Overwatch experimental patch tests out over-the-top hero changes that come directly from content creators – Patch Notes

Overwatch has introduced a new limited-edition Experimental Card that features many over-the-top balance changes coming directly from Overwatch content creators. This experimental mode allows players to test out possible changes made to character abilities without introducing them directly into the core game modes.

Support and tank roles seem to have gotten the most interesting revisions in this mode. The most notable change is definitely shifting Symmetra back to the support role and giving her healing turrets over damage turrets. Mercy’s ultimate has also returned to mass resurrection while moving her current Valkyrie ultimate to ability 2. Rounding out the craziest additions allows Zenyatta to elevate by holding the jump button.

Tank characters have been made extra durable at the cost of damage output. Most damage-related effects have also shifted to slows or other forms of utility. Some notable mentions are allowing Reinhardt to cancel his Charge ability and changing Orisa’s Halt into a 1.5 second tether. Rounding this out is Zarya providing speed boosts and a slow-fall passive added to D-Va while in her mech.

Most characters in the damage role received only small tweaks to their existing abilities, though Mei got some love with the ability to launch heroes into the air with her Ice wall.

These are the full patch notes below.

CREATOR EXPERIMENTAL UPDATE

In this limited-edition Experimental Card, we will feature over-the-top balance changes coming directly from Overwatch content creators. Each creator ideated on changes for heroes within their role. Here are the Creator Experimental Card participants behind each of the role changes:

• ML7—Support Heroes
• LemonKiwi—Tank Heroes
• Jake—Damage Heroes
• Wanted— Damage Heroes

Be sure to read up on the patch notes, jump into the game, and practice with your team to prepare for the Creator Cup tournament! Hop on over to the Overwatch Flash Ops: Experimental Card Creator Cup page to learn more and sign up!

HERO UPDATES

General

• Maximum hitscan fall off range increased to 50% from 30%
• There is now a +75% global cap for movement speed buffs applied to allies. Previously this would have only affected Lucio but several other heroes can now increase ally movement speed
• Added a global 75% cap to movement speed buffs applied to allied heroes (Orisa, Zarya, Lucio, Symmetra

TANK

• All tank weapon, ability, and ultimate damage reduced by 50% Crowd control durations applied to tanks are reduced by 50% for the following types – stuns, sleep, knockdowns, knockbacks, slow/freeze, root/trap The following crowd control abilities are still full duration for tanks- Mei Blizzard, Reinhardt Shatter, Zarya Graviton Surge, Winston Primal Rage

REINHARDT

• Armor increased from 200 to 400

Fire Strike

• Enemies hit by Fire Strike now receive 50% less healing for 4 seconds

Charge

• Can now pin multiple targets
• Movement speed is increased by 40% for the first 2 seconds of the charge
• Can now be canceled by pressing the ability input again

ORISA

• Armor increased from 250 to 500

Fortify

• Now grants 40% increase to movement speed
  Allies within 8 meters have 20% increased movement speed and 20% damage reduction

Halt!

• No longer fires a projectile
• Now attaches a Halt tendril to the nearest enemy target within 5 meters and tethers them to Orisa for 1.5 second

Supercharger

• No longer grants allies a damage buff
• Now slows all enemies within 10 meters by 40%

ZARYA

• Health increased from 200 to 300 Armor increased from 0 to 300 Shield health pool removed

Particle Barrier

• Provides up to 50% movement speed boost to Zarya, based on current energy with 0.5% movement speed per 1 energy

Projected Barrier

• Provides up to 50% movement speed boost to allies, based on current energy with 0.5% movement speed per 1 energy

SIGMA

• Armor increased from 0 to 200
• Shield health pool removed

Hyperspheres

• Now fires 1 projectile per shot, down from 2
  Recovery reduced from 1.2 to 0.5 seconds

Accretion

• Now receives an additional charge on a successful hit Spending additional charge puts the ability on cooldown

Kinetic Grasp

• Sigma is now immune to crowd control while Kinetic Grasp is active

Experimental Barrier

• Cooldown reduced to minimum 0.1 seconds

WRECKING BALL

Grappling Claw

• No longer automatically detaches after 6 seconds
  Can no longer reach maximum speed, deal damage, or knockback enemies if Grappling Claw has been active for more than 6 seconds

Minefield

• Minefield now blinds enemies for 2.5 seconds when damaging enemies. When blinded, the player is unable to see anything except for their HUD

Piledriver

• Piledriver now reduces the cooldown of Adaptive Shield by 1 second for each enemy hit

ROADHOG

• Health decreased from 600 to 300 Armor increased from 0 to 300

Chain Hook

• Now pulls enemies 75% faster

Take a Breather

• No longer heals for a flat value of 300
• Now heals 100 health, plus an additional 100 health per nearby ally
• Roadhog gains 25% damage reduction when near allied damage heroes
• This buff is shared with all allies within 5 meters
• Roadhog gains 50% damage reduction when near allied tank heroes

Whole Hog

• No longer knockbacks opponents Now cancelable

D.VA

• Passive: Holding the jump key allows the mech to fall slowly

Fusion Cannons

• Primary Fire damage reduced from 2 to 1 damage per pellet

Defense Matrix

• Now grants 30% ultimate charge for blocking an enemy Ultimate projectile

Boosters

• Cooldown reduced from 4 to 2 seconds

WINSTON

• Armor increased from 150 to 300

Jump Pack

• Now slightly launches nearby enemies into the air upon landing

Primal Rage

• Health granted increased from 1000 of 1700
• Health decays by 75 per second to a minimum health of 350
• Holding primary fire input now charges up a punch, which can increase the knockback by up to 100%

DAMAGE

GENJI

Swift Strike

• Now has two charges
• Refund one Swift Strike charge per elimination
• Activating Dragonblade also refunds one charge
• Damage reduced from 50 to 30

Dragonblade

• Duration reduced from 6 to 3 seconds
• After Dragonblade ends, Genji gains 40% faster attack speed for 6 seconds

DOOMFIST

• New additional passive: using a basic ability that dealt no damage to enemies reduces the current cooldowns of the other two abilities by 1 second

Seismic Slam

• Can now be canceled after a 0.2 second delay by pressing the ability input again

ECHO

New Passive: Assimilation

• Echo heals for 30% of her current missing health when she gets a final blow
• This healing generates Ultimate charge
• This passive also affects her Duplicate copy

Glide

• Speed increased by 15%

MEI

• Fully frozen targets take 100% increased quick melee damage from all sources

Ice Wall

• Now launches heroes into the air when built underneath them

Cryo-Freeze

• Size increased by 50%

PHARAH

Rocket Launcher

• Rocket impacts now apply a 25% movement speed reduction for 0.5 seconds
• Rocket impact knockback increased by 100%

Concussive Blast

• Now has 2 ability charges
• Enemies knocked back by a Concussive Blast become immune to all knockbacks for 1.5s

JUNKRAT

• No longer has audible footsteps

RIP-TIre

• Increased movement speed when detaching from walls

SOMBRA

Machine Pistol

• Weapon spread reduced by 20%
• Shots per second increased from 20 to 24

Hack

• Cooldown when interrupted increased from 2 to 3 seconds
• Hack duration reduced from 5 to 3.5 seconds

Stealth

• Now has an 8 second maximum duration
• No longer plays an audio cue if the ability reaches its full duration

BASTION

• Character size reduced by 15%

Configuration: Recon

• Ammo increased from 35 to 100
• Weapon spread reduced by 20%

Self-Repair

• Can now be channeled while firing

HANZO

Dragonstrike

• The dragons now spawn immediately if the arrow impacts terrain

Storm Arrow

• No longer fires the next 5 arrows instantly
• Now grants a 6 second buff with the following effects:
• Lunge cooldown reduced from 4 to 1 second
• Storm Bow movement penalty removed
• Storm Bow draw time decreased from 0.75 to 0.45 seconds

TORBJÖRN

Rivet Gun

• Dealing damage with primary fire adds a stacking buff that increases its damage by 5
• Each buff lasts for 5 seconds

ASHE

The Viper

• No longer reloads ammo individually
• Now reloads all ammo in 2.25 seconds

Coach Gun

• Cooldown increased from 10 to 13 seconds

Dynamite

• No longer deals self-damage
• Explosion no longer has damage falloff

CASSIDY

• Health reduced from 225 to 200

Peacekeeper

• Weapon recovery reduced from 0.5 to 0.42 seconds

• Secondary fire removed

Combat Roll

• Cooldown increased from 6 to 8 seconds
• Can no longer be used in the air

Deadeye

• Reduced visual effects around Cassidy while active

REAPER

Shadow Step

• Cooldown decreased from 10 to 5 seconds
• Can now be used during Wraith Form

Wraith Form

• Cooldown reduced from 8 to 4 seconds
• No longer reloads your weapon
• No longer applies a movement speed buff

SOLDIER: 76

Tactical Visor

• Reduced visual effects around Soldier: 76 while active

Helix Rockets

• No longer deals self-damage
• Cooldown increased from 6 to 8 seconds

WIDOWMAKER

Grappling Hook

• Cooldown increased from 12 to 15 seconds

Venom Mine

• Can now place up to 3 active mines
• Cooldown reduced from 15 to 10 seconds
• Damage reduced from 15 to 10 per second
• Effect duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds
• Projectile speed increased from 20 to 30

TRACER

Pulse Bomb

• Ultimate cost reduced by 50%
• Explosion damage reduced from 350 to 190
• No longer deals self-damage

SUPPORT

ANA

Biotic Rifle

• Reload time decreased from 1.5 to 0.75 seconds

Sleep Dart

• Slept targets now appear in kill feed
• Allies now see an icon above the slept enemy
• Turrets can now be slept
• Sleep Dart can now stop D.Va’s mech from flying during Self-Destruct

Nano Boost

• Now instead of granting increased healing received to the target, it now causes the target to also heal for 50% more
• Casting time reduced from 0.15 to 0.05 seconds
• Final blows dealt by allies affected by Nano Boost now decrease Ana’s current cooldowns by 1 second

BAPTISTE

Exo Boots

• Maximum jump height increased by 50%
• Time to fully charge increased from 1 to 2 seconds

Immortality Field

• Duration decreased from 5 to 1.5 seconds
• Cooldown decreased to from 25 to 23 seconds
• Now prevents allies from dropping below 20% of their maximum health up from 10%

Amplification Matrix

• Baptiste can now deal self-healing with the Biotic Launcher while the Ultimate is active
• Duration lowered from 10 to 8 seconds

BRIGITTE

Inspire

• Healing effect expires immediately if Brigitte dies

Shield Bash

• Distance covered increased by 15%
• Now retains more velocity when colliding with terrain

Whip Shot

While Rally is active, Whip Shot functionality changes to the following:

• Damages and knocks back all enemies within a 7 meter radius
• Restricts Brigitte’s movement for 0.75 seconds
• Increases the cooldown by the remaining duration of Rally plus 4 seconds

LUCIO

Sonic Amplifier

• While Wall-Riding, damage increased from 20 to 25

Sound Barrier

• Enemies that are in the area of effect are now knocked back 6 meters

MERCY

Valkyrie

• Is no longer an Ultimate ability
• Is now Ability 2
• Healing increased from 55 to 70 health per second
• Caduceus Staff beams no longer attach to additional allies
• Duration reduced from 15 to 3 seconds
• Cooldown is now 20 seconds
• Flying movement speed decreased from 7 to 6
• Guardian Angel movement speed reduced from 25 to 20

Resurrect

• Is now an Ultimate ability
• Can resurrect up to 5 people at once
• Maximum range increased from 5 to 8 meters

MOIRA

New Passive

• Quick melee now slows enemies by 30% for 1 second
• This effect has a 10 second cooldown per enemy

Biotic Grasp

• Primary fire maximum resource increased by 12.5%

Biotic Orb

• Orbs no longer change speed when near valid targets
• Orbs now moves at a constant 5.5 meters per second
• After activating the ability, holding primary or secondary fire for 1 second will cause you to fire faster Orb that moves at a constant 20 meters per second

Coalescence

• Channeling on an enemy target continuously for 2 seconds will now also lift them off the ground for 3 seconds
• This effect can happen once per enemy

ZENYATTA

New Passive: “Elevation”

• Zenyatta can jump higher if he holds the jump button

Orb of Destruction

• Ammo increased from 20 to 25

Orb of Harmony

Grant an additional role-specific effect if attached to the ally for at least 2 seconds:

• Tanks: 20% damage reduction
• Damage: 10% movement speed increase
• Support: healing received increased from 30 to 40 health per second

Orb of Discord

• Damage amplification reduced from 25% to 20%

SYMMETRA

• Moved from Damage to the Support role
• Now sees ally health bars by default like other Support heroes

Photon Projector

• Primary Fire damage per second decreased from 60/120/180 to 40/80/120
• Secondary Fire damage reduced from 120 to 80
• Secondary Fire deals up to 50% increased damage to non-heroes like turrets and barriers
• Ammo increased from 70 to 80

Sentry Turret

• Health increased from 30 to 50
• No longer deals damage
• Now heals allies
• Heals 20 health per second per turret
• Maximum range increased from 10 to 12 meters
• Building time reduced from 0.75 to 0.5 seconds
• Cooldown reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
• No longer slows target movement speed

Teleporter

• Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds
• Allies that take the teleporter receive a 40% movement speed increase for 2 seconds
• This effect has a 10 second cooldown per ally

Photon Barrier

• Health reduced from 4000 to 2500 health
• Duration reduced from 12 to 10 seconds
• Ultimate cost reduced by 9%