Overwatch 2 Reveals Season 20 Patch Notes

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On December 9th, Overwatch 2 began its 20th season, introducing a new hero named Vendetta and updates to existing characters. The popular Winter Wonderland event returned alongside changes to the aim assist feature, making it more user-friendly for players on consoles.

Season 20 of Overwatch 2 introduced Vendetta, the game’s 45th hero. Initially thought to be a tank, Vendetta is actually a Damage hero specializing in quickly closing the distance to enemies. As the ‘She-Wolf of Retaliation,’ she uses a large sword to punish opponents at close range. She’s a risky but powerful hero who can quickly eliminate vulnerable enemies if not carefully guarded. However, her focus on close combat means she can be vulnerable if she pushes too far into enemy territory. Players need to carefully time their attacks and know when to call for help when playing as Vendetta.

With the start of Season 20 in Overwatch 2, some hero abilities have been tweaked for both regular and competitive play. After a trial period, the hero Vendetta has received improvements based on player feedback. Her abilities – Palatine Fang, Projected Edge, and Whirlwind Dash – now recover faster, making her easier to learn and play. While the range of her Soaring Slice ability was slightly reduced, she’ll now be able to throw her sword more quickly. Her Siphoning Strike and Swift Vengeance perks have also been slightly improved, helping her stay in fights longer. Conversely, heroes like Reaper and Reinhardt have been slightly weakened. Reaper’s healing from his ability, The Reaping, has been reduced by 5%, and Reinhardt’s ultimate ability, Earthshatter, now charges a bit slower to balance its power.

Competitive mode has been updated! The Challenger Leaderboard now uses a new scoring system called ‘Challenger Score,’ earned by winning matches in Core Competitive or All-Star 5 Stadium (at Diamond 5 rank or higher). In Stadium mode, two new playable Heroes have been added: Doomfist and the popular Wuyang. Doomfist’s abilities focus on powerful punches, while Wuyang enhances his water-based and healing skills. Cassidy has also been reworked in Stadium mode, with updated abilities to make him more effective. Finally, several gadgets in Stadium mode have been improved to give players more strategic options.

Season 20 Brings More Quality-of-Life Changes

Season 20 of Overwatch 2 includes several improvements to how aiming works. Aim Assist is now 7% stronger, and players have more control over sensitivity settings. Healing with Juno, Illari, and Ana is easier thanks to new Aim Assist features that help target allies with low health. All heroes now have adjustable ‘Ease-In’ Aim Assist settings for a more customized feel. While players can still fine-tune these settings, the older ‘Aim Assist Legacy Mode’ has been removed.

The Antarctica Peninsula map wasn’t available for play in Seasons 20 and 21. Blizzard is currently updating parts of the map, but plans to bring it back in Season 22, expected sometime in 2026.

Winter Wonderland Returns With Thematic Rewards

The popular Winter Wonderland event is back in Overwatch 2 until January 7th, letting players unlock special holiday-themed cosmetics. By completing challenges and playing different game modes, you’ll earn Winter Cookies, which you can use to unlock rewards on three tracks: Jingle Tracer, Krampus Junkrat, and Santa Claus Torbjorn. These rewards include lootboxes, battle pass skips, and more! Plus, the Overwatch 2 and Avatar: The Last Airbender collaboration is returning from December 16th to 29th, giving you another chance to earn unique skins like Mei as Katara and Genji as Zuko.

During the Winter Wonderland event, special game modes are available in Overwatch 2‘s Arcade and the new Game Modes section until January 7th. Both Overwatch 2 and Marvel Rivals are adding new characters and content this December, giving team-based shooter fans a lot to enjoy.

Overwatch 2 Season 20 Patch Notes (December 9, 2025)

From 12/9 to 1/7, Winter Wonderland is back to Overwatch!

New Modes

  • Weeks 1-2: From December 9 – 22, you’ll have the chance to play one of Overwatch’s favorite modes – Mischief & Magic! But now, in a wintery landscape of Kings Row with winter props! Check out the mode in the Arcade or the “Game Modes” tab in the event.
  • Weeks 3-4: From December 23 – January 5, the mode gets another dollop of mischief with Mischief & Magic Wonderland – a variant of the mode that allows the props to defend themselves! Now, when you’re hiding as Rogue Kiriko in prop form, you can taunt and stun the Genji Knights to gain ultimate charge and then use your ultimate and supercharged health to take them down while you scurry away! Find the mode in the Arcade or the “Game Modes” tab in the event.

Complete Challenges & Collect Cookies

  • Play both new winter modes (Mischief & Magic and Mischief & Magic Wonderland) to earn special cookies through completing challenges. In the Winter Wonderland event home page, you can then gift your holiday cookies to one of three mystical winter spirits – Tracer the Elf, Santa Torbjörn, or Junkrat Krampus. Each spirit has their own rewards to give you as a thank you for the cookies – lootboxes, Battle Pass tier skips, and awesome cosmetics!

Returning Modes

  • Weeks 1-4: From December 9 – January 5, your favorite returning winter modes are back! Mei’s Snowball Offensive, Snowball Deathmatch, Yeti Hunter, and Freezethaw Elimination will be available in the Arcade and new “Game Modes” tab in the Winter Wonderland event.

General Updates

Saves for Overhealth

  • All heroes that apply overhealth to allies can now get Saves for this if the application is well timed (only a few could in the past).

Aim Assist

  • Increased Aim Assist strength by 7%
  • New extra sensitivity options:
    • Extra Horizontal Sensitivity at Max Deadzone
    • Extra Vertical Sensitivity at Max Deadzone
    • Extra Sensitivity Ramp-up delay (0 – 1 second) – Amount of time right stick needs to be held for max sensitivity to kick in
    • Extra Sensitivity Ramp-up time (0 – 1 second) – Amount of time for the extra sensitivity to accelerate to full once ramp-up delay is finished.
    • Disable Aim Assist at Max Deadzone
  • Friendly Aim Assist Changes:
    • Only affects Ana, Juno, Illari
    • New option in the Hero/HUD option – Friendly Aim Assist Health threshold – Aim assist will only activate on allied targets below the set health % value of this field. Default is 99% so that full health allies are not targeted now.
    • Set default friendly aim assist strength to 100% for Juno/Ana/Illari.
  • New Aim Assist Ease-in settings in All Heroes options:
    • Projectile heroes aim assist ease in
    • Hitscan heroes aim assist ease in
    • Melee heroes aim assist ease in
    • Allows players to tweak the ease in value for the diff types of heroes through the all heroes menu. Players can still individually change a specific hero’s ease in value through the per hero option

Removed Aim Assist Legacy Mode

Disabled Antartica Peninsula

  • Antartica Peninsula has been disabled from gameplay at this time

We’re temporarily removing the Antarctic Peninsula map from the game for the next two seasons. Our team has been planning a major overhaul of the map, and we’re thrilled with how it’s coming along! We think players will love the improvements when they’re released. We’ll share more details soon, but we hope you don’t miss it too much—including the penguins! We’ll bring Antarctica back in Season 22.

Competitive Updates

Top 500 has been upgraded to Challenger Tier

  • The Challenger Leaderboard is now organized by Challenger Score.
    • Winning a match at or above Diamond 5 in Core Competitive play or All-Star 5 in Stadium now grants Challenger Score.
      • The exact Challenger Score players get for a win is based on the highest ranked player in each match. A map of ranks to Challenger score payout is included at the end of this section.
    • Losing a match at or above Diamond 5 or All-Star 5 subtracts 33% of the Challenger Score a player would gain at their Rank according to the table below.
      • The highest ranked player in the match is not used to calculate Challenger Score for losses.
    • Challenger Score is recorded over the course of a season and reset to 0 when a season ends.
    • Challenger Score gains a Heat Bonus each consecutive week of the season of 5%. Example:
      • At the end of a 9-week season a win would be worth 40% more Challenger Score.
    • Challenger Score can’t be earned in Wide matches.
    • Challenger Score earned Role Queue is applied to both the Role-specific leaderboards and the Combined Leaderboard.
    • Challenger Score earned in Open Queue and Stadium are accumulated in separate leaderboards.
    • Challenger Score has been added to the Career Profile.
    • Challenger Score has been added to the Competitive Progress screen.
  • Verified Challenger Tier players will now be able to link to their social channels directly from the Challenger leaderboards, allowing everyone to watch some of our highest skilled players live on various platforms.
    • The first wave of players with this privilege will start small and we’ll expand this group over time.
    • The players that are currently live in the game client will have a red highlight on their streaming link.
  • The following requirements to appear on the leaderboards have changed (requirements not mentioned here remain unchanged):
    • Players no longer have to win a specific number of games to appear on the leaderboard.
    • There is no longer timed delay before the leaderboards appear.
    • Each leaderboard has a Challenger Score requirement. Once players meet this requirement they will immediately appear on the leaderboard. The requirements are as follows:
      • Combined – 5000
      • Open Queue – 5000
      • Stadium – 5000
      • Each Role in Core 5v5 and Stadium – 4000
    • Endorsement Level 2 is required (Endorsement Level 2 has been the default starting level for new players since Season 19).
    • For Stadium, a new challenge requiring 25 wins has been added.
  • Many usability improvements have been made to the leaderboard screen, such as the ability to scroll, the ability to search the leaderboard for a player’s name, a “Go to me” button, and filters for players using the Social links described above.
  • Rewards for Challenger Tier will be improved over Top 500’s, but the exact improvements will be revealed as we get closer to when they’ll be awarded in Season 21…
  • Tier/Division to Challenger Score for Core Competitive Play:
    • Diamond 5 – 30
    • Diamond 4 – 32
    • Diamond 3 – 34
    • Diamond 2 – 36
    • Diamond 1 – 38
    • Master 5 – 42
    • Master 4 – 46
    • Master 3 – 50
    • Master 2 – 54
    • Master 1 – 58
    • Grandmaster 5 – 70
    • Grandmaster 4 – 82
    • Grandmaster 3 – 94
    • Grandmaster 2 – 116
    • Grandmaster 1 – 128
    • Champion 5 – 152
    • Champion 4 – 176
    • Champion 3 – 200
    • Champion 2 – 224
    • Champion 1 – 248
  • Tier/Division to Challenger Score for Stadium:
    • All-Star 5 – 85
    • All-Star 4 – 100
    • All-Star 3 – 115
    • All-Star 2 – 130
    • All-Star 1 – 145
    • Legend 5 – 175
    • Legend 4 – 205
    • Legend 3 – 235
    • Legend 2 – 265
    • Legend 1 – 295

We’re updating our leaderboards to create a competitive, season-long race for top players, offering improved rewards and recognition. It will be much harder to maintain multiple accounts at the top, though we know some will try! We’re also adding social links to help players showcase their skills and connect with the community. This new system, using a ‘Challenger Score’, encourages consistent play and competition instead of simply holding a high rank. Winning later in the season will be even more rewarding thanks to a ‘Heat Bonus’. Ultimately, we want the leaderboard to represent ongoing skill and effort, rather than a few quick wins followed by inactivity – which is something we’ve seen happen often.

Grouping Restrictions

  • Champion players now must be within 1 Division to be in a Narrow group.
  • Grandmaster and Master players now must be within 2 Divisions to be in a Narrow group.

Cheater Compensation

  • In Core Competitive modes (Role and Open Queue) players will periodically get Rank Progress returned from matches that were found to have a cheater.
    • A new pop-up will appear on login letting you know about Rank Progress being returned when the cheater is banned.
    • Rank Progress is not subtracted if you won with a cheater on your team.
    • The technology to operate this system is included in the Season 20 patch, but the system will not start returning Rank Progress immediately at the start of the season.
      • We’ll start by calibrating the system and processing data behind the scenes, then after some time into Season 20 we’ll start returning Rank Progress.
      • We’ll start by calibrating the system and processing data behind the scenes, then after some time into Season 20 we’ll start returning Rank Progress.
      • Once the system comes online completely the delay between a cheater being banned and Rank Progress being returned will be much shorter.

HERO CHANGES

Tank

Junkerqueen

Carnage is consistently available in combat because its abilities often have their cooldowns reduced after landing hits. Slightly increasing the base cooldown of these abilities would make them feel less constant without removing the benefit of skillful play.

Carnage

  • Cooldown increased from 8 to 9 seconds.

Hazard

We’ve updated Hazard’s block effectiveness, which will make Jagged Wall stronger again. This improvement will allow players to use Jagged Wall more consistently when defending and attacking.

Jagged Wall

  • Knockback damage increased from 40 to 50.
  • Health increased from 350 to 400.

Reinhardt

Earthshatter can dramatically change the outcome of fights, and it’s usually built up quickly when players are close to each other. Making it cost more ultimate energy will make how often it’s available feel more balanced with how powerful it is.

Earthshatter

  • Ultimate cost increased by 9%.

Sigma

Sigma sometimes has trouble finishing off opponents in certain situations. Boosting the damage from his direct hits encourages accurate aim and makes his combos more effective.

Hyperspheres

  • Impact direct damage increased from 15 to 25.

Damage

Bastion

Bastion typically deals less damage in Recon mode than other heroes, forcing players to rely heavily on his Sentry mode. Increasing his fire rate would make his Recon mode more effective and help him pose a greater threat overall.

Configuration: Recon

  • Fire rate increased from 5 to 6 shots per second.

Freja

Okay, so I’ve been playing Freja, and it’s pretty clear how she gets those long-distance kills – it’s all about landing two of her explosive bolts really fast. The recent updates seem to be moving some of her power away from her ‘Take Aim’ ability and more into what she can do naturally, without needing that skill. Basically, she doesn’t one-shot people from super far away as easily now, but she’s way more reliable in other situations. It feels good, honestly – less about lucky shots and more about consistent damage.

Revdraw Crossbow

  • Damage increased from 25 to 30.

Take Aim

  • Direct Hit damage reduced from 40 to 30.
  • Explosion damage reduced from 90 to 80.

Quick Dash

  • Distance traveled increased by 15%.

Bola Shot

  • Hinder duration on the hit target increased from 1.2 to 1.4.
  • Area slow increased from 25% to 45%.

Junkrat

Junkrat’s grenades are a bit slow, especially now that many heroes can move around quickly. Making the grenades travel faster, but keeping their trajectory the same, would make them more reliable to use without changing how the weapon feels. We’ve also adjusted a bonus related to his weapon to make it more balanced and removed a frustrating drawback.

Frag Launcher

  • Projectile speed increased from 25 to 30.

Frag Cannon (Perk)

  • Projectile speed increase reduced from 40% to 25%.
  • No longer reduces ammo capacity.

Reaper

Reaper’s ability to heal through his passive makes him tough to take down in close combat. Reducing his healing rate slightly keeps him durable, but prevents him from endlessly recovering health during longer fights.

The Reaping

  • Lifesteal reduced from 30% to 25%.

Vendetta

Vendetta did well in early tests, but became less effective at higher levels of play. We’re making changes to improve how quickly her abilities connect and flow together. Specifically, we’re shortening some recovery times and making it easier to maintain her passive ability by adjusting how fast her projectiles travel. To balance her reach, we’re decreasing the maximum distance she can throw her sword with Soaring Slice, but this will also make the ability faster and more responsive. We’ve also made slight improvements to her survivability options to give players more meaningful choices.

General

  • Reduced recovery times of Palatine Fang overhead, Whirlwind Dash, and Projected Edge by about 15%

Projected Edge

  • Projectile speed increased from 33 to 37 meters per second

Soaring Slice

  • Max throw distance reduced from 16 to 14 meters

Siphoning Strike – Perk

  • Lifesteal increased from 30% to 40%

Swift Vengeance – Perk

  • Overhealth increased from 125 to 150

Venture

Venture’s shields recharge when they use abilities, making them quite durable. We’re slightly reducing the shield strength to keep their core gameplay enjoyable, but also give opponents a better chance to fight back.

Explorer’s Resolve

  • Shield health gained per ability reduced from 30 to 25.

Support

Baptiste

Immortality Field is a powerful ability, but its long recharge time makes it hard to use consistently when you need it most. Shortening the recharge will give Baptiste more options without making the ability too strong overall.

Immortality Field

  • Cooldown reduced from 25 to 22 seconds.

Illari

Okay, so I’ve been playing with the Captive Sun, and honestly, its projectiles feel a little too easy to shoot down from way far away. The developers are making the projectile smaller – not in actual size, but how big it looks to enemies – so it’s easier to dodge and react to. It should make facing the Captive Sun feel fairer for everyone.

Captive Sun

  • Projectile size reduced from 0.75 to 0.45.

Juno

Juno struggles when enemies get close. If the Mediblaster lands a critical hit, it helps Juno defend herself and encourages precise aiming.

Kiriko

Mediblaster

  • Mediblaster can now deal critical damage against enemies.

Kiriko

Kiriko’s Kunai deals a lot of damage because of its high critical hit power and the fact that its damage doesn’t decrease over distance. To make it a bit harder to use while still keeping its overall effectiveness, we’re making the Kunai projectiles smaller, which will require more precise aiming.

Kunai

  • Base projectile size reduced from 0.15 to 0.12.

Wuyang

Wuyang’s Rushing Torrent ability lets him move very quickly, making it hard for opponents to capitalize on his actions. We’re slightly decreasing the speed boost to make him a bit easier to hit during the ability.

Rushing Torrent

  • Movement speed boost reduced from 50% to 40%.

Stadium Updates

  • Challenger Tier support for Stadium
  • All new rewards for Top 500 players coming in Season 21

We’re thrilled to announce that Stadium will now support Challenger Tier players for Season 20! This means the top 500 players can compete, and they’ll also benefit from all the latest improvements and features of the Challenger Tier system.

New Stadium Heroes Added

  • New heroes added to the roster

Doomfist

Jab Cross – Power

  • After you use an ability, gain 50% [Quick Melee] Attack Speed and increase [Quick Melee] Range by 1m for 3s

Rising Uppercut – Power

  • Ability: Your next [Quick Melee] becomes a [Rising Uppercut], dealing 10 extra damage (12s Cooldown).

The Bestest Defense – Power

  • [Quick Melee] hits and [Hand Cannon] critical hits trigger [The Best Defense] at 35% effectiveness.

Aftershock – Power

  • [Seismic Slam]’s shockwave repeats itself after a 1.5s delay, dealing 50% damage.

Seismic Rally – Power

  • Every 1s while leaping with [Seismic Slam], grant Overhealth equal to 3% of your Max Life to all allies within line of sight for 3s.

Slam Wham

  • Increase [Seismic Slam]’s damage by 2%, and range by 4% for every 1m traveled downward.

Boomfist – Power

  • Hitting multiple enemies with [Rocket Punch] grants 5% Ultimate Charge and reduces the cooldown of [Power Block] by 0.5s for each extra enemy hit.

Overpowered – Power

  • [Rocket Punch] can be further empowered when blocking 150% more damage with [Power Block], granting 25% more damage and 50% more range.

Asteroid Smash

  • Ability: Crouching while airborne will trigger a mini [Meteroid Strike], dealing up to 150 direct hit damage based on distance traveled downward (15s cooldown).

Block Party – Power

  • While [Power Block] is active, heal yourself for 3% of Max Life and all other allies within 8m for 10% of Max Life every 1s.

Helping Hand – Power

  • [The Best Defense] grants bonus Overhealth equal to 8% of Bonus Max Life. Whenever you gain Overhealth from yourself, grant 25% to the nearest ally.

Loaded Knuckles – Legendary Hero Item

  • 25 Armor -20% Melee Damage
  • [Quick Melee] hits restore 1 ammo. [Rocket Punch] hits restore 100% of your ammo
  • Cost: 10,000

Wing Clipper – Legendary Hero Item

  • 10% Ability Power
  • [Meteor Strike] pulls airborne enemies to the ground
  • Cost: 4,500

Power Bank – Legendary Hero Item

  • 25 Health
  • 5% Ability Power
  • You can charge [Rocket Punch] indefinitely. After 2.5s of charging [Rocket Punch], become Unstoppable for the duration of that [Rocket Punch].
  • 4,000

Friendly Fissure – Legendary Hero Item

  • 25 Health
  • 10% Ability Power
  • [Meteor Strike] Area of affect grants all other allies Overhealth Equal to 20% of your Max Life for 5s.
  • Cost: 9,000

Charm Crusher – Legendary Hero Item

  • 15% Ability Power
  • 15% [Seismic Slam] Leap Distance
  • Cost: 11,000

Quickcharger – Legendary Hero Item

  • 15% Ability Power
  • [Power Block] adds 10% progress for empowering [Rocket Punch]. [Power Block] no longer resets progress for empowering [Rocket Punch].
  • Cost: 12,000

Dual Layer Dampener – Legendary Hero Item

  • 25 Armor
  • 10% Increased [Power Block] Damage Reduction
  • [Power Block] now also reduces damage against Burn and other Damage Over Time effects.
  • Cost: 4,000

Zoomfist – Legendary Hero Item

  • 50 Armor
  • Whenever you gain Overhealth from yourself, heal for 15% of Overhealth gained over 1s and gain 15% Move Speed for 3s.
  • Cost: 9,500

Power Matrix – Legendary Hero Item

  • 50 Armor
  • [Power Block] absorbs projectiles for the first 1s, gaining Overhealth equal to 1% of your max Life for each projectile absorbed.
  • Cost: 11,000

Wuyang

Paindrops – Power

  • After using [Guardian Wave], Wuyang can shoot 2 additional water orbs for 8s. Each deals 40% damage.

Undertow – Power

  • For each Primary fire hit, gain 5% healing resource and reduce [Rushing Torrent] cooldown by 1.0s

Wave Lance – Power

  • Non-empowered Primary Fire shoots straight and gains 100% increased projectile speed.

Flow State – Power

  • While [Rushing Torrent] is active, every 50 healing with Active [Restorative Stream] extends the duration of [Rushing Torrent] by 2s.

Shore Up – Power

  • Using Active [Restorative Stream] on ally heals Wuyang for 75% of healing.

Tidekepper – Power

  • Every 1s during Active [Restorative Stream] reduces [Guardian Wave] cooldown by 1.5s.

Puddle Stomp – Power

  • While [Rushing Torrent] is active, landing from a jump heals all allies within 6m for 65 for every 1s spent falling.

Splish Splash – Power

  • While [Rushing Torrent] is active, airborne [Quick Melee] activates a 50% short [Guardian Wave] and a splash attack with 60 damage per every second dropped. (15s cooldown)

Streamline – Power

  • While [Rushing Torrent] is activated, place Passive [Restorative Stream] on all allies within line of sight.

Ebb and Flow – Power

  • [Guardian Wave] rewinds to its starting location with 50% damage.

Storm Surge – Power

  • [Guardian Wave] creates a second wave that splashes to targets within 6m around Wuyang.

Tidal Save – Power

  • [Guardian Wave] heals allies with Passive [Restorative Stream] for an extra 100% over 4s.

Oscillation Orb – Legendary Hero Item

  • 10% Weapon Power
  • Empowered Orb can be steered more freely
  • Cost: 4,000

Tidefill Basin – Legendary Hero Item

  • 25 Shields
  • 15% Max Ammo
  • While [Rushing Torrent] is active, gain 3 Ammo and 5% Healing Resource every 1s.
  • Cost: 4,500

Oceanic Ointment – Legendary Hero Item

  • 35% Empowered Orb Splash Radius
  • Empowered Orb’s splash can remove burn and give 50% of its splash damage as temporary Overhealth to all allies, up to 100.
  • Count: 9,000

Metal College Module – Legendary Hero Item

  • 15% Weapon Power
  • While using [Rushing Torrent], gain 35% Attack Speed.
  • Cost: 11,000

Aquajet Amplifier – Legendary Hero Item

  • 10% Weapon Power
  • 25% Active [Restorative Stream] Healing Power
  • 25% [Restorative Stream] Healing Range
  • Cost: 10,000

Water College Hat – Legendary Hero Item

  • 25 Shields
  • 50% Passive [Restorative Stream] Duration
  • Passive [Restoration Stream] also gives 10 Overhealth per second, up to 30 ability power.
  • Cost: 4,000

Wuxing Waveriders – Legendary Hero Item

  • 10% Weapon Power
  • 10 Ability Power
  • While [Rushing Torrent] is active, float upward. Jump to cancel or press crouch to get lower.
  • Cost: 9,000

Ye Family Visor – Legendary Hero Item

  • 15% Ability Power
  • 50% [Guardian Wave] increased healing effect duration
  • Enemies hit by [Guardian Wave] are revealed for 5s.
  • Cost: 10,000

Hydrocache

  • 25 Shields
  • 10% Weapon Power
  • 25% [Restorative Stream] Max Resource
  • Cost: 5,500

Reservoir Refresher – Legendary Hero Item

  • 25 Shields
  • 10% Ability Power
  • For each target hit by [Guardian Wave], gain 10% Healing Resource.
  • Cost: 5,000

Hydro Mender – Legendary Hero Item

  • 25 Shields
  • Restore 2% of your shield every second.
  • While [Rushing Torrent] is active, restore an additional 10% every second.
  • Cost: 9,000

Waterfall Westsuit – Legendary Hero Item

  • 25 shields
  • 10% Cooldown Reduction
  • For each target hit by [Guardian Wave], Wuyang gains 20 Overhealth, up to 80 ability power.
  • Cost: 11,000

Torrential Transistor

  • 50 shields
  • [Tidal Blast] gives allies within 12m of the target 50 temporary Overhealth every 1s.
  • While Wuyang has shield, gain 15% increased Ultimate Charge.
  • Cost: 10,000

Stadium Hero Rework

Cassidy

We’ve made changes to improve some of Cassidy’s less popular abilities and create more effective strategies for all his skills. Updates to powers like Buck Wild and Frankie’s Fixer will help Cassidy survive better in close-range fights, shifting him away from a fragile, high-damage style. For players who prefer a critical hit build, the new Dead Man Walkin’ ability rewards risky, aggressive plays. We also redesigned Cassidy’s High Noon build to be more effective earlier in matches. We combined three powers into two, making the build stronger sooner, and added a new feature to It’s 12 O’clock Somewhere that helps Cassidy recover if his ultimate doesn’t get any kills. These changes also give Cassidy more flexibility in how he builds his damage. You’re no longer forced to focus solely on High Noon – he can now build for ranged attacks using Flashbang and Sticky Grenade, or for close-range combat with Barrel Roll, while still benefiting from High Noon’s damage potential.

Full House (New) – Power

  • Original functionality removed.
  • (New) Flashbang hits reduce Fan the Hammer’s spread by 25% for 2s.

Bang Bang (New) – Power

  • Peacekeeper hits against enemies recently damaged by Flashbang (within 2s) reduce its cooldown by 0.5s.

Buck Wild (New) – Power

  • Peacekeeper hits grant 1% Move Speed for 5s, stacking up to 15 times. At Max Stacks, gain 10% Damage Reduction.

Dead Man Walkin’ (New) – Power

  • Original functionality removed.
  • (New) Enemies below 30% HP have their heads marked. Marked heads are larger and Critical Hits against marked enemies have 50% Weapon Lifesteal.

Hot Potato (New) – Power

  • Original functionality removed.
  • (New) Flashbang becomes magnetic and has 50% increased throw distance.

Bullseye (New) – Power

  • Flashbang hits and Critical Hits reduce Combat Roll’s cooldown by 2s.

It’s 12 O’clock Somewhere (New) – Power

  • Deadeye eliminations grant 25% Ultimate Charge each. If you get no eliminations with Deadeye, refund 33% Ultimate Charge.

Sunset – Power

  • Removed and combined into It’s 12 O’Clock Somewhere.

Easy Rider (New) – Power

  • Eliminating an enemy recently damaged by Flashbang grants 20% Ultimate Charge. While using Deadeye, gain 100 Overhealth and 25% Move Speed.

Flash in the Pan – Power

  • Removed and combined with Easy Rider.

Sunrise – Power

  • Removed and converted to a Hero Item (Snakebite).

Snakebite (New) – Item

  • +25 Health
  • +15% Ability Power
  • Using Deadeye slows all visible enemies by 20% for 2.5s

Duck and Roll (New) – Item

  • +25 Health
  • +5% Cooldown Reduction
  • +50% Combat Roll distance.

Frankie’s Fixer – Item

  • +50 Health
  • (New) – Heal 2.5% of your Max Life for each Ammo loaded using Combat Roll.
  • Now heals a percentage of your Max Life per ammo instead of a flat number.

Competitive Analysis (New) – Item

  • +15% Weapon Power
  • Gain 20% Weapon Lifesteal against enemies in the Damage role.
  • Swapped the conditional stat and main stat.

Stadium Hero Changes

Tank

Hazard

Hazard’s damage from his main attacks felt weak, so we’re boosting the power of his other abilities to make him more of a threat when he engages. Conversely, builds focused on ability power were proving too strong and were very easy to set up, so we’re adjusting those as well.

Bonerot – Power

  • Damage increased to 20 (Up from 10).

Twin Fang – Power

  • Damage increased to 75% (Up from 65%).

Touch-Up’s Touch Up – Epic Ability Hero Item

  • Ability Power decreased to 5% (Down from 10%).
  • Spike Guard damage decreased to 20% (Down from 25%).
  • Duration decreased to 3s (Down from 5s).
  • Cost increased to 12000 (Up from 10000).

Phreak Foil – Epic Survival Hero Item

  • Cost increased to 12000 (Up from 10000).

Orisa

This update focuses on making Orisa more durable and consistent in longer fights. Previously, her ability, Restorify, was potentially too strong when set to 10%, so we’re adjusting it to find the right balance.

Restortify – Power

  • Healing increased to 8% (Up from 5%).

Winston

Winston can be very strong when played well, but generally isn’t as impactful as other heroes. We’re still working on balancing him for competitive play, and this first adjustment aims to reduce his overall power.

Circuit Breaker – Power

  • Damage decreased to 2% (Down from 5%).

Electro Cluster – Power

  • Damage decreased to 2% (Down from 3%).

Damage

Genji

Okay, so they’ve been tweaking Genji, and honestly, it’s looking good. They’re giving him more options for how I build him, which is awesome – it’s always better to not be stuck with just one setup. They’ve boosted some of his powers, like Forged Under Fire and Hanamura Healing, so he’s a bit tougher and it rewards you for playing aggressively. Plus, items like Spiked Grip and Swift-Loader now give him a real edge in keeping up the pressure in fights. They’ve also adjusted other items to help with his speed, cooldowns, and keeping him alive. Basically, they want more of his item choices to feel strong and fun, but without making him an instant-kill machine. It’s all about making him a more versatile and rewarding assassin to play.

Forged Under Fire – Power

  • Healing increased to 125% (Up from 60%).

Hanamura Healing – Power

  • Damage increased to 35% (Up from 25%).
  • Overhealth duration is now infinite (Up from 5s).

Spiked Grip – Rare Weapon Hero Item

  • Ammo restore increased to 35% (Up from 20%).
  • Added: +10% Attack Speed
  • Cost increased to 4000 (Up from 3750).

Swift-Loader – Epic Weapon Hero Item

  • Redesigned to: Using [Swift Strike] restores 20% ammo and gives 20% Attack Speed for 2.5s.
  • Cost increased to 12000 (Up from 10000).

Traversal Kinetics – Rare Ability Hero Item

  • Added:+10% Weapon Power, +10% Ability Power
  • Cost increased to 5000 (Up from 3750).

Clean Sweep – Epic Ability Hero Item

  • Cost decreased to 9000 (Down from 10000).

Deflecting Dash – Epic Ability Hero Item

  • Cost decreased to 9000 (Down from 10000).

Equilibrium Gear – Rare Survival Hero Item

  • Added: +5% Cooldown Reduction.

Sparrowhawk Feather – Rare Survival Hero Item

  • Added: [Swift Strike] resets additional jumps.
  • Cost decreased to 3750 (Down from 4000).

Slicy Coolant – Epic Survival Hero Item

  • Added: Deflect now deflects attacks from both sides.
  • Cost increased to 11000 (Up from 10000).

Support

Juno

MediMaster – Power

  • Critical Hit additional damage increased from 150% to 200%.
  • Critical Hits now reduce the cooldown of [Hyper Ring] by 0.2s

General Item Changes

Reflex Coating – Common Survival General Item

  • Removed cooldown for Overhealth from being stunned, hindered, slept, or anti-healed.
  • Health reduced to 10 (Down from 25).

Nano Cola – Rare Ability General Item

  • Ability Power reduced to 15% (Down from 20%).
  • Cost reduced to 5500 (Down from 6000).

Iridescent Iris – Epic Ability General Item

  • Cost increased to 12000 (Up from 11000).

Champion’s Kit – Epic Ability General Item

  • Cost increased to 14500 (Up from 14000).

Salvaged Slugs – Epic Weapon General Item

  • Bonus damage to Barriers increased to 50% (Up from 30%).

Divine Intervention – Epic Survival General Item

  • Effect now also triggers on any damage that Stuns, like Doomfist’s Rocket Punch or Orisa’s Energy Javelin.

Exo Springs – Common Gadget

  • Maximum Charge time reduced to 0.75s (Down from 1.5s).

Med Kit – Common Gadget

  • Cooldown reduced to 15s (Down from 20s).

Kitsune Charm – Epic Gadget

  • Cooldown reduced to 20s (Down from 35s).

Colossus Core – Epic Gadget

  • Duration increased to 5s (Up from 3s).
  • Cooldown reduced to 25s (Down from 35s).

Necrotic Repellant – Epic Gadget

  • Added Hinder for 1s.
  • Range reduced to 4m (Down from 8m).
  • Stats changed to 50 Armor and 5% Cooldown Reduction.

Cost reduced to 9000 (Down from 9500).

We’re making some general items more effective against heroes like Doomfist. We’re also slightly reducing the strength of items that heavily focus on ability power, especially those that cause a lot of immediate damage. This is to encourage players to build a wider variety of items instead of just focusing on maximizing burst damage.

New Stadium Map

Wuxing University – Water College – Control

  • New control map added to Stadium rotation

Bug Fixes

General Fixes

  • Fixed some additional issues that caused FPS drops when matches receive a backfill.
  • Resolved an issue where “move speed” for some heroes were incorrect in the Advanced Info Panel
  • Fixed an issue where using some types of navigation on a controller would not work on the hero select screen.
  • Fixed Advanced Info Panel where in Stadium, Ashe’s Mini-Bob would show its health as lower than intended.

Hero Fixes

  • Fixed a bug that incorrectly allowed Vendetta multiple concurrent overhead swings
  • Fixed an issue that prevented the hop on Vendetta’s overhead swing from getting reset when interrupted with a melee
  • Resolved missing VFX if you reached maximum Onslaught stacks using Soaring Slice
  • Fixed a bug with Projected Edge not piercing breakables such as railings or boxes

Stadium

  • Fixed an issue where the cooldown of the Super Serum gadget was inconsistent when used with D.Va.
  • Fixed an issue where Torbjorn’s Item Oververloader wasn’t scaling properly with Max Armor.
  • Fixed an issue where Commander’s Clip was overriding Tracer’s reload during Blink.

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2025-12-10 02:18