Overwatch 2 version 3.73 Patch Notes

Blizzard has released a new Overwatch 2 version 3.73 on PS4, PS5, PC, and Xbox One. According to the official OW2 patch notes, the newest season 6 update introduces Suravasa map, featuring stunning water-based art, in Overwatch 2. New hero Illari joins the roster as a sun-powered Support with damage-healing skills. Apart from this, Overwatch 2 update 3.73 also includes the King’s Row: Underworld event and various bug fixes.

Previously, a major Overwatch 2 update 3.56 added OW2 Summer Games 2023 event update brings Lúcioball, Lúcioball Remix, and Winston’s Beach Volleyball, along with new cosmetic rewards. Today’s Overwatch 2 version 3.73 will fix a few of these issues.

Read the full details below.

Overwatch 2 3.73 patch notes

Sombra

  • Fixed an interaction with Translocator and Petal Platform that allowed players to get out of the playable space.

Widowmaker

  • Fixed the missing sound effects on the ‘I see you’ highlight intro when certain skins were equipped.

Winston

  • Fixed an interaction with Winston’s Shield Generator and Tracer’s Pulse Bomb that could result in damage not being mitigated if the bomb was placed inside the top of the barrier.

Zarya

  • Fixed an interaction with Earthshatter that could result in Zarya getting zero charge if a bubble was active.

The following changes were added previously.

HALLOWEEN TERROR 2023

Get ready for the spookiest event of the year as Overwatch 2 transforms into a haunted battleground. Halloween Terror is back with your favorite game modes—Junkenstein’s Revenge, Wrath of the Bride, and Trials of Sanctuary, a new Blizzard crossover game mode. Team up with the heroes of Sanctuary, power up their abilities, and defeat powerful bosses, including Butcher Roadhog, Azmodan Wrecking Ball, and Lilith Moira.

NEW MAP – SAMOA

Samoa is a new Control map where you’ll fight on a tropical beach, a gleaming city, and inside a volcano! Watch out for deadly pitfalls, or you might just be swimming in lava! Samoa will be available to play right away in a dedicated Arcade card and will appear in Quick Play and other unranked modes starting on October 10 with it appearing in Competitive Play later in the season.

HERO REWORK – SOMBRA

We approached the Sombra Rework by identifying key goals to guide decisions throughout the design iteration process: make Sombra more committal when engaging, increase the active feel in her ability kit, and uphold the current Hacker fantasy. With these goals, there were multiple angles to tackle around her existing kit. Naturally, many ideas were also meant to address frustrations playing against the character, ensuring there is proper counterplay for enemies.

Sombra

Machine Pistol

  • Damage increased from 7.5 to 8.
  • Minimum Spread reduced from 0.5 to 0.
  • Number of shots until max spread has been increased from 3 to 6 shots.
  • Reload time reduced from 1.4 seconds to 1.2 seconds.

Hack

  • Cast time reduced from 0.75 seconds to 0.65 seconds.
  • Now cancels Stealth when hacking an enemy hero.
  • Cooldown increased from 4 to 6 seconds.
  • Hack has a reduced cooldown of 3 seconds if Hack is interrupted or if a non-hero enemy is hacked.
  • The “Hacked” warning text will now only appear while you are silenced and not for the remainder duration of the hack debuff.

Opportunist

  • Removed.

Stealth

  • Ability reworked to be a passive. Sombra automatically becomes invisible after 3.5 seconds while not shooting, using a damaging ability, or receiving damage.
  • Stealth movement speed bonus reduced from 60% to 45%.
  • Fade Out duration into Stealth reduced from 0.375 seconds to 0.25 seconds.
  • Fade In duration from Stealth reduced from 0.5 seconds to 0.375 seconds.
  • Updated the UI messaging to the Sombra player when hacking Health Packs to “Revealed” instead of “Detected”. Now the message “Detected” is only used when an enemy player is in the detection radius.

Virus

  • This is a new ability assigned to Ability 1 by default.
  • Fire a projectile that damages an enemy over time. Damage is dealt faster on Hacked enemies.
  • Impact Damage: 10 (20 on hacked target).
  • Damage over time: 100 over 4 seconds (100 over 2 seconds on hacked target).

Translocator

  • Can no longer can be manually activated. Translocator will now automatically teleport Sombra after 0.25 seconds from being thrown or when impacting the environment.
  • Reduces the Stealth passive cooldown after teleporting.
  • Projectile speed increased from 25 to 72.
  • Cooldown reduced from 6 seconds to 5 seconds. Cooldown now begins after Sombra teleports to the location of the Transponder.
  • Projectile launch initial vertical offset removed.

EMP

  • Ultimate charge cost increased by 15%.
  • Health percent damage decreased from 40% to 30%.
GENERAL UPDATES
GROUP RESPAWN
  • Heroes who die within 5 seconds of each other will respawn together, resulting in some players having either a slightly longer or shorter queue than the standard 10 seconds.
  • Heroes who die more than 5 seconds from another player eliminated will still respawn in 10 seconds on their own.
  • These changes do not apply to Competitive Play mode.

Developer Comments: We think that team fights are some of the most enjoyable moments in our game, but we’ve all been in matches where team cohesion–or lack thereof–makes these moments a rarity. These matches often turn into stomps for the team that can’t group up, and preventing stomps is a high priority for us. As such, this season, we’re modifying how heroes respawn for Quick Play. Heroes that die within 5 seconds of each other will be respawned in a wave together. This means that respawn times will sometimes change in order for heroes to respawn together. If a hero dies further apart than 5 seconds from another death on their team, they’ll still respawn in 10 seconds as they would have in the past.

We’ll be listening closely to feedback on this new system, and depending on the response and making any changes, we will consider adding these adjustments to Competitive Play in a later season.

UNRANKED LEAVER PENALTIES
  • 75% XP penalty removed.
  • The penalty thresholds have not changed, but the mechanics have also never been completely explained. The last 20 games played a player participated in are recorded. Leaving four of these 20 games activates the first penalty threshold. Leaving six of these 20 games activates the second penalty threshold.
  • Queuing for most game modes is now suspended when a player leaves a match inside a penalty threshold.
  • Players that reach the first penalty threshold will be suspended for 10 minutes.
  • Players that reach the second penalty threshold will be suspended for 30 minutes.
  • The queue suspension will reapply each time a player leaves a game when they are above the first penalty threshold but not when they complete their games.
  • Consecutive Match XP bonus has been renamed to Endurance Bonus.
  • Endurance Bonus is XP granted when finishing matches without leaving the previous match.

Developer Comments: Previously, if players left too many games, we would apply a 75% penalty to their Battle Pass XP that is gained. We found this had very little impact on those who leave deliberately and severely impacted those who don’t have much time to play but want to earn the rewards in our season Battle Pass. We’re changing this to make it more difficult for players who leave games to be disruptive while not applying too much impact to those who don’t intend on ruining the experience for others.

STORY MISSIONS
  • You can now spectate any Story Mission that your friends are playing if you own the campaign pack for that mission.
HERO MASTERY

Scoring Update

  • Bonus score granted from time remaining in the gold bonus tier is now accurate to one-hundredth of a second. (Previously completed games in the Top 500 leaderboards are not adjusted.)
  • The user interface has been updated to display this new time accuracy everywhere that we display time and score.

Replays

  • Hero Mastery now supports replays.
  • Replays are saved for any completed course that results in a new scoring record.
  • The user interface for Hero Mastery replays has been customized to display score, time, and other information.
PLAYER PROGRESSION
  • Lowered show priority for Time Played and Wins sub-badges in the Showcase.
  • Added Virus Kills to Sombra’s sub-badge set.

Developer comments: All heroes share the Time Played and Wins sub-badges. This change is intended to highlight each hero’s unique sub-badges to better reflect individual playstyle.

CHALLENGES
  • Reduced the number of wins required to unlock Sojourn, Junker Queen and Kiriko through Hero challenges.
  • Illari is now unlockable through Hero challenges.
HERO UPDATES
TANK

Orisa

Fortify

  • Damage reduction decreased from 50% to 45%.

Developer Comments: We are further readjusting Orisa’s survivability, which was originally increased due to the armor-damage reduction stacking change we made several patches ago. This particular change is relatively light as we still want her to be an effective pick against teams that lean on crowd control.

Ramattra

Nemesis Form

  • Cooldown decreased from 8 to 7 seconds.

Developer Comments: This change lets Ramattra project his influence more frequently with Nemesis Form, which translates into increased survivability and damage. The flexibility also makes it less punishing if he swaps back to Omnic Form early to use the Void Barrier.

Wrecking Ball

Quad Cannons

  • Number of shots to reach max spread increased from 20 to 30.

Developer Comments: This change lets Wrecking Ball finish off enemies a bit more reliably when he’s outside of point-blank range and makes him less reliant on his Piledriver combos.

Zarya

Projected Barrier

  • Size decreased 15% now matching back to the size of Particle Barrier.
  • Health decreased from 225 to 200 matching back to the health of Particle Barrier.

Developer Comments: Zarya is using the barrier on her allies more often to peel or initiate combination plays, which makes the ability more team-oriented and less self-serving. This change preserves that interesting choice by keeping the cooldown reduced when used on an ally while targeting her energy sustain instead, which has increased significantly with the bonuses to the barrier health and size.

DAMAGE

Cassidy

Combat Roll

  • Damage reduction increased from 50% to 75%.

Developer Comments: Most damage mitigation from Combat Roll feels incidental, as the ability is used more for mobility or reloading. This adjustment allows Cassidy to be more intentional with his rolls to avoid large amounts of damage with correct timing.

Mei

Deep Chill

  • Removed.

Endothermic Blaster

  • Damage per second increased from 70 to 100.
  • Now immediately slows enemies by 40% instead of building up over time.

Developer Comment: We liked the one-two combo that Deep Chill provided, as it added an interesting layer for hero mastery. However, in practice, it increased the amount of crowd control suffered by enemy players while also reducing Mei’s effectiveness. Rather than further increasing the slow or increasing cumulative combo damage, both of which would lead to a more frustrating experience for the opposing player, we are reverting Mei back to her balance prior to adding the Deep Chill passive.

Torbjörn

Rivet Gun

  • Primary fire recovery increased from .48 to .51 seconds.

Overload

  • Overhealth bonus decreased from 100 to 75.

Developer Comments: Torbjorn’s Rivet Gun can feel overwhelming with how quickly it shoots. This change reduces the firing cadence and makes it more manageable on the receiving end. Overload provides too much defensive value, so we are lowering the overhealth bonus.

SUPPORT

Brigitte

Whip Shot

  • Damage increased from 70 to 80.

Developer Comment: This change increases her proficiency at protecting her allies by rewarding accuracy with her most aim-focused ability.

Illari

Solar Rifle

  • Secondary fire healing per second decreased from 120 to 105.

Developer Comments: Illari’s burst healing output is still a little too high, so we are lowering the effectiveness of the Solar Rifle secondary fire to bring her more in line with other support heroes.

HERO OPTION AND INPUT UPDATES

In addition to the hero balance adjustments in this update, we are implementing additional quality-of-life settings and additional input options for several hero abilities to give you the ability to custom-tailor your experience of playing your favorite heroes.

TANK

D.Va

Added the hero-specific options:

  • Light Gun Input – Primary Fire by default.
  • Relative Light Gun Aim Sensitivity – 100% by default.
  • Relative Light Gun Gyro Aim Sensitivity – 100% by default (only available on gyro-supported platforms.

Doomfist

Added the hero-specific option:

  • Swap Meteor Strike Confirm and Zoom Out Inputs – Off by default.

Junker Queen

Added the hero-specific options:

  • Hide Commanding Shout Timer – Off by default.
  • Hold to use Jagged Blade – Off by default.

Orisa

Added the hero-specific option:

  • Hold to use Terra Surge – Off by default.

Ramattra

Added the hero-specific options:

  • Void Barrier Confirmation Input – Secondary Fire Release by default.
  • Void Barrier UI – On by default.

Changed the hero-specific option:

  • Annihilation Cancel Input options changed from Ability 1/Ability 3 to Ability 1/Ability 3/Off.

Reinhardt

Added the hero-specific option:

  • Charge Cancel Input – Ability 1 by default, with Primary Fire, Secondary Fire, or All as additional options available.

Roadhog

Whole Hog

  • Whole Hog can now be fired with Secondary Fire.

Added the hero-specific options:

  • Relative Aim Sensitivity During Whole Hog – 100% by default.
  • Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Whole Hog – 100% by default (Only available on gyro-supported platforms).

Sigma

Added the hero-specific options:

  • Experimental Barrier UI – On by default.
  • Hide Gravitic Flux Timer – Off by default.
  • Gravitic Flux Confirmation Input – Primary Fire by default.

Winston

Primal Rage

  • Primal Rage melee attacks can now be fired with Secondary Fire and Quick Melee along with Primary Fire.

Added the hero-specific options:

  • Relative Aim Sensitivity During Primal Rage – 100% by default.
  • Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Primal Rage – 100% by default (Only available on gyro-supported platforms).

Wrecking Ball

Added the hero-specific options:

  • Hide Adaptive Shields Timer – Off by default.
  • Adaptive Shields UI – On by default.
  • Piledriver UI – On by default.
DAMAGE

Echo

Added the hero-specific options:

  • Toggle Glide – Off by default.
  • Secondary Fire Activates Glide on Gamepad – On by default.

Genji

Dragonblade:

  • Dragonblade melee attacks can now be fired with Secondary Fire and Quick Melee along with Primary Fire.

Added the hero-specific options:

  • Hide Dragonblade Timer – Off by default.
  • Relative Aim Sensitivity During Dragonblade – 100% by default.
  • Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Dragonblade – 100% by default (Only available on gyro-supported platforms).

Hanzo

Added the hero-specific option:

  • Toggle Primary Fire – Off by default.

Mei

Added the hero-specific option:

  • Cryo-freeze Cancel Input – All by default.

Pharah

  • Added the hero-specific options:
  • Relative Aim Sensitivity During Rocket Barrage – 100% by default.
  • Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Rocket Barrage – 100% by default (only available on gyro-supported platforms).

Reaper

Added the hero-specific option:

  • Wraith Form Cancel Input – All by default.

Soldier: 76

  • Added the hero-specific options:
  • Relative Aim Sensitivity During Tactical Visor – 100% by default.
  • Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Tactical Visor – 100% by default (Only available on gyro-supported platforms).

Torbjörn

Molten Core:

  • Molten Core can now be fired with Secondary Fire along with Primary Fire.

Added the hero-specific options:

  • Relative Aim Sensitivity During Molten Core – 100% by default.
  • Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Molten Core – 100% by default (Only available on gyro-supported platforms).
SUPPORT

Lifeweaver

Added the hero-specific options:

  • Tree of Life Cancel Input – Ability 3 by default.

Lúcio

Added the hero-specific option:

  • Toggle Wall Ride – Off by default.

Mercy

Added the hero-specific options:

  • Toggle Angelic Descent – Off by default.
  • Secondary Fire Activates Angelic Descent on Gamepad – On by default.

Moira

Added the hero-specific options:

  • Swap Biotic Orb Heal and Damage inputs – Off by default.
  • Hide Coalescence Timer – Off by default.
  • Relative Aim Sensitivity During Coalescence – 100% by default.
  • Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Coalescence – 100% by default (Only available on gyro-supported platforms).

Zenyatta

Added the hero-specific option:

  • Toggle Secondary Fire – Off by default.
MAP UPDATES
ROUTE 66 DESIGN CHANGES

There are now additional places for the attacking team to take cover around their initial spawn. The doors on the first checkpoint will now only close one of the two doors after the payload passes by giving attackers more options to work through the difficult choke points. There will also be fewer places to take cover in the later parts of the map.

LIGHTING FOR SEASON 7

Push

  • New Queen Street – Morning
  • Colosseo – Evening
  • Esperança – Morning

Hybrid

  • Blizzard World – Night
  • Eichenwalde – Morning
  • Hollywood – Morning
  • King’s Row – Night
  • Midtown – Night (New)
  • Numbani – Morning
  • Paraíso – Evening

Escort

  • Dorado – Evening
  • Havana – Morning
  • Watchpoint: Gibraltar – Morning
  • Junkertown – Morning
  • Circuit royal – Morning
  • Rialto – Evening
  • Route 66 – Overcast (New)
  • Shambali Monastery – Night

Control

  • Antarctic Peninsula – Night
  • Busan – Morning
  • Ilios – Evening
  • Lijiang Tower – Dawn
  • Nepal – Morning
  • Oasis – Morning
  • Samoa – Morning (New Map)

Flashpoint

  • New Junk City – Morning
  • Suravasa – Morning
BUG FIXES
GENERAL
  • Fixed a bug where some players were unable to capture Plays of the Game using the in-game capture system.
  • Fixed an issue with the ‘Random’ option for Victory Poses and Highlight Intros not saving.
  • Fixed a bug that could result in Support Heroes losing the ability to see allied health bars in Control matches.
  • Fixed an issue with the camera breaking during Plays of the Game if the player used a Souvenir during the play.
MAPS

Watchpoint: Gibraltar

  • Fixed an issue with the end-of-game line-up camera clipping into the environment.

Junkertown

  • Fixed an area of the map that allowed turrets to be placed inside the environment.

New Junk City

  • Fixed some areas of the map that caused players to get stuck.
  • Fixed lighting in some areas around the map.
  • Fixed areas of the map that had gaps in its collision.

Rialto

  • Fixed an area near the boat docks that could result in players becoming stuck.

Suravasa

  • Fixed lighting in several areas on the map.
  • Fixed some collision on the map that could cause some odd interactions with certain ultimate abilities.
STORY MISSIONS

Toronto Mission

  • Fixed a few areas on the map that could trap Tracer.
HEROES

Cassidy

  • Fixed a bug that caused Magnetic Grenade to not detach from eliminated targets.

Illari

  • Fixed an issue that prevented the Perfect Placement achievement from completing in some cases.
  • Fixed an interaction with Healing Pylon and Lifeweaver’s Tree of Life, the pylon should now pass through the tree’s canopy.
  • Fixed an issue with Captive Sun that resulted in the normal primary fire being used if fired at the end of the ultimate duration.
  • Fixed a bug with Illari’s secondary fire that could cause performance issues.

Kiriko

  • Fixed an interaction that prevented the ‘Debuffs Cleansed’ emblem from counting Captive Sun effects cleansed with Kiriko’s Protection Suzu.
  • Fixed an issue that allowed Kiriko to teleport outside of the playable space.

Lifeweaver

  • Fixed an issue where Lifeweaver would call out an enemy Petal Platform as his own when pinging.

Mei

  • Fixed a bug that prevented damage from Mei’s alternate fire from being counted toward the progress of the ‘Weapon Damage’ emblem.

Sigma

  • Fixed an issue with Kinetic Grasp that prevented the following abilities from being converted into overhealth: Ramattra’s Ravenous Vortex, Mei’s Blizzard, Sojourn’s Disruptor Shot.

Symmetra

  • Fixed Symmetra’s footsteps failing to play while crouched.

The following changes were added previously.

  • New map: Suravasa, a garden sanctuary in India, with intricate water-based environment art effects.
OW2 new hero
OW2 new hero
  • Flashpoint mode: Non-stop action gameplay with teams capturing Flashpoints for victory.
  • New Support hero: Illari, a sun-powered hero with damage-focused healing abilities.
  • Invasion story missions: Co-op campaign against Null Sector bots across different cities.
  • King’s Row: Underworld co-op event: Free-to-play event to stop Null Sector in King’s Row.

INTRODUCING ILLARI

Using solar threading augmentation, Illari strikes down her enemies by harnessing the power of the sun.

ILLARI
  • Illari has been added to the line-up.
Solar Rifle (Primary Fire)
  • Long-range auto-charging rifle.
Solar Rifle (Secondary Fire)
  • Medium-range healing beam that consumes solar energy.
Outburst (Ability 1)
  • Launches you in the direction you are moving, knocking back enemies. Hold jump to go higher.
Healing Pylon (Ability 2)
  • Deploy a pylon that heals allies.
Captive Sun (Ultimate)
  • Fire an explosive ball of solar energy. Enemies hit are slowed and explode after taking significant damage.

NEW GAME MODE – FLASHPOINT

Flashpoint is the newest core game mode available on two of the biggest maps to date: Suravasa and New Junk City. Gameplay begins with both teams pursuing a central objective called a Flashpoint, aiming to capture it before the opposing team does. Capture progress for Flashpoint is like the Control game mode, but plays out faster.

A point is captured by a team once a Flashpoint reaches 100% capture progress. If the Flashpoint is being contested by a member of the opposite team currently not in control when the capture progress reaches 99%, Overtime will activate until either the team in control can remove all remaining opponents off, or until the contesting team can retake control of the Flashpoint.

A point is scored when a Flashpoint is fully captured by a team, however, gameplay continues when a new Flashpoint located somewhere else on the map is activated, and both teams must immediately race to capture it. As additional Flashpoints unlock, the spawn locations of each team will be of generally equal distance to the currently activated Flashpoint.

The team to be the first to successfully capture three of the five flashpoints wins the match.

Flashpoint is available now in Unranked modes and will be available for Competitive Play later this season.

INVASION STORY MISSIONS

Players who purchase the Invasion Bundle from the in-game shop can play in all-new Story Missions with their friends or others in queue. These massive co-op experiences will have players face against the invading forces of Null Sector, who have launched an all-out global offensive. Play through all of them and unlock the Overwatch 2 hero Sojourn, along with her new Vigilante Legendary skin.

Players can access the Story Missions can be accessed through Winston’s Desk in the Missions card in the play menu, where players can explore the Story Missions hub and new Intel Database. Playing missions and completing various goals will unlock lore entries, movies, never-before-revealed details about your favorite heroes and characters, and clues about the future of the world of Overwatch!

NEW LIMITED TIME EVENT: KING’S ROW – UNDERWORLD

Stop Null Sector from taking over the Omnic Underworld in this new co-op event that’s free to play for everyone! Reactivate a combat modified TS-1 Utility Bot to aid in liberating endangered omnics, but be warned: massive amounts of Null Sector forces have occupied King’s Row. And that’s not all—a powerful new support unit will be healing the deadly OR-14 attack bot in your path.

Every week, we’ll be adding new challenges and ways to play this new co-op event. Keep checking back! The King’s Row – Underworld event runs from August 10 to September 5.

GENERAL UPDATES

Firing Range
  • Train your aim with an all-new addition to the Practice Range! Use targets large and small, stationary and mobile, to perfect your crosshair tracking skills. Rack up points and strive to set the high score!
Challenges
  • Added a new Weekly challenge: Making Progress – Earn 8 Progression Levels. Instead of rewarding additional Battle Pass XP, this challenge rewards 150 Overwatch Credits to buy items from the Hero Gallery and counts as a challenge to earn Overwatch Coins when you complete multiple weekly challenges.
  • Weekly Overwatch Coins reward requirements are updated from 4/8/11 to 4/9/12.
  • Added a new set of challenges for the “Invasion” story missions. They can be found under the Lifetime tab.
  • Added Player Progression challenges for all 38 heroes. Player Icons can now be earned through these challenges.
  • Added Gold player title rewards to Competitive challenges.

Developer Comments: We’ve adjusted the second and third tiers to 9 and 12, but expect players to complete “Making Progress” on their way to those thresholds, which should leave the difficulty to complete weekly challenges unchanged. We’ve kept the first tier requirement at 4, which should be easier to earn with the introduction of the new weekly challenge.

On Fire
  • Increased minimum Blazing time to 10 seconds.
  • Added a 3-second cooldown to Blazing to prevent the sound effect from playing too frequently.
  • The visual effects for Blazing have been enhanced.
Ping System
  • Changed Symmetra’s personal Teleporter pings to work like Illari’s personal Healing Pylon pings so that the waypoint UI is removed when these objects are pinged.
  • Fixed Lifeweaver pinging enemy Petal Platforms as if they belong to him.
  • Health Packs are now pingable.
Text Chat
  • The ‘Unfiltered’ setting for all text chat channels has been removed. Players will have a choice on their chat settings between Friendly and Mature. Players that had previously set Text Profanity Filters to Unfiltered will now have applicable filters set to Mature.
  • Regardless of text chat filter settings, please continue to report those using inappropriate chat using the in-game report tool.

COMPETITIVE PLAY UPDATES

Top 500 Leaderboards
  • The number of wins required to appear on the Top 500 Leaderboard has been increased from 25 to 50 for consistency with our other Competitive game modes.

HERO UPDATES

  • Armor health damage reduction is now additive with other sources of damage reduction and has a maximum cap of 50%.

Developer Comments: Armor damage reduction was multiplicative with damage reduction from abilities, creating situations where certain heroes were much more difficult to damage than intended, since they were bypassing the damage reduction cap. This change will smooth out some of the extreme spikes in survivability.

TANK

D.VA

Developer Comments: Once D.Va’s mech was destroyed, there was a window of time where the pilot could be damaged or killed before the player fully had control over their character. With this change, D.Va can no longer be damaged by things like explosions or melee attacks before the player fully transitions control from the mech to the pilot.

Boosters
  • Cooldown reduced from 4 to 3.5 seconds.
Eject Mech
  • Pilot is now damage immune for 0.4 seconds while ejecting.

DOOMFIST

Developer Comments: Doomfist is performing well overall but tends to have more deaths on average compared to other Tank heroes. Lowering the Seismic Slam cooldown will reduce downtime in his ability rotations and translate into more survivability due to the increased mobility and potential for generating overhealth more often with his passive ability. Additionally, Power Block will now always reduce explosive damage from a projectile stuck directly to Doomfist, even though normally you have to face the direction of the incoming damage to block it.

Seismic Slam
  • Cooldown reduced from 7 to 6 seconds.
Power Block
  • Now reduces damage from stuck projectiles.

RAMATTRA

Developer Comments: Similar to Doomfist’s Power Block change, Ramattra’s Block ability will now always apply damage reduction to projectiles stuck directly to him. His Annihilation ultimate ability was being generated slightly too quickly for how impactful it can be, so we are increasing its ultimate cost.

Block (Nemesis Form)
  • Block now reduces damage from stuck projectiles.
Annihilation
  • Ultimate cost increased 12%.
  • Block now reduces damage from stuck projectiles.

SIGMA

Developer Comments: Sigma has always had somewhat floatier movement controls than most heroes in order to match his character movement animations. However, this led players to feel like his Tank role passive ability wasn’t reducing the amount he would be knocked back since it took him longer to stop than other tanks. We’ve now adjusted this to the standard hero movement values to make the gameplay interactions feel more consistent.

  • Base movement ground deceleration increased to match standard heroes movement.

WINSTON

Developer Comments: Winston’s Tesla Cannon ranged attack had a decently long charge time relative to the damage it deals. These adjustments will make it more responsive to charge and fire, which can be useful for situations such as finishing off low health enemies attempting to flee, or poking at enemies before leaping in. This comes at the cost of taking a longer time to recover after firing, which in some cases will be weaker as a burst-damage combo with Jump Pack and primary fire.

Tesla Cannon
  • Secondary fire charge time reduced from 1.2 to 1 second.
  • Secondary fire recovery time increased from 0.5 to 0.75 seconds.

DAMAGE

BASTION

Developer Comments: There are several small tuning adjustments to Bastion here with the goal of improving overall effectiveness, as Bastion’s weakness of being a large and immobile target has proven tough to overcome, even with such powerful damage potential.

A-36 Tactical Grenade
  • Maximum explosion damage falloff reduced from 70% to 50%.
  • Detonation time reduced from 0.5 to 0.35 seconds.
  • Recoil adjusted to recover more quickly.
  • Projectile size increased from 0.2 to 0.25.
  • Impact damage increased from 15 to 30.
Configuration: Recon
  • Reload time reduced from 1.5 to 1.2 seconds.
Configuration: Assault
  • Transforming into Configuration Assault now repairs 50 armor health.
Configuration: Artillery
  • Targeting state movement speed increased from 20 to 25 meters per second.

CASSIDY

Developer Comments: Even with the powerful and reworked Magnetic Grenade, Cassidy has still been underperforming, so we are reverting his maximum health back up to 225, having his gun damage falloff reach its full reduction sooner, and restricting the maximum range on magnetic grenade to help solidify his position as a close-to-mid range damage dealer.

  • Base health increased from 200 to 225.
Peacekeeper
  • Peacekeeper damage falloff range rescaled from 25-45 meters to 25-35 meters.
Magentic Grenade
  • Projectile now has a maximum travel time of 1.5 seconds.
  • Slow amount reduced from 30 to 25%.

HANZO

Developer Comments: Despite being conceptually strange, this gameplay mechanic felt good and fluid to use as Hanzo. However, it often resulted in some frustrating behavior for enemy players that can be alleviated without impacting Hanzo’s overall effectiveness too significantly.

Storm Bow
  • Arrow draw progress is no longer preserved while wall climbing.

SOLDIER: 76

Developer Comments: Soldier: 76 became much more deadly after his last round of changes so we are reverting the Helix Rocket explosion damage to lower his burst damage. We are also increasing his Tactical Visor ultimate cost to help account for his overall increased damage output, both during the ultimate and leading up to it.

Helix Rocket
  • Explosion damage reduced from 90 to 80.
Tactical Visor
  • Ultimate cost increased 10%.

SOMBRA

Developer Comments: EMP frequency is a little too high given its relative power so we are increasing its cost. It will now also deal the usual percentage of max health damage to Lifeweaver’s Tree of Life ultimate instead of treating it like a barrier and destroying it instantly.

EMP
  • Ultimate cost increased 15%.
  • No longer destroys Lifeweaver’s Tree of Life.

TORBJÖRN

Developer Comments: We are continuing to add power into the Rivet Gun, as the previous changes didn’t quite make up for the turret damage decrease. In addition, we are also improving the Forge Hammer swing speed so that it is more effective to repair a turret while it is under fire.

  • Weapon swap time reduced from 0.5 to 0.4 seconds.
Rivet Gun
  • Primary fire recovery time reduced from 0.55 to 0.48 seconds.
Forge Hammer
  • Swing recovery time reduced from 0.75 to 0.6 seconds.

SUPPORT

ANA

Developer Comment: Ana’s damage breakpoint change has proven too effective overall given her long range so we are reverting it back to its previous value. We are also increasing the size of unscoped projectiles when firing at enemies (her projectiles have always had a larger size for allies) which should help them land more consistently against close-ranged threats.

Biotic Rifle
  • Damage and healing per projectile reduced from 75 to 70.
  • Unscoped projectile size increased from 0 to 0.1.

BRIGITTE

Developer Comment: Brigitte’s overall effectiveness and survivability have been high relative to other heroes, so we are reducing the Barrier Shield health. We’re also slightly adjusting the ultimate cost of Rally, as it has become more effective after its rework.

Barrier Shield
  • Barrier Shield health reduced from 300 to 250.
Rally
  • Ultimate cost increased 6%.

KIRIKO

Developer Comment: Protection Suzu now rewards more deliberate usage by increasing its healing when cleansing negative effects. It will no longer knockback enemies, as it wasn’t particularly important to its overall design and was there to provide feedback for the impact. These Kunai changes will make the weapon damage output more consistent and reduce some of the disparity between landing critical hits or not.

Protection Suzu
  • Knockback removed.
  • Healing reduced from 50 to 40.
  • Now heals for an additional 30 health when cleansing a negative effect.
Kunai
  • Damage increased from 40 to 45.
  • Recovery time reduced from 0.55 to 0.5 seconds.
  • Critical damage multiplier reduced from 3 to 2.5x.

LIFEWEAVER

Developer Comments: The Tree of Life outputs substantial healing but often doesn’t provide enough value for an ultimate ability. To increase its utility, any overhealing done via the Tree is now converted to overhealth. Thorn Volley’s spread is now less random, with half the projectiles having a smaller base spread to promote better mid-range consistency. Life Grip now has a longer mobility lockout duration to prevent accidental cancels by the affected ally using a movement ability immediately after the pull being started. Finally, we are supplementing Lifeweaver’s survivability with an increase to his overall health pool by converting some of it to shield health in order to account for the large petal hit volume on his back, as well as increasing the healing done by Rejuvenating Dash.

  • Base health reduced from 200 to 175.
  • Base shield health increased from 0 to 50.
Thorn Valley
  • Reduced spread for one of the two Thorn Volley projectiles fired per shot by 25%.
Rejuvenating Dash
  • Healing increased from 25 to 50.
Life Grip
  • Mobility lockout duration increased from 0.45 to 0.75 seconds.
Tree of Life
  • 50% of Tree of Life’s overhealing is now converted into Overhealth – up to 100 maximum Overhealth.

LÚCIO

Developer Comment: In order to help bring Lucio’s survivability more in line with the rest of the Support heroes, Crossfade self-healing during Amp It Up is now a more effective survival option for Lucio.

Crossfade
  • Secondary fire damage boost reduced from 30 to 25%.

MERCY

Developer Comment: Damage amplification effects have been an often discussed topic lately, and Mercy has been performing strongly at all skill ranks. We’re reducing the potency of Mercy’s damage boost beam but want to make sure it stays powerful enough to feel like an effective and interesting gameplay choice, as making the decision between healing or damage boosting is core to Mercy’s gameplay.

Caduceus Staff
  • Secondary fire damage boost reduced from 30 to 25%.

CO-OP MODE HERO UPDATES

With the introduction of Overwatch 2: Invasion Story Missions, we will have specific hero balance changes for multiple heroes to ensure players have a continuous challenge when playing in co-op modes like Story Missions and Event Missions.

  • Heroes no longer passively gain ultimate charge over time.
  • Ultimate costs increased in co-op game modes.

TANK

WINSTON
Tesla Cannon
  • Secondary fire now chains up to 4 additional nearby enemies, dealing depreciating damage each chain.
Jump Pack
  • Landing damage now increases while in the air, up to 250% more damage over 2.5 seconds.

ZARYA
Particle Barrier
  • Particle Barrier duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
Projected Barrier
  • Projected Barrier duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
Graviton Surge
  • Damage per second increased from 5 to 30 for 105 damage total.
Energy (Passive)
  • Energy degeneration rate reduced from 2 to 1.5 energy per second.

DAMAGE

CASSIDY
Deadeye
  • Initial charge rate increased from 130 to 325 damage per second.
  • Ramped charge rate increased from 260 to 650 damager per second.
  • Now has a maximum damage cap of 1560 per target.

ECHO
Focusing Beam
  • Damage per second increased from 50 to 85.
Duplicate
  • Echo can duplicate her allies in Co-op modes.
  • Duration increased from 15 to 20 seconds.
  • Ultimate charge rate multiplier during Duplicate increased from 4x to 9x.

GENJI
Shuriken
  • Damage increased from 27 to 29.
Deflect
  • Duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
Dragonblade
  • Duration increased from 6 to 8 seconds.

MEI
Endothermic Blaster
  • Primary fire damage per second increased from 55 to 100.

PHARAH
  • Hover Jets and Jump Jet now increases movement speed by 30%.
Concussive Blast
  • Explosion damage increased from 0 to 30.
Barrage
  • Explosion damage increased from 30 to 35.
Hover Jets (Passive)
  • Maximum fuel increased 20%.

TORBJÖRN
Deploy Turret
  • Turret damage increased from 11 to 15.

TRACER
Pulse Pistols
  • Ammo increased from 40 to 60.
  • Damage reduced from 5.5 to 5.
Pulse Bomb
  • Explosion damage increased from 350 to 550.

SUPPORT

BRIGITTE
Shield Bash
  • Damage increased from 50 to 60.
Rally
  • Duration increased from 10 to 15 seconds.
  • Rally does not increase Barrier Shield size in Story Missions.
Inspire (Passive)
  • Healing total reduced from 75 to 55.

LÚCIO
Soundwave
  • Cooldown reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
Crossfade
  • Speed Boost now also increases attack speed by 20%.

MAP UPDATES

New Map – New Junk City

Explore deep beyond the gates of Junkertown and discover more secrets of the destroyed Omnium now inhabited by the Junkers in this massive Flashpoint map!

New Map – Suravasa

Discover the enchanting gardens and aqueducts of Suravasa. This Flashpoint map will host brawls across its intricate markets, temples, and ruins.

Lighting for Season 6

Push

  • New Queen Street – Dawn
  • Colosseo – Morning
  • Esperança – Morning

Hybrid

  • Blizzard World – Night (New)
  • Eichenwalde – Morning
  • Hollywood – Night
  • King’s Row — Night
  • Midtown — Morning
  • Numbani — Morning
  • Paraíso — Evening (New)

Escort

  • Dorado — Evening
  • Havana – Morning
  • Watchpoint: Gibraltar — Morning
  • Junkertown — Morning
  • Circuit royal – Morning
  • Rialto – Evening
  • Route 66 — Morning
  • Shambali Monastery — Night

Control

  • Antarctic Peninsula – Night
  • Busan – Morning
  • Ilios — Evening
  • Lijiang Tower — Dawn
  • Nepal — Morning
  • Oasis — Morning

Flashpoint

  • New Junk City — Morning (New Map)
  • Suravasa — Morning (New Map)

BUG FIXES

GENERAL
  • Fixed a bug that could result in Competitive Titles becoming unequipped.
  • Fixed an issue with splash damage being inconsistently applied to targets on ramps or stairs.
  • Fixed an issue that resulted in some players Hero Unlock challenges unable to progress.
  • Fixed a bug with the Challenge interface that could result in controllers unable to navigate it.
  • Play vs AI – Fixed a bug with Cassidy bot that would prevent him from using his full kit once Deadeye was activated.
  • Play vs AI – Fixed a bug with Ana bot only healing at regular intervals and reloading after each shot.
  • Play vs AI – Fixed an issue with Torbjorn bot being unable to use his Molten Core.
  • Fixed an issue with the Push mode progress indicator not reflecting team color.
  • Fixed a bug with some “Best” stats not being tracked correctly in Career Profile.
  • Resolved a bug with the Battlepass interface that could result in a player becoming stuck and forced to restart the client.
  • Fixed an issue that resulted in the Bonus XP tag to be missing from the Role Select screen.
  • Fixed a bug with abilities that reveal enemy health bars revealing health bars for all players in Deathmatch.
  • Fixed an issue with High Quality screenshots displaying artifacts in its images when used in the Hero Gallery.
  • Fixed a bug where the scoreboard would display large numbers incorrectly (1000 is now displayed as 1,000).
  • Resolved an issue with some abilities going through the ceiling at specific spots in some maps.
MAPS

Junkertown

  • Fixed a bug with a fuel tank whose collision did not match the model.

Lijiang Tower

  • Fixed an area of the map that would cause Immortality Field to self-destruct.

Midtown

  • Fixed areas in the map that could allow players to become stuck.

Paraíso

  • Fixed locations that were missing collision.
HEROES

Ashe

  • Fixed a clipping issue with Ashe’s rifle that could occur when aiming down sights.
  • Fixed an issue with BOB not playing the correct animations for the full Hack duration.

Baptiste

  • Fixed a bug with the Immortality Field device negatively impacting Aim Assist on consoles. Bastion
  • Fixed a bug with the cooldown for Configuration : Assault not being properly reduced in some instances.

Cassidy

  • Fixed an issue with the Flashbang victory pose causing Cassidy’s leg to become distorted.
  • Fixed a bug with melee being cancelled if used right after Deadeye.
  • Resolved an issue with Magnetic Grenade that prevented Cassidy from receiving elimination credit if used on a flying or falling target.

Junker Queen

  • Fixed a bug with Rampage not correctly showing as disabled when disabled by some abilities.

Junkrat

  • Fixed an interaction with Lifeweaver’s Petal Platform and Junkrat’s Total Mayhem that would result in the bombs left from Junkrat’s death falling through the platform.

Kiriko

  • Kiriko should be able to target crouching allies and allies under low ceilings more consistently now.
  • Kiriko should more consistently appear at the same elevation as her target (instead of way above them).
  • Swift Step should more consistently keep Kiriko inside map bounds and not result in the player stuck inside the environment when she teleports.
  • Using Swift Step while on moving platforms (including payloads, cars, and boats) should no longer fail to move Kiriko towards her target.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause visual artifacts on Kiriko’s skin when customizing Kiriko’s Mythic skin.

Lifeweaver

  • Fixed a bug that made it possible for players to hide inside the Tree of Life.
  • Fixed a bug with Tree of Life blocking usage of Petal Platform if Tree of Life confirmation input is set to Ability 3 Release.
  • Fixed a bug with Lifeweaver’s flower not changing colors with skin selection.
  • Fixed an interaction that allowed Lifeweaver to cancel melee’s animation when combined with Petal Platform.

Lúcio

  • Fixed a bug with his Crossfade VFX being applied to his feet instead of his hand.
  • Fixed a bug with Bard Lucio’s strings becoming stretched after respawning.

Moira

  • Fixed a bug with Moira’s Fade not displaying correctly for Spectators.

Orisa

  • Fixed a bug with Fortify not correctly ignoring the Slow applied by an enemy Orisa Terra Surge or Mei’s Deep Chill.

Pharah

  • Fixed a bug with the Mission Complete highlight intro missing sound when you have some skins equipped.

Reinhardt

  • Fixed an interaction with Charge and Brigitte’s Shield Bash that could result in Brigitte receiving the full pin damage at first contact instead of being pinned.

Download free Overwatch 2 update 3.73 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC and Xbox One.

Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson mainly writes about game-related news and updates. He is a passionate gamer, music lover, and traveler.

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