Summary
Overwatch 2has released a new update that is available to all players. The latestOverwatch 2patch is a hotfix that once again focuses on Stadium mode, bringing a new wave of balancing to several heroes and items to make the experience smoother.
The Stadium is one of the additions to Season 16 ofOverwatch 2and offers a different experience to what players are used to. In this mode, players face off in a best-of-7 series in two teams of five players. Reminiscent of MOBAs, as the match progresses players earn gold to create a build with skills and items and create new ways to win. Keeping the Stadium interesting has been achallenge forOverwatch 2, and to achieve this the developers have been releasing recurring updates. The latest of these is out now, and the patch notes reveal what’s different in the game mode.
A new update is live, and like theOverwatch 2patch released on May 1, it brings balance changes to more heroes, this time focusing on D.Va, Junker Queen, Reinhardt, Zarya, Ashe, Lúcio, and Moira. Junker Queen has excelled at reducing distances and fighting up close, so her gap-closing potential has been reduced with nerfs to the movement speed of the Slicing Spree item. D.Va has gained significant changes in powers and items, such as the buff in weapon power provided by the Musti-Task Mod item from 10% to 20%. The tweaks aim to give the character more tools to fight against beam-focused heroes, which are one of the match-ups she struggles with the most.
In addition to balancing heroes, theOverwatch 2May 8 update adjusted Booster Jets. The item previously gave 20% movement speed when using a skill, and will now only give 10%. Booster Jets have been used a lot in builds that benefit from movement speed, especiallyStadium builds for Reinhardt. With the change, the devs hope to give heroes with low mobility a better chance in matches. Meanwhile, Nebula Conduit has had its weapon power reduced from 10% to 5%, a nerf that aims to make the item a less obvious choice for damage-oriented builds.
Stadium is one of Season 16’s most popular additions, having even increasedOverwatch 2’s player count. But while the new mode’s debut was a good one, Blizzard doesn’t intend to stop there, having released aroadmap of Stadium updatesat the beginning of May. Some of the highlights are the addition of two maps in Season 17, and the debuts of Winston, Sojourn, and Brigitte in Season 18.
Overwatch 2 Patch Notes - May 8 Update
Developer Comments: D.Va has been struggling in matchups against beam-focused heroes like Zarya, where her defensive tools feel less effective. We’re adding some synergy with Defense Matrix Powers/Items when using it to mitigate Beam damage. We’re also adding some power to some of the builds that utilize her main defensive tool, Defense Matrix, in hopes to allow them to have a bit more flexibility and apply more pressure in team fights.
Developer Comments: Junker Queen thrives when she can close the distance and brawl up close, and her current mobility has been allowing her to engage too freely. We’re toning down her gap-closing potential to make her positioning more deliberate and reduce her ability to aggressively dive into enemy lines without consequence. This should encourage more thoughtful engagements while preserving her core bruiser identity.
Developer Comments: Reinhardt has been overperforming, especially at lower levels. We’re tuning down some of the powers that are most difficult to counterplay, such as Melee Reinhardt feeling inescapable due to his crazy amount of Move Speed or being one shot by an Impact Burst Fire Strike. As an important known issue with this balance change, the Move Speed per stack is currently not represented correctly on the tooltip but it is functionally set to 2%. This will be fixed in a future update.
Developer Comments: Zarya continues to be overperforming, especially at higher levels of play. We’re reducing some of the survivability of Weapon Power Zarya builds so that she should be more vulnerable, especially if she is opting to itemize full damage.
Developer Comments: Ashe has strong potential in the hands of experienced players, but parts of her kit have been falling off in the later stages of the game compared to other heroes. We’re making targeted adjustments to help her scale more effectively into the late game, while also smoothing out some of the sharp edges that make her less forgiving for newer players. These changes aim to make Ashe a more rewarding pick across all skill levels.
Developer Comments: Lúcio’s Ability Power Healing builds have continued to give too much healing output for how accessible and consistent they are, and have been overperforming at all levels of play. We’re tuning down the healing output here because of how consistently effective it is. Lúcio’s Weapon Power builds have mostly been crowded out by Ability Power builds, in both output and consistency. We’re adding a bit more power here to encourage some more build variety.
Developer Comments: We’re adding some small buffs to some of the less popular Powers in hopes to better enable some new build paths.
Developer Comments: Nebula Conduit has been too efficient of a purchase given the strength of its effect. We’re reducing some of the Weapon Power to put more focus on its niche and less of an obvious choice in Weapon focused builds. Booster Jets was too easily enabling builds that benefit from Move Speed, especially for a certain Tank that swings a large hammer. Generally, we’re going to be looking at peeling back some of the Move Speed increases as we felt we went a bit too far. We’re hoping that will help out our less mobile heroes feel like they have a better chance in Stadium.
