Patch Notes
Overwatch 2 Freja Hero Trial - March 21, 2025
Introducing Freja
As head of Search and Rescue, Freja Skov dedicated her life to Overwatch and its mission of global peace. With the agency’s resources, there was no one Freja couldn’t find, no victim beyond her reach. But when Overwatch disbanded, Freja found herself adrift, purposeless... until she found a new market for her talent. As a bounty hunter, Freja attracted a different kind of clientele, one that showed her the true value of her skills. Now through March 24, get hands-on with her powerful crossbow, explosive bolts, and game-changing Ultimate. With a dynamic, strategy-driven kit, she’s built for players who thrive on precision and positioning—and she never misses her mark.
Freja
- Damage Role
- Not available in Competitive Play during the Hero Trial
- Primary Fire.
- Rapidly fire automatic bolts.
- Secondary Fire.
- Slow your momentum to take aim with a high-speed explosive bolt. Using Quick Dash refreshes Take Aim.
- Ability 1.
- Vault in the direction you're moving and refresh Take Aim.
- Ability 2.
- Launch upward with a gust of wind.
- Ultimate ability.
- Fire an explosive bola. Hitting an enemy wraps them up and pulls in other nearby enemies.
- Passive ability.
- Every 3 Final Blows, gain bonus ultimate charge.
- Minor Perk.
- Enemies hit by 3 regular bolts in quick succession are slowed by 20% for 2 seconds.
- Minor Perk.
- Critical health enemies are revealed to you.
- Major Perk.
- Updraft grants a temporary free use of Quick Dash.
- Major Perk.
- Direct hits with Take Aim refund 4 automatic bolt ammo.
Overwatch 2 Retail Patch Notes – March 18, 2025
Overwatch 2 X LE SSERAFIM
Overwatch 2 x LE SSERAFIM are back with a new collab, bringing their energy, attitude, and bold aesthetic to the battlefield. With five brand-new Legendary skins featuring vibrant colors and standout details—like Ashe’s dynamite to light up the fight with RGB effects—this collection is a must-have for fans of both Overwatch 2 and LE SSERAFIM. Complete in-game challenges to earn free cosmetics, including the Legendary Fawksey James Junkrat skin.
Overwatch 2 Classic - GOATS
Step into Overwatch history with Overwatch Classic: GOATS, where teamwork, sustain, and strategy reign supreme. This iconic meta defined an entire era of competitive play, proving that three tanks, three supports, and perfectly timed abilities could be the ultimate formula for victory. Whether you remember GOATS from its prime or are experiencing it for the first time, now’s your chance to relive one of Overwatch’s most influential moments that rewrote the rules of team play. Overwatch 2 Classic: GOATS begins on March 25.
- Heroes added include Moira, Brigitte, and Wrecking Ball.
- Maps added include Blizzard World, Rialto, and Busan.
- Hero balance is adjusted to the September 2018 Hero Balance.
New Mythic Weapon - Widowmaker's Dame Chance
A gift from Talon's favorite financier, Dame Chance is a rifle of grace, refinement, and supreme lethality. Featuring a stunning crystalline core that reacts to your performance, evolving customization, exclusive animations, and a dynamic Mythic HUD, this is the ultimate sniper’s flex. If you live for those pixel-perfect headshots, it’s time to show the world what true precision looks like with the Mythic Dame Chance Widowmaker Weapon Skin.
6v6 Open Queue - Max 2 Tanks
6v6 Open Queue is back in Overwatch 2! From 3/18 to 4/20, experience the classic format with a modern upgrade, as Perks and a two-tank max bring new layers of strategy to every match. 6v6 Open Queue will temporarily replace 5v5 Open Queue in both ranked and unranked play, giving you a refreshed way to dominate. Whether you’re stacking tanks, coordinating big team plays, or flexing into any role, 6v6 Open Queue gives you the freedom to shape the fight your way.
- Available from March 18 to April 21—don’t miss experiencing Perks in 6v6!
- Due to an issue, this mode will only be available in Competitive Play until a future update.
- For Competitive play, wide queue is not available.
Hero Updates
Tanks
Junker Queen
Developer Comments: Increasing the duration of Deep Wounds to ensure that Junker Queen can maintain wounds even longer on enemies she’s actively targeting.
- Extended wound duration increased from 0.25 to 0.5 seconds.
Ramattra
Developer Comments: An additional element has been added to Prolonged Barrier to enable Ramattra to control a larger area and provide effective cover with the shield.
- Now additionally increases the size of the Void Barrier by 25%.
Reinhardt
Developer Comments: We’re making improvements to several of Reinhardt's perks to increase their usability in various situations.
- Passive Regeneration trigger rate increased from 50% to 75%.
- Cooldown reduced from 8 to 6 seconds.
Roadhog
Developer Comments: The increased throw distance modifies how Roadhog can use Hog Toss. Adding a damage increase component will make Pig Pen more effective even when not utilizing the throw distance
- Now also increases the damage of Pig Pen by 25%.
Winston
Developer Comments: Short Circuit is being adjusted to improve its effectiveness in specific matchups against deployables such as barriers or turrets.
- Damage versus deployable objects increased from 30% to 50%
Wrecking Ball
Developer Comments: The transfer cost is being reduced to amplify the value of shields when given to allies.
- Ally transfer cost reduction increased from 33% to 50%.
Damage
Bastion
Developer Comments: Adding a resource meter will control Bastion's healing ability, ensuring more balanced gameplay and fair engagements with low damage output heroes.
- Now has a resource required to heal.
Cassidy
Developer Comments: Increasing Past Noon's refund aims to improve High Noon and its zoning capabilities, adding incentive to change how the ultimate is used.
- Ultimate charge refunded increased from 30% to 40%.
Genji
Developer Comments: The utility of Genji’s perks, such as Acrobatics and Blade Twisting, has been limited due to their specific use cases. We have improved the conditions of these perks and increased the healing of Meditation to align it with other Major perks.
- Now also resets double jump on wall climb.
- Healing increased from 25 to 35 health per second.
- Duration after an elimination to trigger bonus damage increased from 6 to 10 seconds.
- Bonus damage is now dealt over 1 second instead of 2 seconds.
Mei
Developer Comments: The cooldown increase for Permafrost has been removed to ensure it does not create negative impact for Ice Wall.
- No longer increases cooldown of Ice Wall.
Pharah
Developer Comments: We are increasing the amount of converted shields to enhance Pharah’s self-sufficiency when Helix Shields is selected.
- Converted Shields increased from 75 to 125.
Reaper
Developer Comments: The recovery time change will allow Reaper to weave primary fire shots between uses of Dire Trigger, reducing the friction of using this ability.
- Recovery time reduced from 0.9 to 0.7 seconds.
Soldier: 76
Developer Comments: Reducing Stim Pack's cast time will make it more responsive, allowing use during combat without dramatically affecting shooting uptime.
- Cast time reduced from 0.4 to 0.15 seconds.
- Stim Pack anti-heal is now cleansable.
Sombra
Developer Comments: Improving Sombra's Major Perks to ensure they're providing value without heavily impacting her core gameplay.
- Range penalty reduced from 30% to 15%.
- Hack is now uninterruptible from damage when healing allies.
Torbjörn
Developer Comments: Torbjörn’s Turret has become difficult to deal with when paired with his Major Perks. The base statistics of Deploy Turret are being reduced, and some power is being reallocated to the Minor Perk Craftsman.
- Base health reduced from 250 to 225.
- Turret Damage reduced from 13 to 12.
- Now additionally increases Deploy Turret base health by 25
Tracer
Developer Comments: Increasing duration gives players additional time to take advantage of the overhealth after recalling.
- Overhealth duration increased from 3.5 to 6 seconds.
Support
Baptiste
Developer Comments: Increasing Assault Burst's attack speed to balance its loss of instant healing. Also, boosted Automated Healing as its current effectiveness is low for an ultimate perk.
- Healing per shot is increased from 25 to 30.
- Attack speed increased from 20% to 30%.
Brigitte
Developer Comments: Barrier Restoration now grants increased movement speed, offering Brigitte additional options when she is unable to use Shield Bash on opponents.
- After Shield Bashing, Brigitte gains 30% movement speed for 1.5 seconds.
Iliari
Developer Comments: Increasing the power of Summer Solstice for more effective use of her ultimate ability and improved flight time.
- Weapon recharging is no longer paused while using Quick Melee.
- Additionally provides 30% increased attack speed while Captive Sun is active
Juno
Developer Comments: Enhancing Re-Boots to be a more valuable mobility perk, allowing players to hover for longer and utilize the double jump reset.
- Now also increases the duration of Glide Boost by 25%.
Lifeweaver
Developer Comments: Triggering Superbloom can be challenging, so we are making several changes to improve the consistency of the perk.
- Damage increased from 30 to 40.
- Number of hits to trigger increased from 16 to 20.
- Window of time to land hits increased from 1.5 to 2.5 seconds.
- Bonus to Healing Blossom heal increased from 20 to 30.
Mercy
Developer Comments: The cast time has been shortened to make Flash Heal more responsive for use in emergency situations.
- Cast time reduced from 0.875 to 0.4 seconds.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue causing Maximilien’s Vault cards to not show a full 5 cards.
- Fixed an issue where the Overwatch League shop was missing from the shop menu.
- Fixed an issue causing disconnects with the replay system.
- Fixed an issue where the loot box thumbnails might not appear.
- Fixed an issue with the switch spawn button not working.
- Fixed a bug where some skins were incorrectly showing they were available for purchase in the hero gallery.
Ana
- Fixed a bug where Ana's Bastet skin was missing from the game.
Orisa
- In a previous update, fixed an issue where Orisa's overhealth would not restore if fully depleted using the Bulwark perk.
Overwatch 2 Retail Patch Notes - March 4, 2025
Bug Fix Update
This is a bug fix patch and contains no hero updates. In-Game Replay Codes and Highlights from the previous patch are removed.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue which applied the galaxy weapon tint to other hero items.
- Fixed an issue which caused Ashe's default weapon skin to disappear from the weapon skin menu.
- Fixed an issue which would cause players to get stuck on the loot box screen if they were previously opening loot boxes before transitioning into a game.
Live Patch Notes
These patch notes represent general changes made to the Live version of Overwatch and the balance changes listed affect Quick Play, Competitive Play, Arcade, and Custom Games.