Balance Changes, Group Respawn & More

The next season slashes HP for fast heroes while buffing parts of their kit in the latest Overwatch 2 Season 12 patch notes.

Overwatch 2 Season 12 is here, so we’re looking at the latest updates coming to the competitive meta.

Between Overwatch 2’s latest hero Juno, a new core game mode and the new “Throne of Anubis” map, there’s plenty to be excited about. New Hero Mastery challenges were also added for Zarya and Pharah, so fans will have a lot of content in and out of regular 5v5 play (possibly 6v6 soon?).

But the meat of every seasonal update is always in the major hero adjustments. Learn the big buffs, nerfs and other hero updates in our Overwatch 2 Season 12 patch below.

Overwatch 2 Season 12 Patch Notes

Tank

D.Va

• Defense Matrix
  • Maximum duration reduced from 3.5 to 3 seconds.

Orisa

• Energy Javelin
  • Impact damage increased from 60 to 80.

Zarya

• Particle Cannon
  • Secondary fire minimum damage increased from 47 to 55.
  • Secondary fire maximum damage increased from 95 to 110.

Damage

Junkrat

• Frag Launcher
  • Projectile size is now reduced by half after the second ricochet.
  • Projectiles preserve slightly more velocity on ricochet.

Echo

• Base health reduced from 250 to 225.

Sombra

• Base health reduced from 250 to 225.
• Stealth
  • Bonus movement speed increased from 45 to 60%.
• Virus
  • Impact damage increased from 25 to 35.

Season 12 replaces Group Respawn with “Wave Respawn”, a new system that lets you get back in the fight quicker when you do it as a team. With the new timer set to 12 seconds, players who start a “Wave” respawn 2 seconds faster and take recently-downed allies with them.

Sojourn

• Railgun
  • Primary fire weapon spread reduced from 2 to 1.6 degrees.
  • Critical hits now grant 10 energy.
  • Energy degeneration rate reduced from 33 to 15 per second after 7 seconds.

Hanzo

• Base health reduced from 250 to 225.

Torbjörn

• Base health reduced from 250 to 225.
• Base armor increased from 50 to 75.

Support

Juno

• Added to the hero lineup (available in Competitive mode).
• Base health reduced from 250 to 225.
• Hyper Ring 
  • Deploy range increased by 3.5 meters.
  • Cooldown reduced from 16 to 14 seconds.
• Pulsar Torpedoes
  • Damage and Healing impact increased from 75 to 85.
  • Heal-over-time reduced from 60 to 50 health.
• Orbital Ray
  • Beam travel speed increased from 1.9 to 2.25 meters per second.
• Mediblaster
  • Burst projectile volley rate of fire reduced from 34 to 28 shots per second.

Kiriko

• Base health reduced from 250 to 225.
• Kunai
  • Critical multiplier reduced from 2.5 to 2x.
  • Damage increased from 45 to 60.
  • Recovery time increased from 0.5 to 0.55 seconds.

Illari

• Solar Rifle
  • Maximum ammo reduced from 16 to 14.
• Captive Sun
  • Projectile environment collision size reduced from 0.15 to 0 meters.

Mercy

• Base health reduced from 250 to 225.
• Caduceus Staff
  • Primary fire healing increased from 55 to 60 health per second.
  • Secondary fire damage boost increased from 25% to 30%.

Moira

• Base health reduced from 250 to 225.
• Biotic Grasp
  • Secondary fire damage increased from 60 to 65 damage per second.

Lúcio

• Base health reduced from 250 to 225.
• Sonic Amplifier
  • Primary fire damage increased from 18 to 22.

Lifeweaver

• Petal Platform
  • Duration only counts down while the platform is raised.
  • Platform now resets if no one is standing on it for 2 seconds.
  • Duration increased from 10 to 12 seconds.
  • Health reduced from 400 to 300.
• Healing Blossom
  • Healing progress can now charge passively at a reduced rate.
  • No longer reduces movement speed when holding a full charge.
• Rejuvenating Dash
  • Healing reduced from 60 to 45.

The Season 12 update will finally let players try out hero cosmetics in the Practice Range. This can be done from either the Hero Gallery or the Premium Shop.

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