Overwatch season 2’s patch notes are full of tweaks for old heroes and almost all of the recently added characters. Soldier 76 learns a new trick after 10 years. Lifeweaver’s rework is off to a promising, if modest, start. And Mercy’s primary healing gets knocked down a bit to compensate for the permanent addition of Flash Heal.
But one of the standout sets of changes in season 2 is for Roadhog. His chain hook ability’s short cooldown timer meant that players with good aim could hook supports and squishy damage heroes every few seconds, pop them in one shot, and move on to the next. That, plus a general lack of helpful abilities for anyone other than himself, made him one of the more problematic tanks. That’s changing this season.
Blizzard has also made some welcome changes to Stadium’s ranked mode. Previously, your rank reset at the start of a new season, but that hard refresh is gone now, replaced by a more generous rank decay mechanic. Ramattra makes his debut in Stadium during season 2 as well, and if you’re tired of building Torpedo Juno during every match, you’ll have a few more options available that make better use of her Mediblaster and Hyper Ring.
Overwatch season 2 patch notes
Here’s the full set of patch notes for standard modes this season.
Sigma
Hyper Regeneration – minor perk
- Now restores barrier health only when damaging enemy heroes.
Experimental Barrier (6v6)
- Maximum health reduced from 650 to 60
Ramattra
Ramattra’s getting a bit of an overdue boost for his primary fire and vortex ability, the latter of which will permanently include his most popular perk moving forward. Blizzard hopes it’ll give Ramattra an edge against airborne characters, like Juno and Sierra.
Ravenous Vortex
- Vengeful Vortex moved from Perk to Baseline ability.
- Projectile now explodes on contact with the ground.
- Explosion can now be manually detonated while airborne.
- Explosion damage reduced from 50 to 15.
Prolonged Barrier – minor perk (new)
- Void Barrier duration and size increased by 25%.
Void Surge – major perk
- Moved from Minor to major perk.
- Delay between bursts reduced from 0.75 to 0.6 seconds.
Reinhardt
Shield Slam – minor perk
- Added a custom setting allowing Shield Slam to be bound to Quick Melee, enabling free look while the perk is equipped
Roadhog
Season 2 sees Roadhog get a bit more balanced, thanks to Chain Hook’s increased cooldown timer and his primary fire taking slightly longer to reload. He’ll also have more team-wide utility with the Hogrogen Exposure perk, which adds some healing to nearby allies when he uses his self-heal ability.
Scrap Gun
- Reload time increased from 1.5 to 1.75 seconds.
Chain Hook
- Cooldown increased from 6 to 8 seconds.
Invigorate – major perk
Hogdrogen Exposure – major perk (new)
- Take a Breather now heals nearby allies for 50% of its healing amount.
Winston
- 6v6) Base health reduced from 350 to 325.
- (6v6) Total health reduced from 550 to 525.
Tesla Cannon
- Deals 50% increased damage to deployables.
Wrecking Ball
- (6v6) Base health reduced from 475 to 450.
- (6v6) Total health reduced from 575 to 550
Perk costs
- Minor perk cost reduced by 7%.
- Major perk cost reduced by 5%.
Anran
Anran’s getting a few buffs to help balance her damage output and make it a little easier to get an elimination after igniting an opponent.
Fan the Flames
- Impact damage increased from 5 to 6.
Inferno Rush
- Impact damage reduced from 50 to 30.
Dancing Blaze
- Now heals Anran for 50 health on the first target hit and 25 health for each subsequent target.
Hungering Blaze – major perk
- Perk changed. Increases the healing of Dancing Blaze’s subsequent strikes by 25.
Ashe
Double Barreled – minor perk
- Time required to retrigger Coach Gun increased from 1 to 2 seconds
Bastion
Perk costs
- Minor perk cost increased by 10%.
- Major perk cost increased by 6%.
Configuration Reload – minor perk
- No longer fully refunds cooldown.
- Now reduces cooldown by 4 seconds.
Armored Artillery – minor perk
- Overhealth degeneration reduced from 100 to 50 per second
Echo
Echo’s old perk that let her duplicate allies now returns as a permanent part of her kit, which, Blizzard says, should make it easier to pull off combos with the rest of your team.
Duplicate
- Can now duplicate allied heroes.
Focused Rush – minor perk
- Range increased from 4 to 6 meters
Emre
No more endless lifesteal from Emre’s Siphon Blaster perk.
Siphon Blaster
- Added an accessibility option allowing right‑click auto‑fire at a reduced fire rate.
Heat Sink – minor perk
- Heat generated from direct hits reduced from 100% to 60%
Junkrat
Mine Recycling
- Moved from minor to major perk.
- Eliminations with Concussion Mine restore one charge.
Bomb Voyage
- Moved from major to minor perk.
- Attack speed bonus reduced from 35% to 25%
Pharah
Hover Jets
- Bonus movement speed reduced from 40% to 30%.
Barrage
- Pharah can now move while using Barrage.
- Explosion damage reduced from 30 to 25.
Drift Thrusters – minor perk
Concussive Force – minor perk (new)
