Overwatch 2 season five is upon us. The patch notes are here and the update will officially roll out on live servers on June 13.
From major Lifeweaver changes to major bug fixes, Overwatch 2 season five already seems promising. In this update, Blizzard Entertainment is trimming down the power of Junker Queen and Hanzo and giving some much-needed attention to Lifeweaver. On top of all of this, the matchmaking system is in line for improvements and iconic maps will come in two color schemes once the patch goes live.
I know you just want to quickly go through the patch notes and jump straight into the new season, so I won’t keep you waiting any longer. Here are Overwatch 2 season five official patch notes.
General updates
Challenges
- Lifeweaver unlock challenges added.
- Lifeweaver can now be unlocked by completing all his challenges.
- Incomplete weekly challenges will no longer reset to zero. 100 percent of the progress made in weekly challenges in the previous week will be kept and carried over.
- All weekly challenges requiring wins have been converted to “Complete games. Wins grant double progress.”
- This change results in the required amounts becoming higher, but the average total number of games needed to complete the challenges has not.
On Fire
The new and improved On Fire returns to Overwatch 2 with these new features:
- New State: BLAZING – What’s better than being On Fire? Being even more On Fire! A team’s most exceptional playmakers will now begin Blazing. Blazing cannot be maintained as easily as regular Fire, so you’ll need outstanding play to keep the heat on.
- Reignited Visuals and Sound Effects – Fire returns to the hero portrait and the scoreboard with new animations. Fire makes its debut in the kill feed as well.
- Catching Fire – Killing enemies that are On Fire grants Fire.
- Fan the Flames – The Fire has spread to more than just Genji players. Beyond eliminations and damage, Fire comes from mitigated damage, saves, healing, assists, capturing/contesting objectives, boosted damage, and crowd control. Pay attention to which heroes on your team are On Fire and help them out to increase your Fire score.
Matchmaking changes
Overall improvements
- Added new matchmaker functionality that should create matches with a narrower range of player skills. The initial tuning of the system at the start of the season will not be aggressive, but we will be making continual tuning changes throughout the season.
- The matchmaker now prioritizes placing similar groups with wide skill ranges into the same match, which means solo players will see a lower chance of being placed in those matches.
Matchmaking bugfixes
- Addressed some issues with backfills in Quick Play that could cause the backfill to take a long time or never occur.
- Fixed an issue where the matchmaker sometimes initialized new players’ competitive MMRs to a value that did not reflect their skill. Players will continue to adjust to their accurate MMR as they continue to play.
FFA Player Skill Ratings bug fixes
- We recently noted a major issue that affected how the matchmaker updated the internal ratings representing player skill in our “free for all” game modes, such as Deathmatch, where players are not on a team. This issue resulted in incorrect skill ratings that could create longer queue times and worse match quality than expected.
- The underlying issue causing incorrect updates has now been addressed, but unfortunately, these skill ratings are no longer meaningful. The best way forward is to do a complete reset of the FFA MMR used by these specific game modes. After this reset, match quality is expected to be suboptimal until players are able to play more games of Deathmatch. We do not take this action lightly, but it is the best course for the future.
Competitive play updates
Ranked inactivity changes
- Players that did not play any matches during the previous competitive season will become Inactive. Inactive players do not have a visible Skill Tier and Division. Each role in Role Queue can become Inactive separately, while in Open Queue, a player only has one rank that can become Inactive. Once an Inactive player returns and achieves a Competitive Update after winning five games, their Skill Tier and Division will become visible again.
Competitive Mystery Heroes
- Competitive Mystery Heroes returns for an entire season of randomized hero action! The competitive challenges are also back, providing mysterious titles and competitive points.
Competitive bug fixes
- Improved how the matchmaker computes its initial skill estimation, aka “MMR,” for a player queuing for their first competitive game.
All hero balance changes coming in Overwatch 2 season five
Lifeweaver
Overwatch 2’s newest hero has continually been a point of emphasis for the hero design team, and his performance has remained subpar throughout the entirety of his first season in the game. In his Dev Take post, Keller said Lifeweaver will receive “mostly buffs” to his kit, including “increases to his healing and damage output.”
General
- Petal ornaments on his back have had their site and hit volume reduced by 10 percent.
Healing Blossom
- Maximum healing increased from 65 to 75.
Thorn Volley
- Damage per projectile increased from five to six.
- Projectile radius increased from 0.1 to 0.125.
- Ammo increased from 60 to 70.
Petal Platform
- Walkable area increased by 15 percent.
- Area to trigger lift now shrinks from a radius of two to 0.75 meters after initial placement.
Life Grip
- Cooldown reduced from 20 to 16 seconds.
- Now heals the target ally for 50 health.
Tree of Life
- Ultimate cost increased by eight percent.
I find that the biggest change will be decreasing his hitbox. The way that his flower petal backpack counts toward his hitbox has made him an enormous target for an enemy team’s dive. Anytime I see a Lifeweaver on my team, I always have my fingers crossed that the other team doesn’t have Tracer, Sombra, or Genji because Lifeweaver is effectively a free early fight pick against a decent dive.
Junker Queen
Junker Queen has been one of the premier tanks at high ranks since her mid-cycle season four buffs. So it’s a surprise to no one that she’s getting a nerf or two headed into season five. It looks like the devs aren’t going to nerf her into the dirt, though.
The biggest part of her recent buffs was to increase her Adrenaline Rush passive, giving her more survivability. But her incoming nerfs are set to address other parts of her kit. I wouldn’t expect her to fall too far from grace, but she won’t be nearly the dominant force that she is now.
Rampage
- Ultimate cost increased by 15 percent.
Commanding Shout
- Temporary health reduced from 200 to 150.
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Roadhog
Take a Breather
- Now amplifies healing received by 50 percent for 2.5 seconds after finishing Take a Breather.
Cassidy
Cassidy is another DPS who’s getting some CC added back to his kit in season five. Magnetic Grenade ability was originally added to his kit as an alternative to crowd control that gives him a way to protect himself against diving enemies at close range.
But with Blizzard reversing its stance on giving DPS heroes CC effects, the devs seem to be giving Magnetic Grenade some of the traits that Flashbang used to provide. I’m excited that I don’t have to worry about half my health getting chunked by Cassidy’s obnoxious grenades anymore, but I’m still not sure how I feel about giving him crowd control again.
Magnetic Grenade
- No longer has a maximum projectile travel range of 10 meters.
- The projectile now magnetizes toward an enemy target from 1.5 meters away and chases them for up to one second.
- Impact damage increased from 0 to 10.
- Explosion damage reduced from 120 to 70.
- Stuck targets now have their movement slowed by 30 percent.
- Stuck targets are now affected by a “Hindered” status effect, interrupting and preventing movement abilities from being activated.
Hanzo
Hanzo’s ability to one-shot enemies who are mindlessly rounding corners makes him one of the most frustrating heroes in the game to play against, and Blizzard is finally addressing years of complaints from his haters with a few nerfs to his kit that makes him a menace.
Sonic Arrow
- Impact sound effect now plays for enemies.
- Visual effect is now briefly visible to enemies when first deployed.
Storm Bow
- Maximum damage reduced from 125 to 120.
“The intent here is to reduce his kills that feel like they come out of nowhere,” Keller said. “We are constantly discussing the nature of one-shots in Overwatch 2 and whether they are healthy for the game in general.”
Mei
The ever-annoying crowd control that Mei had in the original version of Overwatch is making a return in season five. It’s difficult to tell if this will make her better or worse overall because it comes with a significant blow to her primary fire’s DPS. But as a DPS and support player who has been taken out by both versions of Mei, it won’t change the way I avoid getting too close to her.
Endothermic Blaster
- Damage per second reduced from 100 to 55.
- Primary fire slow is no longer always 40 percent and now scales from 30-50 percent.
- Primary fire impacts now build up to a slowing effect that sticks to the enemy target for 1.5 seconds and slows them for 75 percent.
- Secondary fire impacts can detonate this new slow effect, dealing an additional 40 damage.
Reaper
Wraith Form
- Can no longer be activated while affected by mobility-locking effects (Magnetic Grenade, Steel Trap, Graviton Surge, etc.).
Tracer
Pulse Pistols
- Spread increased by 15 percent.
Widowmaker
Having a hitscan hero who can one-shot enemies from across the map has an even larger impact in Overwatch 2 than it did in the six-vs-six iteration of the game. And while Widowmaker will still be able to send people back to spawn by clicking heads, she won’t be able to do so from quite the same range.
Widow’s Kiss
- Scoped shot damage falloff min-max range reduced from 70-100 to 40-60 meters.
- Scoped shot maximum damage falloff scalar increased from 30 to 50 percent.
Map updates
Busan
- New lighting scheme – Overcast
Rialto
- New lighting scheme – Evening
Watchpoint: Gibraltar
- Completely redesigned the final defender spawn area.
- Added an exit route from the forward defender spawn.
- Route adjustments and changes made around first capture point outside of the hangar.
- Covers and route adjustments made inside the hangar.
Bug fixes
General
- Fixed Lifeweaver platform ping VO not playing.
- Fixed ping stems not appearing for Last Seen pings with no line of sight.
- Fixed Lifeweaver Tree and Platform from appearing as enemies when directly pinged by allies.
- Disabled ping wheel movement shortcut for controller.
- Disabled locking the crosshair in place for controller when the Ping Wheel Press Delay is active.
- Fixed performance issues some consoles were experiencing.
- Healing projectiles now make contact with targets who are phased out (i.e., Moira’s Fade).
- Fixed an issue with on Ultrawide monitors that resulted in black bars appearing on the edges of the screen.
- Fixed a bug that prevented the end of match flow not playing for Top 500 players.
- Fixed the issue that caused Antarctic Peninsula’s image to be missing from its entries in the History menu.
Audio
- Due to a bug, we temporarily need to change the audio reverb settings used throughout the game to an alternate method. We hope to have this fixed in an upcoming patch.
Maps
Colosseo
- Fixed an area of the map that allowed players to leave the playable space.
Hollywood
- Fixed some haybales that did not correctly block D.Va Self-Destruct damage.
King’s Row
- Fixed a bug that allowed some gameplay elements to be placed inside the bus and taxi.
Lijiang Tower
- Fixed an area in Night Market that allowed players to stand outside of intended map boundaries.
- Fixed a location that allowed Torbjorn to almost completely hide his turret.
Nepal
- Fixed some drums on the map that players could become stuck on.
Numbani
- Fixed the vines hanging above the tunnel (the one just before the final point) having collision and blocking projectiles and explosives.
Oasis
- Fixed several areas Kiriko could become stuck when using Swift Step.
Heroes
Ana
- Fixed a bug with Sleep Dart not counting toward the Accuracy stat when performed as the final blow.
Baptiste
- Fixed a bug with Immortality Field not correctly displaying its active cooldown through Hero swaps.
Doomfist
- Fixed an issue that allowed stunned targets of Rocket Punch to escape the stun early by jumping after being hit.
- Fixed an interaction between Tree of Life and Meteor Strike that allowed Doomfist to be healed while not in the field of play.
- Fixed an interaction that resulted in Doomfist’s Rocket Punch doing no damage to Lifeweaver’s Petal Platform.
- Fixed an issue with Powerblock not reducing the area of effect damage correctly.
- Fixed an issue with Powerblock was being incorrectly applied to Junkerqueen’s Bleed.
D.Va
- Fixed a bug with D.Va’s primary fire increasing its rate of fire when it was set to the mouse wheel.
Echo
- Fixed an interaction with Duplicate destroying the duplicated ultimates when Duplicate ends (Symmetra and Wrecking Ball).
- Healing effects that were started during Echo’s ultimate will now continue to heal Echo after the ultimate has ended.
- Fixed a bug where a duplicated Lifeweaver’s Tree of Life would not heal anyone after Echo’s ultimate had ended.
- Fixed a bug with Sticky Bombs not detonating if used right after Duplicate ends.
Lifeweaver
- Life Grip will now correctly nudge targets around payload obstacles.
- Healing Blossom and Life Grip targeting now consider both the head and chest of the target as a valid line of sight, allowing targeting around vertical obstructions, such as payloads, to be more consistent.
- Fixed a bug that prevented Petal Platform from being used if Secondary Fire was set as the confirmation input.
- Fixed a bug with Life Grip not consistently pulling allies onto ledges if Lifeweaver was airborne.
- Fixed an issue where Life Gripped allies falling off the map would still die to the death plane.
- Fixed the issue that resulted in a friend Lifeweaver’s Petal Platform highlighting red when pinged.
- Fixed an issue that prevented Lifeweaver’s footsteps from playing sound when crouched.
- Resolved a bug that prevented the Tree of Life from being placed on an enemy Torbjorn turret (it now destroys the turret).
- Fixed a bug that allowed Tree of Life to be attached to the Pushbot and pulled along.
Mercy
- Resolved an issue with Resurrect not retaining cooldown through Hero swaps.
- Fixed a bug where Mercy wasn’t properly resetting her Guardian Angel cooldown when entering Valkyrie.
Orisa
- Fixed a bug where Orisa would use the animation for receiving critical shots for all damage received.
Ramattra
- Resolved an interaction with Nemesis Form and Annihilation that sometimes resulted in the ultimate not performing damage and lifesteal.
- Fixed an issue where Block was being incorrectly applied to Junkerqueen’s Bleed.
- Fixed a bug with block that prevented it from correctly stacking with Ana’s Nanoboost.
Sojourn
- Modified the screen effect applied by an enemy Sojourn’s Disruptor Shot to apply more accurately, making it easier to tell when you’re taking damage.
Sombra
- The translocator can no longer stick to loose objects on the map (i.e., Basketball).
- Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra from Hacking Petal Platforms in FFA Deathmath.
Torbjorn
- Fixed an interaction between Lifeweaver and Torbjorn’s turrets that allowed them to be placed on walls.
