Patch Notes
Past Experiments
Overwatch Experimental Patch Notes – August 24, 2020
Experimental Hero Updates
The next experiment begins! This time we’re hoping to get your feedback on some balance updates that lean toward reducing some heroes’ damage and healing outputs. We’re using the 2-2-2 Role Queue ruleset so that you can get a feel for how these balance changes might affect the live game.
Armor
- Beam-type damage reduction against Armor health pools increased from 20% to 30%
Ana
General
- Ammo reduced from 14 to 12
Ashe
General
- Max ammo reduced from 15 to 12
Secondary Fire
- Aim-down sights damage reduced from 85 to 80
Baptiste
Secondary Fire
- Grenade ammo reduced from 12 to 10
- Total healing reduced from 150 to 75
- Baptiste now receives twice as much healing from Regenerative Burst
Junkrat
- Impact damage reduced from 50 to 40 (Total 130 to 120)
McCree
Primary Fire
- Recovery increased from 0.42 to 0.50
Moira
Healing
- Lingering heal reduced from 4 seconds to 2 seconds (Total healing from 65 down to 35)
- Healing per second increased from 65 to 70
- Healing resource consumption rate increased from 11 to 14 (27%)
Damage
- Attach angle reduced by 37%
- Healing resource gain rate increased by 50%
Orisa
- Radius increased from 4 to 5
- Projectile speed reduced from 30 to 25
Pharah
- Recovery increased from 0.75 to 0.85
Symmetra
Secondary Fire
- Max damage reduced from 140 to 120
Widowmaker
General
- Max ammo increased from 30 to 35
Secondary Fire
- Scoped ammo cost increased from 3 to 5
- Scoped shots now have up to 50% damage falloff from 60-85 meters
Zarya
Secondary Fire
- Ammo cost increased from 20 to 25
Overwatch Experimental Patch Notes – August 18, 2020
Experimental Hero Updates
Moira
This round of changes is an iteration on the first Moira experiment we tested with in July. With these changes, we’ve tried to reduce to overall power level of this new Fade ability, as it was just capable of doing too much in its last form. Now, it cannot cleanse negative effects or easily allow people to escape Sigma or Zarya ultimates, but is still a powerful tool to reduce significant incoming damage if it is timed well. As for the Damage Orb changes, this is a totally new direction to try and accomplish the same goals as before: change the ability from an easy to use but low impact ability, to a more skillful and higher potential impact ability. Landing a Damage Orb is now much more challenging but the reward is also much higher.
This is the kind of iteration we’re constantly doing internally when making changes or designing new heroes. The Experimental card gives us an interesting opportunity to show how things evolve and are tested over time. Keep in mind that these are purely experiment changes and are not likely to go live.
- Attach angle reduced by 37%
Damage Orb
- Now sticks to enemies when impacting them, instead of piercing through them
- Only deals damage if stuck to a target
- Deals a constant 60 DPS to all enemies
- Will remain on a stuck player for 3 seconds or until 120 damage is dealt to that player, whichever happens first
- The Orb is destroyed if it hits an enemy barrier
- Reduced max number of bounces to 1
- Increased projectile speed from 20 to 25
- Now phases out all allies within 6 meters (and self) for 1 second after exiting Fade
- No longer frees Moira or allies from Zarya’s Graviton Surge or Sigma’s Gravitic Flux
- Cooldown increased from 6s to 8s
Reaper
- No longer frees Reaper from Zarya’s Graviton Surge or Sigma’s Gravitic Flux
Overwatch Experimental Patch Notes - August 6, 2020
Experimental Hero Updates
The next experiment begins! This time we’re hoping to get your feedback on some balance updates focused on shifting away from a barrier-heavy meta. We’re using the 2-2-2 Role Queue ruleset so that you can get a feel for how these balance changes might affect the live game.
Brigitte
- Base health lowered from 200 to 150
- Total healing decreased from 130 to 90 (Healing reduced from 21 to 15 health per second)
- Self-healing is no longer reduced by half
Orisa
- Base armor reduced from 250 to 200
- Radius reduced from 7 to 4 meters
- Projectile speed increased from 20 to 30
Pharah
- Movement speed increased 20%
- Regeneration rate reduced from 50 to 35 per second
- Duration reduced from 3 to 2.5 seconds
Roadhog
General
- Ammo reduced from 6 to 5
- Damage per projectile increased from 6 to 7
- Recovery increased from 0.7 to 0.85 seconds
Sigma
- Health reduced from 900 to 700
- Regeneration rate reduced from 120 to 80 per second
- Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds
Symmetra
Primary Fire
- Delay before losing charge increased from 2 to 4 seconds
- Cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds
Zenyatta
Secondary Fire
- Charge rate increased 15% (0.6 down to 0.52 seconds per orb)
- Rate of fire increased from 8.5 to 9 shots per second
Experiments
The Experimental Mode allows players to try out potential new balance updates, game modes, and rule changes. The content within this mode is not guaranteed to be released and the mode may not always be available.