Massive October 15 Overwatch patch rebalances multiple heroes

A new Overwatch patch has dropped on October 15 with new buffs to dive heroes and nerfs to staples of the double barrier composition.  

Throughout the Overwatch League playoffs, double barrier dominated with Orisa and Sigma being run frequently with Doomfist playing a key component on the offensive due to his ability to bypass shields. Both anchor tanks are getting nerfed in the barrier department with Orisa’s cooldown being increased a second and Sigma’s Experimental Barrier’s regeneration rate being reduced. 

Additionally, Doomfist’s Rocket Punch is taking longer to charge up, leading to a bit more counterplay against the Talon antagonist. 

D.va was buffed on October 15.

Surprisingly, Tracer is getting buffed too with her damage falloff starting at 13 meters, up from 10. Other dive heroes such as D.va and Winston are getting buffed too. D.va’s Defense Matrix has a faster regeneration rate and Winston’s barrier health has increased from 600 to 700. 

• Read More: Doomfist player demonstrates powerful Eichenwalde flank

The patch was released alongside the release of 2019’s Halloween Terror event which features new skins and Junkenstein’s Revenge PVE mode. 

For Switch users, this patch will be their first taste of Overwatch, assuming they had never played Blizzard’s team-based FPS prior on other systems.

• Read More: Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan gives hope on future of Crossplay

Blizzard has yet to confirm if the Overwatch World Cup will be played on this patch come Blizzcon on November 1.

Full October 15 Overwatch Patch Notes

HERO UPDATES

D.Va

Defense Matrix

• Regeneration rate increased from 12.5% to 16% per second
• Delay before regeneration begins lowered from 1 second to 0.75 seconds

Developer Comment: This change will allow D.Va to absorb more damage over time, while still keeping the maximum duration she can absorb at one time the same.

Orisa

Protective Barrier

• Cooldown increased from 9 to 10 seconds

Developer Comment: Orisa’s barrier is often too difficult to deal with. This increased cooldown will make it more reasonable to destroy it before she can place another one.

Roadhog

Scrap Gun

• Ammunition increased from 5 to 6.

Developer Comment: Roadhog is one of the best heroes at breaking down barriers quickly, but often he would be out of ammo and unable to capitalize on a barrier being destroyed. This change gives him more opportunities to poke at these high health targets and still having extra shots to threaten the enemy.

Sigma

Kinetic Grasp

• No longer blocks Chain Hook and Whip Shot

Gravitic Flux

• High gravity effect duration reduced from 1.2 to 0.9 seconds

Experimental Barrier

• Regeneration rate reduced from 175 to 150 per second
• Now has a 1 second cooldown after recalling the barrier
• Initial 0.2 second cast time removed

Developer Comment: Sigma can often feel difficult to counter since he can so quickly reposition his shield and use Kinetic Grasp to block from other directions. We’re opening up some weaknesses in these abilities to allow for more counter play from his enemies.

Winston

Barrier Projector

• Duration increased from 6 to 9 seconds
• Health increased from 600 to 700

Developer Comment: Winston’s barrier often feels unreliable as a protection tool since it can be destroyed so quickly. Raising the health and duration should allow for him to apply pressure and protect his team more consistently.

Baptiste

Immortality Field

• Health decreased from 250 to 200

Developer Comment: Immortality Field is a very strong ability with its weakness being that it is destroyable. We’re lowered the health of the device so that its can be countered more easily.

Lucio

Crossfade

• Speed boost’s effect increased from 20% to 25%

Amp It Up

• Speed boost’s amplification increased from 50% to 60%

Wall Ride

• Speed buff reduced from 40% to 30%

Developer Comment: Lucio has had previous reductions to his speed that were put in place to reduce his effectiveness when boosting more than 2 tanks. Now that this is no longer possible, he is gaining some of his speed back. The Wall Ride change is there to counteract the increase in speed, so it should feel the same as it did before the change.

Mercy

Valkyrie

• The extra beams created by Valkyrie now ignore enemy barriers

Developer Comment: This change will make Valkyrie makes Mercy’s beams consistent with how they work outside of the ultimate.

Moira

Biotic Grasp

• Self-healing reduced from 30 to 20 health per second

Developer Comment: Moira’s dueling capability is a bit too strong, so we’re reducing the self-healing gain from her Biotic Grasp to make it more reasonable to fight against her alone.

Doomfist

Rocket Punch

• Time to reach max charge increased from 1 to 1.4 seconds

The Best Defense…

• Shield health gained per hit reduced from 35 to 30

Developer Comment: We’re increasing Doomfist’s charge time for Rocket Punch to give players more warning when he is charging this powerful ability. We’re also reducing the shield health gain from his passive ability to weaken how much damage he can soak while dishing out his own.

Sombra

Translocator

• Cooldown increased from 4 to 6 seconds
• Cooldown now begins immediately upon deploying the beacon or if it is killed by an enemy

Developer Comment: Having the Translocator cooldown begin right when it is thrown allows Sombra more flexibility in how she can use it. For example, she can now often redeploy it instantly after teleporting to it, or quickly destroy and reposition it while sneaking around. The cooldown has been increased to compensate for this change.

Symmetra

Photon Barrier

• Duration reduced from 15 to 12 seconds
• Health reduced from 5000 to 4000

Sentry Turret

• Damage per second reduced from 50 to 40

Photon Projector

• Players impacted by the primary fire beam should now hear a louder impact sound

Developer Comment: The duration of Photon Barrier was too high considering its impact on a battle. Recent changes have seen large increases in Symmetra’s overall damage output, so we’re reducing her turret damage in lieu of making further damage adjustments to her Photon Projector.

Tracer

Pulse Pistols

• Damage falloff now starts at 13 meters, up from 10 meters

Developer Comment: This change will allow Tracer to play from slightly further away from her targets, allowing her to stay safer while still keeping pressure on her enemies.

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a player profile issue preventing hero win percentages from being displayed for competitive arcade mode seasons

Heroes

Brigitte

• Fixed a bug with Brigitte’s Rally checking line of sight from her feet instead of from her head
• Fixed a bug with Inspire’s position being affected by the player’s aim pitch

Doomfist

• Fixed a bug that could cause Doomfist’s Rocket Punch to not travel forward if he was sliding along a wall while airborne
• Fixed a bug that caused Rocket Punch to briefly stop all movement on a Fortified Orisa
• Fixed a bug that allowed Doomfist to use Meteor Strike before taking impact damage from Sigma’s Gravitic Flux

Sigma

• Fixed a bug that allowed Sigma’s Gravitic Flux to ignore line of sight through some ceilings

Sombra

• Fixed a bug with EMP’s position being affected by player’s aim pitch

Winston

• Fixed a bug that caused Winston’s Barrier Projector to not consistently play its destroyed visual effect