Overwatch 2 developers put all of their wild ideas and dream abilities into the new, limited-time Battle for Olympus mode, which runs from Jan. 5 to 19. Though the deathmatch event is the big focus for the latest live patch, the devs also had to do some routine buff and nerf cycles for underused heroes.
Competitive mode has been the Orisa and Roadhog show over the past few weeks, so the Jan. 5 live patch brings impressive buffs to tanks like Junker Queen and Zarya in an effort to spice up the meta. Similarly, support heroes like Kiriko have seen near-constant play in some ranks. Brigitte and Moira received minor buffs to bring them back into relevancy.
For players who are wondering where the long-rumored (and necessary) Roadhog changes are, stay patient. Game director Aaron Keller informed players that those changes are “slated for mid to late January.” He also noted that today’s patch would be “lighter than usual” because some changes were enacted in December.
The developers also fixed an extensive list of bugs, which can be found in the full patch notes post.
Tank hero changes
Junker Queen
Adrenaline Rush (Passive)
- Now heals for the remaining wound damage when an enemy dies with wounds on them.
Carnage
- Cooldown is now reduced by two seconds for each enemy it impacts.
Jagged Blade
- Thrown impact damage reduced from 80 to 50.
- Thrown direct impacts now add a 30 damage wound to the stuck target. Stacks with wounds caused by Quick Melee or returning Jagged Blade hits.
The Queen will now score some self-healing when a wounded enemy dies and will be more richly rewarded for accurate knife throws. A more accurate use of Carnage will also reduce the cooldown time by a massive amount. Though playing Junker Queen is still a risk if an enemy Kiriko is on the field and ready to negate those wounds, these buffs make her a stronger pick.
Zarya
Energy (Passive)
- Energy degeneration reduced from 2.2 to two per second.
- Delay before energy degeneration begins after gaining energy increased from one to two seconds.
Zarya will now be able to hold onto energy stores a bit longer, making her more deadly if she’s allowed to stay alive and use barriers intelligently.
Support hero changes
Brigitte
Barrier Shield
- Health increased from 250 to 300.
Moira
Biotic Orb
- Dealing damage with Biotic Orb now restores a small amount of Biotic Energy.
