Overwatch 2 Reveals Mid-Season 18 Update Patch Notes

Overwatch 2’s mid-season update for Season 18 is here! It adds Tracer to the Stadium map, tweaks several heroes, and launches new in-game events. This big update is designed to revitalize the second half of Season 18 and is available to play now.

On August 26th, *Overwatch 2* launched Season 18, featuring a new Quick Play experience called Stadium Quick Play. This update brought significant changes to the game, including the new unranked Stadium mode that allows players on all platforms to compete together, major updates to the hero Roadhog, and a fresh start for Competitive rankings.

Season 18 of *Overwatch 2* is getting a big update halfway through! The patch adds a lot of new content, including the popular hero Tracer to the Stadium roster. Players can also enjoy two limited-time events: a crossover with *Persona 5* featuring new skins and challenges, and the *Overwatch 2* anniversary event. The anniversary event brings back fan-favorite game modes like Mirrorwatch and Overwatch Classic, plus free rewards including Epic and Legendary Loot Boxes, the Vampire Regent Lifeweaver skin, and 20 Mythic Prisms.

As expected, the latest Overwatch 2 update includes changes to hero balance. Ramattra, Roadhog, Torbjorn, Widowmaker, and Brigitte are all a bit stronger, with improvements to their abilities. Orisa, Sigma, Mei, and Juno have also been adjusted, specifically to their abilities and items used in the Stadium mode.

Several heroes didn’t fare so well in the latest update. Hazard, Wrecking Ball, Genji, Hanzo, Tracer, Lucio, and Wuyang all had their abilities weakened. Additionally, two of Kiriko’s items in the Overwatch 2 Stadium mode were made less powerful. The developers also toned down some generally useful items that triggered on ability use, as they were proving too strong, especially with Tracer now in the game.

Players have noticed this mid-season update arrived quickly after the last one, and they’re right – Season 18 will be a bit shorter than usual, ending on October 14th. This was probably to avoid launching Season 20 on Christmas Day. Despite the quick turnaround, Blizzard is going all out with the update, offering free Loot Boxes and cosmetics inspired by Wuyang through a special Twitch promotion. Overall, there’s plenty to keep players engaged for the rest of Season 18.

Overwatch 2 Mid-Season 18 Patch Notes – September 16, 2025

Season 18 continues – Blink, build, and flip the meta!

Tracer is joining Stadium mid-season with some exciting new additions! She’s a dynamic character who excels at quick movements and precise timing, perfect for players who love a fast-paced, risky playstyle. We’re also introducing full support for Advanced Custom Games and AI bots, giving you more ways to play and customize the rules. Get ready to create fresh strategies and shape the future of Stadium’s gameplay!

Overwatch 2 x Phantom Thieves

Okay, so get this – the Phantom Thieves from Persona 5 are crashing into Overwatch 2! I’m seriously hyped. They’re bringing their whole vibe – masks, stealing hearts, fighting for justice – and it’s totally changing up the look of the game. We’re talking awesome new skins for heroes, a slick new UI, and a bunch of hidden surprises ripped straight from the Metaverse. The maps are getting a makeover with a neon-soaked aesthetic and secret stuff to find. Basically, you can join the Phantom Thieves crew for a limited time and leave your mark on Overwatch 2 – you don’t want to miss out!

The heist runs September 16–29. Don’t miss your shot to steal the spotlight!!

©ATLUS. ©SEGA.

Overwatch 2 Anniversary 2025

Celebrate Overwatch’s Anniversary in 2025 by revisiting classic moments – from the original arcade experience to beloved limited-time modes – and earning exciting rewards like skins and Mythic Prisms. Each week features a different throwback experience, whether it’s hiding as an object, enjoying April Fools’ fun, trying out experiments in Junk’s Lab, or switching sides in Mirrorwatch. From September 16th to October 13th, relive Overwatch’s best moments and collect awesome rewards!

• Week 1 kicks off with Mischief & Magic and Overwatch Classic Launch Meta where you can earn a Legendary and Epic Loot Box, a Legendary Lifeweaver Skin, souvenirs, icons, and more!
• Week 2 dive back into the Mirrorwatch and Overwatch Classic Moth Meta and earn a Legendary and Epic Loot Box, weapon charms, and other exciting rewards.
• Week 3 doubles down on chaos with Totally Normalwatch and Overwatch Classic Goats Meta and earn another Legendary Loot Box alongside player icons, sprays and other surprises!
• Week 4 closes strong with Junkenstein’s Laboratory and Overwatch Classic Golden Meta and get Mythic Prism bonuses alongside more souvenirs, sprays, icons, weapon charms, XP, a namecard, and an epic lootbox!

Competitive Play Updates

Leaver Compensation

• Players who have leavers outside of their own group during a Core Competitive Play match will have reduced Rank Progress lost whenever there is a leaver in the match.
• This compensation will be reduced at higher Skill Tiers.
• Players who leave Core Competitive Play matches and their group members will receive the full loss penalty.
• Leavers themselves will still be suspended from all Competitive Play modes.

Hero Updates

TANK

• Hazard
  • Spike Guard – Secondary Ability
    • Damage reduction reduced from 65% to 60%.
  • Violent Leap – Ability 1
    • Damage reduced from 80 to 70.
• Ramattra
  • Nemesis Form – Ability 1
    • Bonus armor increased from 250 to 275.
• Roadhog
  • Scrap Gun – Primary & Secondary Fire
    • Critical multiplier increased from 1.5 to 2x.
  • Take a Breather – Ability 2
    • Resource regeneration rate increased from 10 to 12.5 per second.
• Wrecking Ball
  • Quad Cannons – Primary Fire
    • Maximum ammo reduced from 100 to 80.
  • Minefield – Ultimate
    • Mine duration reduced from 20 to 16 seconds.

DAMAGE

• Genji
  • Deflect – Ability 2
    • Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds.
• Hanzo
  • Storm Arrows – Ability 2
    • No longer have a larger projectile size compared to regular arrows.
• Torbjörn
  • Overload – Ability 1
    • Duration increased from 5 to 6 seconds.
  • Molten Core – Ultimate
    • Damage per second increased from 160 to 190.
• Tracer
  • Perk cost increased by 25%.
• Widowmaker
  • Grappling Hook
    • Cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds.
  • Venom Mine
    • Total damage increased from 75 to 125.

SUPPORT

• Brigitte
  • Shield Bash – Primary Ability
    • Damage increased from 50 to 70.
  • Combat Medic – Minor Perk
    • Fixed a bug where it triggers on damaging non-player entities.
• Lúcio
  • Sonic Amplifier – Primary Fire
    • Damage per projectile reduced from 22 to 20.
• Wuyang
  • Rushing Torrent
    • Cooldown increased from 7 to 8 seconds.
  • Guardian Wave
    • Healing amplification duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds.

Stadium Updates

TANK

Orisa

• Scorched Earth – Power
  • Damage increased to 25% (Up from 20%).
• Shield Divergence – Power
  • Barrier now gains extra health from passive health gain.
• Supercharger – Power
  • Supercharger base health increased to 400 (Up from 200).

Sigma

• Maestro – Power
  • Added: Gravitic Flux refunds 50% of Ultimate Charge if no enemies are affected.
• Volatile Gravel – Rare Ability Hero Item
  • Bonus Ability Power reworked to now deal damage with Accretion and grants 5% Ability Power until the end of the round, stacking up to 4 times.
• Beam Splitter – Rare Survival Hero Item
  • Now also reduces Melee damage while active.
  • Damage reduction increased to 75% (up from 50%).
• Synced Shielding – Rare Survival Hero Item
  • Weapon Power and Attack Speed granted while behind Experimental Barrier increased to 10% (up from 5%).
  • Move Speed and Lifesteal granted while in front of Experimental Barrier increased to 10% (up from 5%).

DAMAGE

Mei

• Slowball – Power
  • Added: Critical hit applies 30% instead.

Tracer

• Added to the Stadium Roster.
• Chronal Crux – Stadium Passive
  • Gains 25% less Health, Armor, and Shields from items and cash.
• Flash Fist – Power
  • For 1 second after using Blink, your next Quick Melee is affected by Ability Power, deals 10 extra damage, and knocks enemies back.
• Get Stuffed! – Power
  • Quick Melee hit grant 5% Ultimate Charge.
• Blink of an Eye – Power
  • Critical hits reduce the cooldown of Blink by 0.5 seconds.
• Quantum Clip – Power
  • If you use Blink while reloading, gain 25% Max Ammo and 10% Weapon Lifesteal until you reload.
• T.Racer- Power
  • Blink teleports you 3 meters farther and grants you 10% Move Speed for 1 second.
• Alternate Ending- Power
  • When you use Recall, heal allies within 6 meters for 75% of the damage they have taken in the last 3 seconds.
• Auto Recall- Power
  • Once per round, if you would die, instead use Recall for free. Spending your Ultimate Charge reduces Recall’s cooldown by 50%.
• Bullet Time- Power
  • When you use Recall, drop a temporal field that slows projectiles by 95% for 6 seconds and you take 25% less damage from Hitscan for 3 seconds.
• Temporal- Power
  • Recall leaves behind a temporal field portal. An ally can interact with it to travel back in time 3 seconds.
• Foresight- Power
  • After using Blink, your next 6 shots within 2 seconds auto-aim to targets within 10 meters.
• Timelapse- Power
  • Hitting 2 consecutive shots on the same target without missing deals 1 extra damage over 2 seconds.
• Pocket Bomb- Power
  • When you use Recall, throw a Pulse Bomb that deals 60% less damage.
• Pulse Detector – Rare Weapon Hero Item
  • 10% Weapon Power.
  • 10% Max Ammo.
  • The last enemy hit by Pulse Pistols is revealed for 1 second.
  • Cost: 5,500.
• Underworld Quickloader – Epic Weapon Hero Item
  • 10% Weapon Power.
  • 10% Attack Speed.
  • Pulse Pistols hits grant 1% Reload Speed stacking up to 30 times. Resets on reload.
  • Cost: 12,000.
• Drag Reducers – Rare Ability Hero Item
  • 10% Ability Power.
  • 100% Pulse Bomb Throw Distance.
  • Cost: 4,000.
• Chrono Bomb – Epic Ability Hero Item
  • 15% Ability Power.
  • 50% Pulse Bomb Explosion Radius.
  • Enemies Stuck or hit by Pulse Bomb are slowed by 30% and lose 30% bonus Attack Speed for 2 seconds.
  • Cost: 10,000.
• Emily’s Affection – Rare Survival Hero Item
  • 19 Health.
  • After using Recall, gain 50 Overheath for 5 seconds.
  • Cost: 4,000.
• Iggy’s Ignition – Rare Survival Hero Item
  • 5% Attack Speed.
  • 5% Move Speed.
  • If you use Blink while Airborne, gain an air jump.
  • Cost: 3,750.
• Custom Kicks – Epic Survival Hero Item
  • 38 Health.
  • When you use Blink, grant yourself and allies within 6 meters 10% Move Speed for 1 second.
  • Cost: 10,000.
• Oxton Overdrive – Epic Survival Hero Item
  • 19 Health.
  • When you use Recall, restore 2 charges of Blink.
  • Cost: 10,000.
• Slipstream Salve – Epic Survival Hero Item
  • 19 Health.
  • Recall always restores at least 70% of your life.
  • Cost: 10,000.

SUPPORT

Juno

• PulStar Destroyers – Epic Ability Hero Item
  • Damage increased to 35 (Up from 20).

Kiriko

• Donut Delivery – Epic Ability Hero Item
  • Cooldown Reduction decreased to 5% (Down from 10%).
  • Healing decreased to 80 (Down from 120).
• Talisman of Life – Epic Survival Hero Item
  • Ability Power decreased to 15% (Down from 20%).
  • Overhealth decreased to 80 (Down from 100).

ARMORY

General Items

• Ironclad Exhaust Ports – Rare Survival General Item
  • Overhealth now only stacks up to 1 time.
  • Added 10 Health.
• Three-Tap Tommygun – Epic Ability General Item
  • Added damage falloff to additional damage equal to target’s Life.
  • Added internal timer of 0.25s between subsequent procs of the additional damage.
  • Changed from “After using an ability, your next 3 instances of Weapon Damage deal additional damage equal to 3% of the target’s Life” to “After using an ability, for 3s Weapon Damage deals additional damage equal to 1% of the target’s Life. (Cooldown: 0.25s)”.
  • Cost reduced to 9500 (Down from 10500).
• Mark of the Kitsune – Epic Ability General Item
  • Added damage falloff to additional damage.

Stadium Custom Game Updates

Create your perfect Stadium experience by customizing the game rules! You can tweak everything to your preferences, whether you want fast, high-budget single matches or a longer series to test your strategy. Plus, you can combine settings from both Quick Play and Competitive modes to build a Stadium version that fits exactly how you like to play.

AI Bots

• Custom game for Stadium now has support for AI bots.
• AI bots can be added as enemies or teammates.
• AI bots have been updated to play all Stadium game modes, including Payload Race.
• AI Bots will purchase and sell items from the Armory.

Presets

• Stadium Quick Play has been added as a new pre-set.
• The Stadium Ranked preset has been updated to enable Hero Draft in the Lobby Options by default.

Lobby Settings

Stadium Lobby settings have been added for:

• Hero Draft
• Mirror Match
• Bans

Mode Settings

You can now find a variety of new customization options for Stadium in the All Modes settings.

• Competitive Rules – When enabled the standard cash gains for Competitive Play will be used. When disabled, the increased cash gains from the Quick Play ruleset will be used.
• Score to Win – Set how many total rounds a team must win to win the overall match, up to 10.
• Starting Cash – Set the total amount of cash each player starts with at the start of the game.
• MVP Bonus Cash – Set the amount of cash awarded to each team’s MVP after each round.
• Minimum Round Earnings – Set the minimum average currency earned by a team each round.
• Round Complete Cash Scalar – Sets the percentage of cash granted passively to all players after each round.
• Damage Cash Scalar – Sets the percentage of cash earned from damage dealt during each round.
• Healing Cash Scalar – Sets the percentage of cash earned from damage healed during each round.
• Bounty Cash Scalar – Sets the percentage of cash earned from eliminations during each round.
• Item Cost Scalar – Sets the percentage of the price of items in the Armory before each round.
• Mercy Rule – Enables the Mercy rule to activate if the conditions are met after round 3.
• Merch Rule Cash Delta – Determines the amount of cash required to end the match early if a team is leading by 3 points after round 3.
• Power 1 Unlock Round – Determines the round where players can equip their first power.
• Power 2 Unlock Round – Determines the round where players can equip their second power.
• Power 3 Unlock Round – Determines the round where players can equip their third power.
• Power 4 Unlock Round – Determines the round where players can equip their fourth power.
• Armory Duration Scalar – Adjusts the total time players can spend in the Armory to select items and powers.

Bug Fixes

General

• Fixed an issue that caused the Spectate and Join Game options to disappear from the Social tab.
• Fixed an issue with the “Leave as Group” option that prevented players from leaving with their group.
• Fixed an issue with the Gladiator: LXXVI skin being incorrectly labeled as a legendary.
• Fixed an issue where Baptiste’s progression rewards were not awarded correctly.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused charms and souvenirs to not appear in the Hero Gallery.
• Fixed an issue that displayed incorrect prices in certain regional stores.
• Fixed an issue where you could not use certain cosmetics with the Nerf Weapon Skin equipped on Baptiste.

Heroes

D.Va

• Fixed an issue with D.Va’s Defense Matrix drain rate reduction when using the Precision Fusion perk.

Venture

• Fixed an issue with Venture’s Burrow ability that caused a delay when attempting to use subsequent abilities after emerging.

Wuyang

• Fixed an issue with Wuyang’s “autofire after controlling orb” setting, which should now respond appropriately.

Stadium

General

• Fixed an issue where players near stadium rank convergence started to gain extremely low SP.
• Fixed an issue where some Stadium rewards were being incorrectly unequipped on logout.

Junkrat

• Fixed an issue with Junkrat’s Concussion Mine not increasing damage when using the “Champion’s Kit” mod.

Moira

• Fixed an issue with the damaging orb deployed from Moira’s “Optimal Overflow” power that could bounce off unintended surfaces.

Orisa

• Fixed an issue with visual effects on Orisa’s spear when the “Spynstem Update” power was equipped.
• Fixed an issue with deflected shots from Orisa’s Javelin Spin not aligning with the reticle when using the “Spynstem Update” power.

Pharah

• Fixed an issue with Pharah’s primary fire rocket that could visually follow the same path as the homing rocket after using the “Heat Seekers” power.

Solider: 76

• Fixed an issue with Soldier’s “Super Visor” power that could incorrectly reduce Ultimate charge after firing a Helix Rocket.

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2025-09-17 00:19