The next and perhaps final pre-release Overwatch 2 update has seemingly spilled out online early, with leaked patch notes outlining changes to nine heroes ahead of the next Overwatch League competition.
While Overwatch 2 is gearing up for its October 4 release, select players still have access to an early build of the game for various competitions. From the Overwatch League down to Contenders, dozens of professional players and amateurs on the rise are still playing the sequel ahead of its official launch.
For the general public, however, access is now off-limits following the conclusion of the second Beta period. Though that doesn’t appear to have stopped developers from working on a pre-release patch just for those practicing on the early build.
Details remain scarce for the time being, with no official confirmation just yet beyond the fact a new patch does indeed exist, but if leaked notes are to be believed, it appears nine heroes in total are changing ahead of Overwatch 2’s launch next month.
Nine Overwatch 2 heroes changing in pre-release patch
Nine characters in total are seemingly being adjusted in the latest Overwatch 2 update. Included among them are the two newest heroes in the sequel as both Sojourn and Junker Queen appear to be changing to some degree.
The former will now have a tougher time charging her Railgun when shooting non-player targets like shields, as her energy gain has been reduced by 50% there.
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Meanwhile, the latter has seen her Commanding Shout ability nerfed significantly with a longer cooldown, less health provided to allies, and its overall duration reduced from five to three seconds. To accommodate the overhaul, her temporary health bonus for allies no longer decays over its three-second duration.
For older Overwatch heroes, the likes of Baptiste, D.Va, and Orisa have all been buffed in significant ways. For the Support, his Biotic Launcher now deals slightly increased damage and has more range than ever before.
For D.Va, boosting into enemy targets now deals more than double its previous damage, while her Call Mech Ultimate has also seen a 12% cost reduction.
Last but not least, Orisa now has 50 more health than before, 25 from HP and 25 from armor, while her Energy Javelin now takes six seconds to recharge, compared to its previous eight second timer.
Leaked Overwatch 2 September 12 patch notes
Below are the full September 12 patch notes as shared anonymously on imgur ahead of an official reveal. Should Blizzard validate these changes or make any adjustments in the coming hours, we’ll be sure to keep you posted right here.
Hero changes
- General
- Temporary health now grants 50% reduced ultimate charge instead of no ultimate charge.
- Baptiste
- Biotic Launcher primary fire damage increased from 24 to 25.
- Biotic Launcher primary fire minimum falloff range increased from 20 to 25 meters.
- Bastion
- Ironclad passive is enabled again (20% damage reduction while transformed).
- Brigitte
- Inspire duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds.
- D.Va
- Boosters impact damage increased from 10 to 25.
- Micro Missiles cooldown reduced from 8 to 7 seconds.
- Call Mech ultimate cost reduced by 12%.
- Junkerqueen
- Commanding Shout:
- Allied health bonus reduced from 100 to 50HP.
- Allied duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds.
- Temporary health no longer decays over its duration.
- Cooldown increased from 11 to 15 seconds.
- Commanding Shout:
- Orisa
- Base health increased from 250 to 275.
- Base armor increased from 250 to 275.
- Energy Javelin cooldown reduced from 8 to 6 seconds.
- Reaper
- Hellfire Shotguns spread reduced from 8 to 7 degrees.
- Sojourn
- Railgun energy gain from non-player targets (barriers, turrets, etc.) reduced by an additional 50%.
- Sombra
- Hack ability lockout duration increased from 1 to 1.75 seconds.
Bug fixes
- Fixed an issue with Junkerqueen’s Commanding Shout which resulted in it being reapplied based on positioning.