Last month, Overwatch 2 had its largest patch since the game’s release in 2022, bringing changes across the board to projectile sizes, health pools, and passive abilities.
While some aspects of the season nine patch were controversial, director Aaron Keller said in Overwatch 2’s latest Director’s Take this week that the team believes “the direction [they’re] heading in is correct but [they] agree some changes still need to be ironed out.” The first issue that will be getting an adjustment in the scheduled mid-season patch, which releases on Tuesday, March 12, is the Damage role passive ability.
The new Damage role passive, which was first introduced in season nine, means any hero hit by abilities from a DPS hero has reduced health regeneration. This means their health will recharge slower, and they also take healing from Support agents at a reduced rate.
In the season nine patch notes, the healing reduction was listed at 20 percent, but Keller stated in the most recent Director’s Take that this will be nerfed to 15 percent in another OW2 update. The Damage passive is still punishing but should be less overwhelming, he explained, especially for support heroes to help out their teammates. “Overwatch is about eliminating the opponents and sending them back to spawn, so we think it’s healthy for Damage heroes to have a large impact here…” Keller said in the March 7 blog. “But it may be pushed a bit too far.”
Alongside the Damage passive change, other scattered OW2 heroes across the entire roster are going to get very slight tweaks. The most notable changes are referenced in the blog, and they include Ana, Lifeweaver, Doomfist, and Mauga.
Ana will be getting a noticeable buff to her Grenade, a key ability in the sniper support hero’s kit. She’ll get even more self-healing from splashing the Grenade on herself now, making her a bit more sustainable with the new larger projectile sizes that can wipe her out relatively easily as a squishy, stationary hero.
Lifeweaver will also be buffed to offer higher healing, which will then increase his maximum healing (with his flower fully bloomed) to 80 instead of just 70, alongside a lower time to reach that maximum charge. Keller said that the reduced Damage role passive should also make Lifeweaver’s playing experience better in general.
Meteor Strike—Doomfist’s ground-shattering ultimate ability—will now have a minimum damage impact of 50 instead of 15. This is a buff that seems massive at first, but really just makes the ultimate more consistent as the damage “scales from the edge of its effect to the center,” according to Keller. This just makes Meteor Strike more predictable, for allies and foes alike.
Finally, Mauga continues to receive changes months after his release, as a controversial tank who seems to shift between being in and out of the meta with every patch. Overall, he is getting buffs this time; Cardiac Overdrive has a shorter cooldown and will fill overhealth, and Overrun will have increased damage when Mauga stomps down.
More changes will come in the March 12 patch too; they’re just not locked in yet.
