Summary
Overwatch 2released a new update on May 1 with adjustments for Kiriko, D.Va, and eight other heroes. The patch focuses on Stadium, a new mode thatOverwatch 2added as part of the big update that brought Season 16 to all players.
Stadium is a mode in which players in two teams of five face off in a best-of-seven series. Unlike the modes available in Blizzard’s shooter, Stadium is reminiscent of other shooters, such asCounter-Strike 2, with players battling to win each round and earn Stadium Cash. With this money, they buy upgrades andcreate builds for theOverwatch 2heroesto become stronger as the match progresses. Now, to deliver a better experience, a new patch is out with balance changes for the game’s characters.
Overwatch 2released a new patch on May 1 with a hotfix for Stadium. With it, the developers adjusted D.Va, Orisa, Reinhardt, Zarya, Mei, Reaper, Soldier: 76, Kiriko, Juno, and Lucio. AmongOverwatch 2’s tank heroes, D.Va has had her Nitrous Nano Glue item adjusted to give opponent players a chance to fight with her when she’s out of the mech. As a result, the HP provided by the item has dropped to 25, the new maximum health increase is 5%, and the duration of the Nano Boost is 4 seconds. According to the devs, Kiriko was earning Stadium Cash quite easily, so the amount of money she gets by healing and dealing damage has been lowered by 16.67%. The same problem was found in Soldier: 76, whose Stadium Cash gain was reduced by 12.5%. Additionally, the Rocket Visor power has had its duration reduced to 0.5 seconds, and Biotic Bullseye’s ammo restoration has been increased to 10%.
On a general note, the patch notes say that this update has come to address powers and items with unusual behavior and those that can lead to frustrating situations. The development team notes that it will also look at powers and items with poor performance, leaving the door open for buffs in future updates. After all, Stadium is already one of the highlights of Season 16, being responsible forOverwatch 2’s recent player count spike, leaving the devs on the lookout for the necessary changes.
The Stadium mode is facing its first challenges, such as the high rate of leavers and poor performance on older systems. SinceOverwatch 2receives updates regularly, players hope Blizzard will address these and other issues to make the new feature an even more engaging experience for the entire community.
Overwatch 2 Retail Patch Notes - July 19, 2025
This is a game balance hotfix. Replay codes from the June 16, 2025 patch are still available.
Developer Comments: In this update we are primarily adjusting some outlier Powers and Items as well as adjusting a few that can lead to some undesirable experiences in Stadium. We’re also adjusting how much Stadium Cash is earned from damage and healing for a number of heroes. In the near future, we’ll be taking a close look at some of the Powers and Items that are underperforming to see how we can increase their viability.
Developer Comments: Nano Cola™ Nitrous has been making it too difficult for opponents to take down D.Va while out of her mech and allowing her to get her mech back consistently. These changes will help add some risk of being out of her mech back into her kit.
Developer Comments: We’ve observed many scenarios where it feels like Orisa can become invincible. In combination with some of her other powers and items, we felt that Restorify was healing too much.
Developer Comments: Reinhardt had a higher rate of earning Cash from damage and healing due to his range. However, Reinhardt has been overperforming and making a bit too much Cash so we’re pulling this back a bit.
Developer Comments: Lifelift has proven to be the most consistently effective Power for Zarya. We’re reducing the scaling on it to try and make it feel less like a must pick in all styles of Zarya builds.
We’re also adding a little bit more healing in hopes of making Here to Spot You a bit more reliable of a power to choose from.
Developer Comments: While rolling around in ice balls has been very fun, we feel that the power currently feels too consistent at disrupting players for a long duration ability. We’re hoping with these changes that it will still feel powerful but reduce its ability to carry an enemy around for its entire duration.
Developer Comments: Reaper originally had a higher rate of earning Cash from damage and healing since on average he has more difficulty dealing consistent damage due to his range. However, Reaper has been overperforming and making too much Cash so we’re pulling this back a bit.
Developer Comments: Soldier 76 has been consistently making too much money from damage and healing, allowing him to consistently snowball his lead.We love that players have been enjoying using Rocket Visor. It’s been great to see some players pick up Soldier: 76 who may not have played him much in the past. That said we have always intended for the build centered around Rocket Visor to be a strong accessible build, but not necessarily the build with the highest practical performance ceiling. We’ve seen that it’s overperforming and can feel frustrating to play against. We’re hoping to reduce a bit of the power with this change, but we will continue to keep a tactical eye on this build as we move forward with more balance updates.We felt the payoff for making Biotic Bullseye work was a bit too low to be worth it.
Developer Comments: Kiriko was consistently earning a bit too much Cash from damage and healing.
Developer Comments: We know Juno has been very popular in Stadium but we’re addressing some of the most oppressive aspects of those builds in this update. We have found that on average, Juno was earning less Cash from damage and healing than other heroes, especially in the early rounds. We’re increasing this to help balance out with some of the Pulsar Torpedo build nerfs, as well as to help out the other Juno builds that are underperforming.
Pulsar Torpedo enthusiasts have been everywhere you look in Stadium and sometimes it feels like there’s always a Pulsar Torpedo chasing you. We’re reducing the cooldown of Cosmic Coolant per hit to reduce some of her ability pacing.
We felt that PulStar Destroyers had too much vertical power for damage focused Pulsar Torpedo builds. We’ve replaced the Ability Power with Ability Lifesteal to retain that aggressive playstyle.
Solar Shielding was providing too much Ability Power combined with its effect at its current cost.
Developer Comments: On average, Lúcio was gaining less than average Cash from damage and healing, so giving him a small bump here.
In combination with Amp It Up, Crowd Pleaser was allowing for too much burst healing that was outside of acceptable output ranges.
Amp It Up healbot builds have been a little too consistent so we’re shaving a little off from Megaphone.
Weapon Power Lúcio builds have been overshadowed by Ability Power Healing and Soundwave builds. We’re adding more consistency to Signature Shift to make it a more reliable and accessible option.
B-Side Bop has a very low pick rate, so we’re adding more Health to make it a more attractive option and add more power to less popular Lúcio builds.
