusion Driver
- Maximum spread reduced by 20%

Developer Comments: Orisa spends a significant amount of time firing her Fusion Driver from a relatively stationary location. The weapon's spread value caused it to feel too random when leading targets at a distance, considering the projectiles' travel time. We’ve tightened the spread slightly, which should leave her close- and mid-range damage potential largely unchanged, while making it feel better when hitting targets at longer ranges. Soldier: 76

Heavy Pulse Rifle
- Number of shots until reaching maximum spread increased from 6 to 9

Developer Comments: Soldier: 76’s damage output was a bit low, but not too far off from where we felt it should be. Making it take a few more shots to reach max spread smooths out the weapon spread curve and should make his damage more consistent. Torbjörn

General
- Reduced the size of Torbjörn’s head hit volume by 10%
Rivet Gun
- Primary Fire
  - Projectile speed increased from 60 to 70 per second
  - Reload time reduced from 2.2 to 2 seconds
  - Turret targets enemy hit by primary fire
- Alternate Fire
  - Recovery lowered from 0.8 to 0.6 seconds
  - Damage per shot lowered from 150 to 125
  - Reload time reduced from 2.2 to 2 seconds
  - Spread randomization readjusted
- Forge Hammer
  - Radius increased to align with Quick Melee
- Deploy Turret
  - Turret is now a thrown projectile
  - Automatically builds over three seconds
    - No longer has different levels
    - Same damage output as previous level 2 turret
  - Maximum health reduced from 300 to 250
  - Now incurs a 5 second cooldown when deployed
  - Now incurs a 10 second cooldown when destroyed in combat
  - No longer able to deploy a new turret if it’s in combat
    - While the turret is firing
    - If the turret has taken damage within three seconds
  - Can now be destroyed using the Interact input
  - Completes self-building once deployed, even if Torbjörn is eliminated
- New Ability: Overload
  - Replaces Armor Pack
  - Lasts for 5 seconds
  - Cooldown is 12 seconds
  - Temporarily grants 150 armor
  - Increases attack, movement, and reload speeds by 30%
- New Ultimate: Molten Core
  - Switches weapon from Rivet Gun to his claw arm
  - Lasts 6 seconds
  - Fire up to 10 molten globules that create damage pools where they land for 10 seconds
    - Globules bounce off walls and ceilings until they hit the ground
  - Base damage is 130
  - Damage increases from 130 to 190 against enemies who have armor
    - Heroes affected by armor: Bastion, Brigitte, D.Va, Orisa, Reinhardt, Torbjörn, Winston, Wrecking Ball
    - Heroes who can grant armor to their allies: Brigitte

Developer Comments: Torbjörn was initially designed to be a specialized hero, intended to be a strong defensive option due to his armor-generating capabilities and ability to control areas with his turret. However, the scrap collecting and Armor Pack mechanics have proven to cause problematic gameplay issues because of their feast or famine nature. To make him more flexible in a wide variety of situations, we’ve removed the scrap system, made the turret much easier to deploy, replaced the Armor Pack ability with Overload—a powerful self-buff—and transformed Molten Core into a powerful new area denial ultimate ability. Please note that Torbjörn will be unavailable in Competitive Play for two weeks. Learn more here.

MAP UPDATES

General

Reduced the setup timer for Assault, Escort, and Assault/Escort maps from 1 minute to 45 seconds
Assemble Your Team timer increased from 10 to 25 seconds in the second round on Assault, Assault/Escort, and Escort maps

USER INTERFACE UPDATES

General

A slider to change Player Outline Strength has been added under Options > Gameplay

BUG FIXES

Heroes Bastion

Fixed a bug that caused the roll bar on Bastion’s Dune Buggy skin to obscure its view when backing up or firing in Tank configuration

D.Va

Fixed a bug that prevented some glowing effects from appearing on D.Va’s Nano Cola skin
Fixed a bug that prevented D.Va from fully appearing when viewing her MEKA Activated highlight intro in the Hero Gallery

Hanzo

Fixed a bug that caused Hanzo’s Storm Bow reticle to be visible while emoting

Mei

Fixed a bug that prevented Mei’s Blizzard from freezing enemies when cast in areas with low ceilings

Reinhardt

Fixed a bug that caused the player’s reticle to pitch up after using Earthshatter
Fixed a bug that caused Reinhardt’s Earthshatter animations to play if used while he was juggled in the air by knockback abilities
Fixed a bug that caused Reinhardt’s Rocket Hammer to knock enemies back further than intended
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Reinhardt’s Charge to knock back the target rather than pinning them
Fixed a bug that would let Reinhardt immediately pin an enemy after a knock back close to a wall
Fixed a bug that allowed area affect abilities to hit Reinhardt’s Barrier Field from further than intended (e.g. Reinhardt’s Rocket Hammer and Junkrat’s Concussion Mines)

Sombra

Fixed an issue that caused Sombra to change the direction she was facing when using her Translocator to teleport
Fixed a bug that sometimes allowed Sombra’s Translocator to reach unintended places
Fixed a bug that prevented some abilities from being able to destroy Sombra’s Translocator if it was placed in certain locations

Symmetra

Fixed a bug that caused Symmetra to have a chance of playing inaccurate voice lines when placing turrets
Fixed a bug that caused Symmetra’s alternate fire to appear to detonate after missing a target

Torbjörn

Fixed a bug that prevented Torbjörn’s medal from appearing in his Medal victory pose

Zarya

Fixed a bug that caused Zarya’s Particle Cannon reticle to be visible while emoting

Maps Busan

Fixed a bug that allowed players to stand on some prohibited rooftops in Downtown
Fixed a bug that prevented sprays from displaying on glass windows in MEKA Base

Volskaya Industries

Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving capture credit if they dropped onto the point from one of the moving platforms

Game Browser and Custom Games Deathmatch

Fixed a bug that prevented the “your team has lost” or “your team has taken the lead” voice lines from playing when the score swap happens due to self-inflicted deaths

VS AI

Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving an “unable to join” error message if they attempted to spectate a Player vs AI match when all spectator slots were full

OVERWATCH PATCH NOTES – SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

NEW MAP – BUSAN Travel to Busan, South Korea and battle for control across three distinct locales within one map: Sanctuary, Downtown, and MEKA Base. Explore the serene setting of the Sanctuary, surrounded by an ancient temple, beautiful gardens, and historic architecture. Clash in the bustling metropolis of Downtown, where players will fight across a busy PC bang, flashy karaoke bar, and central light rail station (just watch out for the train). Contest for position in MEKA Base—home of South Korea’s frontline defense against the gwishin omnic attacks: D.Va and the rest of the MEKA squad. HERO GALLERY – FILTER View all of the cosmetics Overwatch has to offer with our new Filter feature in the Hero Gallery. Customize your search for cosmetics by category (including seasonal events or whether they're from the Overwatch League), rarity, and whether they are unlocked or waiting to be collected.

GENERAL UPDATES

General

Added visual outlines to make allies visible through walls
Updated aim assist to improve precision when tracking targets
An option to revert to the previous aim assist settings can now be found under Options > Aim Assist Legacy Mode
An option to smooth out the strength of aim assist when closing in on a target can now be found under Advanced Options > Aim Assist Ease

Developer Comments: We’ve reworked how our aim assist algorithm works on console to make the controls more intuitive and to improve gameplay. Previously, aim assist worked in two ways. First, we slowed down your aim to allow more precision when tracking a target. Second, we automatically adjusted your crosshairs in the direction the target is moving around you, to make up for the lower sensitivity. Now, we incorporate how you are currently turning with the aim stick when determining how the enemy is moving relative to yourself. In practice, this means if you are perfectly tracking a target aim assist will not activate. We’ve also improved aim assist's target selection to reduce instances where your aim could be pulled away from your focused target if another enemy crossed your path. The new Aim Assist Ease In setting allows the aim assist system to ramp up its strength as you get closer to your target, producing less jarring sensitivity changes.

HERO UPDATES

General

Fixed a bug that would cause some weapons that fired multiple shots at once to inconsistently deal critical damage (e.g. Doomfist’s Hand Cannon, D.Va’s Fusion Cannons, Genji’s Shurikens, Reaper’s Hellfire Shotguns, Roadhog’s Scrap Gun, and Torbjörn’s Rivet Gun)

Developer Comments: While this is a bug fix, we wanted to highlight this change as it can affect gameplay by changing the damage output of the affected heroes in certain situations. After this fix, weapons with spread should now correctly calculate critical damage for each individual pellet that lands in a critical region (e.g. a headshot). The end result of this change is that it should be significantly easier to deal critical damage with any weapon that fires multiple shots simultaneously, such as Reaper’s Hellfire Shotguns and D.Va’s Fusion Cannons. In addition, we’ve changed the logic for when these weapons display a critical marker on your screen. It now requires 30% of your shots to be critical, rather than displaying it if a single pellet hits critically. Ana

Biotic Rifle
- Increased the precision of the Relative Aim Sensitivity While Zoomed slider. This can be found under Options > Controls > Hero > Ana

Brigitte

Shield Bash
- Now knocks down and gets knocked down by other charging targets (e.g Reinhardt and Doomfist)

Developer Comments: Currently, when two charging targets hit each other, they both fall down and are briefly stunned. You can see this interaction with Doomfist’s Rocket Punch and Reinhardt’s Charge abilities. Brigitte’s Shield Bash previously wasn’t included in this group, which meant that if she used Shield Bash against these other abilities, she would generally stun them and not be affected herself. This change makes it so if she uses Shield Bash against Charge or Rocket Punch, both players will be knocked down. Reinhardt

Earthshatter
- Now consistently hits enemies near walls
- No longer hits enemies that enter the damage cone after the “wave” has passed that area
- No longer damages enemies behind barriers blocking it, even if the barrier is later dropped or destroyed
- Always travels up inclines and around the payload

Developer Comments: We’ve given Earthshatter a complete overhaul to combat inconsistencies with its performance. These changes will make Earthshatter’s behavior more predictable and effective. Roadhog

Scrap Gun
- Primary fire falloff range changed from 10-20 meters to 15-30 meters
- Alternate fire now has damage falloff, which is the same as the new primary fire falloff (15-30 meters)

Developer Comments: Previously, Roadhog’s Scrap Gun alternate fire didn’t have damage falloff which sometimes made it too powerful against far away targets. To balance out a slight power decrease, especially against barriers, we decided to push his overall weapon’s effective range out bit further before damage falloff begins to take effect. Note: The alternate fire falloff begins from where the scrap projectiles are formed, not from Roadhog’s firing position. Widowmaker

Grappling Hook
- Now retains momentum when used on environments or structures without a ledge (e.g. walls)
Widow's Kiss
- Increased the precision of the Relative Aim Sensitivity While Zoomed slider. This can be found under Options > Controls > Hero > Widowmaker

COMPETITIVE PLAY UPDATES

General

Grand Master players can now group with players within 350 Skill Rating, up from 250 Skill Rating

GAME BROWSER AND CUSTOM GAMES

General

Modified the Respawn Time Scalar custom game option to prevent respawn times longer than the default

FFA Deathmatch
- Mercy now begins the match with her Caduceus Blaster equipped
- Blizzard World is now available to play in Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch

1v1 Mystery Heroes
- Mercy now begins the match with her Caduceus Blaster equipped

MAP UPDATES

Rialto

Payload travel speed has been slightly increased
Amount of time the payload pauses at checkpoints has been reduced

BUG FIXES

General

Fixed a bug that caused players to sometimes slip off railings
Fixed a bug that prevented Torbjörn Armor Packs Created statistic from updating if the ability landed directly on a friendly target

Heroes Brigitte

Fixed a bug that caused Brigitte’s Shield Bash movement to be interrupted when she impacted Symmetra’s turrets

Doomfist

Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist’s Seismic Slam to cancel when using Symmetra’s Teleporter

D.Va

Fixed a bug that allowed D.Va to escape the map if she used Call Mech while standing on Mei’s Ice Wall

Hanzo

Fixed a bug that caused the Dragonstrike arrow's size to be larger than his other arrows

Mei

Fixed a bug that caused Mei’s Cryo-freeze to block the line of sight for Mei’s Blizzard

Mercy

Fixed a bug that allowed Mercy to gain ultimate charge from using her damage beam on attacks that cannot be damage boosted

Reaper

Fixed a bug that prevented Reaper’s Shadow Step from going on cooldown if he was interrupted

Roadhog

Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Roadhog’s Chain Hook to break after hitting an enemy while maintaining line of sight
Fixed a bug that prevented Roadhog’s alternate fire from calculating falloff damage correctly
Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Reinhardt’s Earthshatter from landing if he was launched into the air while activating it

Reinhardt

Fixed a bug that allowed Reinhardt to pin targets that were behind him when using Charge
Fixed a bug that prevented Reinhardt from pinning some targets when he turned during Charge
Fixed a bug that allowed Reinhardt to use Earthshatter while standing on an enemy’s head
Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Reinhardt’s Earthshatter from hitting enemies standing on a payload
Fixed a bug that prevented Reinhardt’s Earthshatter from traveling up certain inclines

Sombra

Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra from translocating to a moving platform
Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra from destroying her Translocator if she was stunned or hacked
Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra’s Translocator from accurately indicating where Sombra would arrive when the ability was used

Symmetra

Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra’s Hack from canceling Symmetra’s Photon Barrier placement
Fixed a bug that caused Symmetra’s teleport UI to persist after being eliminated

Widowmaker

Fixed a bug that prevented Widowmaker’s Grappling Hook from connecting to some ledges
Fixed a bug that caused Widowmaker’s scoped shots on hero placed objects to count against her Scoped Weapon Accuracy statistic (e.g. Symmetra’s Teleporter, Torbjörn’s autocannon)

Wrecking Ball

Fixed a bug that prevented Wrecking Ball’s Piledriver from dealing falloff damage
Fixed a bug that allowed Wrecking Ball’s Piledriver to deal damage twice if he slid off the environment during its duration
Fixed a bug that allowed Wrecking Ball’s primary fire to continue working even if it was disabled in custom game

OVERWATCH PATCH NOTES – AUGUST 28, 2018

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

D.Va’s Nano Cola Challenge We’re celebrating the release of D.Va’s action-packed animated “Shooting Star” short by making some special content available to unlock in-game. For a limited time, your wins in Quick Play, Competitive Play, or Arcade will all earn you additional D.Va sprays, a player icon, and a new epic skin: NANO COLA D.VA! When you’re not playing to win, you can watch sponsored Twitch broadcasters to unlock even more D.Va-themed sprays! To learn more about D.Va’s Nano Cola Challenge, click here.

BUG FIXES

Hero Gallery

Fixed a bug that prevented flavor descriptions from displaying when a skin was selected
Fixed a bug that prevented hero descriptions from displaying in the Hero Gallery
Fixed a bug that prevented cosmetics’ unlock requirements from displaying in the Hero Gallery

Heroes

Fixed a bug that prevented some of Roadhog’s voice lines from playing with his Lacrosse skin equipped
Fixed a bug that caused Symmetra’s Sentry Turrets to fall through the environment when thrown into a Teleporter
Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra to teleport players into certain vehicles on King’s Row and Numbani
Fixed a bug that caused Winston’s Jump Pack damage to not fall off properly

Sound

Fixed an issue that prevented sound from playing after a memory-intensive team fight

OVERWATCH PATCH NOTES – AUGUST 9, 2018

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Summer Games 2018 The Summer Games return for more fun in the sun! This year, we're celebrating the spirit of competition with a new Lúcioball arena, Season 2 of Copa Lúcioball, and a smörgåsbord of loot. Unlock over 50 new seasonal items—including legendary skins like Waveracer D.Va, Fastball Zenyatta, and Cabana Ana—alongside our growing collection of summer gear from previous years. To learn more about Summer Games, click here.

GENERAL UPDATES

General

Changed the name of Junkrat’s Buccaneer skin to Bilgerat
Added under attack voice lines for Zenyatta, Lúcio, and Moria
All Overwatch League skins now include the name of the team’s city or state

Looking for Group

Settings will be saved after changing filters on the Looking for Group browse screen

Hero Gallery

Added a What’s New option that displays new unlockable content

HERO UPDATES

General

Some ultimate abilities now restore ammunition after completion for some heroes
- Abilities affected: Genji’s Dragonblade, Junkrat’s RIP-Tire, Pharah’s Barrage, Roadhog’s Whole Hog, and Zenyatta’s Transcendence, Winston’s Primal Rage

Developer Comments:The change removes the need to immediately reload after a long duration ultimate. Ana

Nano Boost
- Now also instantly heals the target for 300 health
- Range increased from 30 to 40 meters

Developer Comments: These changes help Ana’s Nano Boost be usable in more situations. Previously it was almost entirely used to combo with other allies’ ultimates, just before they use them. With this change Nano Boost can now alternatively be used to save an ally from near death in the middle of a big fight. Brigitte

Shield Bash
- Cooldown increased from 6 to 7 seconds
Repair Pack
- An option to control Brigitte’s Repair Pack targeting sensitivity has been added under Options > Controls > Brigitte

Developer Comments: Brigitte’s Shield Bash is one of her strongest abilities, and its short cooldown can make it difficult to play against. Slightly increasing its cooldown will give her opponents more opportunity to play around it. We’ve also added an option to control Brigitte’s Repair Pack targeting sensitivity which will allow players to reduce the width of the search angle for the ability. This is useful for trying to target specific allies in the middle of a fight at the cost of making it a bit harder to target allies in general. Doomfist

Rocket Punch
- No longer impacts Symmetra’s teleporter
- Now destroys Symmetra’s sentry turrets without stopping his movement

Developer Comments: These changes are just quality of life improvements for how Doomfist interacts with Symmetra’s placed objects. Hanzo

Lunge
- Cooldown increased from 4 to 5 seconds

Developer Comments: Hanzo’s Lunge ability allows him to be a bit too evasive, so we’re increasing the cooldown to make him easier to catch. Lúcio

Crossfade
- Aura radius increase from 10 to 12 meters
Sound Barrier
- Temporary shields granted increased from 500 to 750

Developer Comments: Increasing the amount of shield health gained from Lúcio’s Sound Barrier should make it more effective against incoming burst damage. As part of his last rework, Crossfade’s radius was heavily reduced, but its potency was increased to compensate. While the change was better for him overall, the radius was small enough that it was often difficult to keep his allies in range during a fight, even if they felt reasonably close together. The increased radius should help in these situations. Mercy

Caduceus Staff
- Healing beam reduced from 60 healing per second to 50 healing per second

Developer Comments: Mercy’s previous healing output made her nearly irreplaceable in any team composition. Even after this change she will still be able to deliver more healing over the course of a match than any other support hero, but it should allow for other healers to be more viable. Moira

Biotic Grasp
- Passive energy regeneration rate increased from 2 per second to 2.4 per second

Developer Comments: This change should help Moira in situations where there are no enemies within reach but your team still requires a lot of healing. She will still need to drain enemies to be fully effective, but this just helps her a bit in the rare cases where there is an extended long-range fight that she can’t reasonably take part in. Reinhardt

Barrier Field
- Decorative insignia no longer protrudes from the shield’s surface

Developer Comments: By smoothing out Reinhardt’s Barrier Field, he now will be able to consistently block enemy abilities and projectiles that could sometimes unintentionally sneak through (e.g. Junkrat’s grenades). Sombra

General
- Reduced the size of Sombra’s head hit volume

Developer Comments: The head changes are mostly a bug fix, as her head hit volume was abnormally large, especially from behind. Previously if you fired at her from behind near her upper spine, you could land a head shot. Now her head volume is much more accurate. Symmetra

Photon Projector
- Primary fire range increased from 10 to 12

Developer Comments: Symmetra’s primary fire has huge damage potential but it is too difficult to charge because of its low range and slow charge rate. We’re increasing the range to see how it plays out, giving her more opportunities to use it, especially against enemy barriers. Widowmaker

Grappling Hook
- Cooldown increased from 8 seconds to 10 seconds

Developer Comments: The increased cooldown will slightly reduce the frequency that Widowmaker can reposition herself. This allows her to be threatened more easily by agile enemy heroes such as Winston and Genji. Zarya

Energy
- Drain rate reduced from 2 energy per second to 1.6 energy per second
Graviton Surge
- Radius reduced from 8 to 6 meters

Developer Comments: The smaller radius on Graviton Surge makes it more reasonable for her enemies to try countering it by staying spread out, as well as putting more focus on Zarya to position the ultimate correctly to impact the most players possible. However, the intent of these changes isn’t to lessen Zarya’s overall power significantly so we’re reducing her energy drain rate, which should keep her energy higher on average resulting in more damage and quicker ultimate charge times. Overall, this takes some power out of her ultimate and distributes it else ware to add more counter play against her.

GAME BROWSER AND CUSTOM GAMES

Heroes

Brigitte’s Repair Pack now has a minimum cooldown time of 1.5 seconds regardless of custom game settings

BUG FIXES

General

Fixed a bug that displayed an inaccurate AFK countdown timer before removing players from a match if they were flagged as AFK more than once
Fixed a bug that caused the player camera to display an odd location before switching to the first-person view of the selected hero after Assemble Your Team phase ends

Fixed a bug that caused Torbjörn bot to fire his gun endlessly if his turret is teleported by a Symmetra player

Competitive Play

Fixed a bug that could cause players to lose an endorsement level if they exited before a match completes, but after the return timer for a leaving player has expired

Heroes Brigitte

Fixed a bug that allowed projectiles and splash damage to penetrate Brigitte’s Barrier Shield while dashing with the ability

D.Va

Fixed a bug that caused D.Va’s Light Gun to disappear if Roadhog used Chain Hook on her while she used an emote

Genji

Fixed a visual issue that prevented Genji’s Shuriken ammunition from displaying the correct number briefly after activating Dragonblade
Fixed a bug that caused Genji’s arms to detach from his body if he looked straight down a wall while climbing over edges

Hanzo

Fixed a bug that caused Hanzo’s arms to detach from his body if he looked straight down a wall while climbing over edges

Junkrat

Fixed a bug that refilled Junkrat’s ammo if RIP-Tire failed to cast
Fixed a bug that refilled Junkrat's ammo if he attempted to use RIP-Tire while airborne

Lúcio

Fixed a bug that allowed Lúcio to gain ultimate charge while Sound Barrier was active if he got hacked

Orisa

Fixed a bug that caused the health bar on Orisa’s Protective Barrier to disappear when she used Supercharger

Reinhardt

Fixed a bug that prevented cracks from appearing on Reinhardt’s Overwatch League Away skins when his Barrier Field takes damage

Roadhog

Fixed a bug that prevented Roadhog’s Chain Hook from retracting to his hand if he is interrupted mid-cast

Sombra

Fixed a bug that caused Sombra’s visual effects to display darker than intended
Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to destroy her Translocator after teleporting to it
Fixed a bug that caused Sombra’s Translocator to bleed when struck by enemy players

Tracer

Fixed a bug that caused Tracer’s Pulse Bombs to stick onto the wrong side of shields when the targeted enemy moved quickly

Wrecking Ball

Fixed a bug that prevented Wrecking Ball from using sprays when in Roll form
Fixed a bug that allowed Piledriver to displace Mei while she is in Cryo-freeze

Zarya

Fixed a bug that caused Zarya’s Graviton Surge visual effects to extend beyond the ability’s radius

Hero Gallery

Fixed a bug that prevented rotating hero models while viewed in the Hero Gallery when equipped with Overwatch League skins
Fixed a bug that prevented the Communication Wheel from functioning when equipping a spray, voice line, or emote from a Loot Box

Looking for Group