Overwatch 2 Season 6 Invasion
Image Credit: Blizzard

Overwatch 2 Season 6 is one of the most significant content drops yet for Blizzard‘s revamped hero shooter, with a collection of story-driven PvE missions, a new PvP game mode, and the arrival of a new hero. It’s finally here and now available to anyone who logs into the game.

Look no further if you’re curious about everything Season 6 — also known as Overwatch 2: Invasion — has to offer. You can find a detailed summary of all the new content, events, Battle Pass skins, and other things that have been released so far and that will be released in the future in the sections below.

Overwatch 2 Season 6: Release Date and Launch Time Zone.

Overwatch 2 Season 6 Invasion
Image Credit: Blizzard

Overwatch 2 Season 6 release date was a little unusual compared to previous launches. Most new patches for the game are released on Tuesdays, but the Invasion update was released on Thursday, August 10, 2023. Season 5’s Battle Pass was replaced with Season 6’s at this time.

Blizzard specifically released the patch at 12 p.m. PT / 3 p.m. ET. This is when most Overwatch 2 updates are released, so the timing was not surprising.

Overwatch 2 updates are global, so if you live in a different time zone than the ones listed above, the patch may have arrived later on August 10 or even earlier on August 11, luckily listed when the season went live in each regional time zone are listed below.

  • Pacific Time (PT): August 10, 12:00 p.m.
  • Mountain Time (MT): August 10, 1:00 p.m.
  • Central Time (CT): August 10, 2:00 p.m.
  • Eastern Time (ET): August 10, 3:00 p.m.
  • Brasilia Time (BRT): August 10, 4:00 p.m.
  • Universal Time Coordinated (UTC): August 10, 5:00 p.m.
  • British Summer Time (BST): August 10, 6:00 p.m.
  • Central European Summer Time (CEST): August 10, 9:00 p.m.
  • Moscow Time (MSK): August 10, 10:00 p.m.
  • Gulf Standard Time (GST): August 10, 11:00 p.m.
  • Indian Standard Time (IST): August 11, 12:30 a.m.
  • Singapore Standard Time (SNST): August 11, 3:00 a.m.
  • China Standard Time (CST): August 11, 3:00 a.m.
  • Japan Standard Time (JST): August 11, 4:00 a.m.
  • Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST): August 11, 5:00 a.m.
  • New Zealand Standard Time (NZST): August 11, 8:00 a.m.

Roadmap for Overwatch 2 Season 6

Overwatch 2 Season 6 Invasion
Image Credit: Blizzard

We’ll go over all of the specific changes that Overwatch 2 Season 6 brought in the sections below, but if you just want a quick look at what’s new, Blizzard’s official roadmap is a great resource. Here’s a rundown of everything it contains:

New PvP Gameplay

  • New Support hero: Illari
  • Sun-based abilities
  • Railgun-style weapon
  • Can short jump to escape crowd control
  • Can leap into the air and fire an explosive solar grenade
  • Can attach a healing turret to surfaces

New game mode: Flashpoint

Two maps: 

  • Suravasa
  • New Junk City

New PvE Co-Op Story Missions

Three missions: 

  • Resistance (Rio de Janeiro)
  • Liberation (Toronto)
  • Ironclad (Gothenburg)

King’s Row Underworld Co-Op Event: Aug. 10 to Sep. 5

OW2 Anniversary Event: Begins Sep. 19

  • Battle for Olympus, Starwatch, Mischief and Magic modes and cosmetics return

Hero Mastery: Begins Sep. 5

  • Learn how to play each hero

New Player Progression

New Invasion Battle Pass

  • The premium for 1,000 Overwatch Coins
  • 80 Tiers, Mythic Null Sector Ana, and more

OW2 Invasion Bundle for $15

  • Includes access to Story Missions, Legendary Skin, and 1,000 Overwatch Coins

OW2 Invasion Ultimate Bundle

  • Includes Invasion Bundle, Premium Battle Pass +20 Tiers, 2 Legendary skins, and 1,000 Overwatch Coins

Overwatch 2 Season 6 contains few new events when compared to previous seasons. Instead, the season’s main draw is the addition of long-awaited PvE story missions, as well as the arrival of a brand new Support hero to play as. If you missed events from previous seasons, make sure to log in during the OW2 Anniversary event to play them while they’re temporarily available again. 

Overwatch 2 Season 6: Battle Pass Skins, Rewards and Price

Overwatch 2 Season 6 began with a new 80-tier Battle Pass for players to go through as they play the game, just like in previous seasons. It’s themed after Invasion and the season’s PvE missions, and while the pass’s Free reward track will bring you a significant portion of its prizes, you’ll need to purchase the Premium Battle Pass to gain access to all of its features. The Premium Battle Pass costs 1,000 Overwatch Coins, which is equal to $10. Notably, you could purchase the Battle Pass with the 1,000 Overwatch Coins you receive with the $15 OW2 Invasion Bundle.

Alongside skins, emotes, voice lines, and sprays, the Battle Pass offers Overwatch Credits in all of its reward tracks. This special currency can be used to unlock earlier skins and cosmetics from the original Overwatch, making them especially important to those who got into Blizzard’s hero shooter with Overwatch 2. The Free track offers 1,500 points, while the Premium track offers 500.

The table below details every gift available from all 80 tiers of the Season 6 Battle Pass.

Tier Reward Availability

    1. Illari, P-900 Pharah Legendary Skin, P-900 Warhead Player IconPremium
    2. 100 Overwatch Credits, Nulltrooper Player IconFree
    3. Ramattra “Start This War” Voice LinePremium
    4. Zenyatta Uplift Highlight IntroPremium
    5. 100 Overwatch Credits, Bastion Take A Break Victory PoseFree
    6. Warhead’s End Ana SprayPremium
    7. Rio Name CardPremium
    8. Reaper Stalk EmoteFree
    9. Bastion “Eeeeee-boop” Voice LinePremium
    10. Dark Iron Torbjorn Epic SkinFree
    11. Lifeweaver Serve Victory PosePremium
    12. Nulltrooper Head SouvenirPremium
    13. 100 Overwatch Credits, Null Sector Graffiti SprayFree
    14. Lab Technician Player IconPremium
    15. 100 Overwatch Credits, Llama Pajamas Name CardFree
    16. Symmetra VS. Sentry Symmetra SprayPremium
    17. Tissue Box SouvenirPremium
    18. D.Va “All Systems Go” Voice LineFree
    19. 100 Overwatch Credits, Cairn Markings Player IconPremium
    20. Llama Pajamas Illari Legendary SkinPremium
    21. Junker Queen Swagger EmotePremium
    22. 100 Overwatch Credits, Machines Have Emotions SprayFree
    23. Torbjorn Gem Victory PosePremium
    24. Llama Player IconPremium
    25. 100 Overwatch Credits, Lucio Crouching Victory PoseFree
    26. Null Strings SouvenirPremium
    27. Snake Wrangler Name CardPremium
    28. Reinhardt “Robot” Voice LineFree
    29. Pebblemari Weapon CharmPremium
    30. Carin Roadhog Epic SkinPremium
    31. Ashe Thumbs Down Victory Pose Free
    32. 100 Overwatch Credits, Illari Llama Pajamas SprayPremium
    33. Torbjorn “Repairman” Voice LineFree
    34. Toronto Name CardPremium
    35. 100 Overwatch Credits, Omnicode Graffiti SprayFree
    36. Null Ram SouvenirPremium
    37. 100 Overwatch Credits, Snake Wrangler Player IconFree
    38. Ramattra “Our Differences” Voice Line Premium
    39. Cassidy “Shooting Gallery” Highlight IntroFree
    40. S-900 Sentry Symmetra Legendary SkinPremium
    41. A-7000 Wargod Ana Mythic SkinPremium
    42. 100 Overwatch Credits, Underworld SprayFree
    43. Baptiste Disc Toss Victory PosePremium
    44. Baptiste “The Real ‘Null Sector'” Voice LinePremium
    45. Illari (Free), 100 Overwatch Credits, PachinulliFree
    46. Summit Cairn Name CardPremium
    47. Ana VS. Wargod Ana SprayPremium
    48. Rosetta Hog Player IconFree
    49. Winston Relaxing EmotePremium
    50. Apocalypse Zarya Legendary SkinPremium
    51. Gothenburg Name CardPremium
    52. 100 Overwatch Credits, Technician’s Badge Winston SprayFree
    53. Apocalypse Player IconPremium
    54. Ramattra “History Will Forgive” Voice LinePremium
    55. 100 Overwatch Credits, Llama Pillow SouvenirFree
    56. Null Sector Player IconPremium
    57. One in the Iris SprayFree
    58. Wrecking Ball Rolling Jog EmotePremium
    59. Soldier: 76 “Old Habits” Voice LinePremium
    60. Winston Lab Technician Legendary SkinPremium
    61. A-700 Wargod Ana Mythic Skin ComponentsPremium
    62. Genji “What I Am” Voice LineFree
    63. Llama Weapon CharmPremium
    64. 100 Overwatch Credits, Null Sector Name CardFree
    65. Skirmisher Victory Pose-Premium
    66. Ana “Your Nemesis” Voice LineFree
    67. 100 Overwatch Credits, Pathway Opened Symmetra Highlight IntroPremium
    68. Null Sector Weapon CharmFree
    69. 100 Overwatch Credits, Hanzo Search Victory PosePremium
    70. Ashe Snake Wrangler Epic SkinPremium
    71. Banana Bunch Weapon CharmPremium
    72. Dark Iron Player IconPremium
    73. 100 Overwatch Credits, King’s Row is Ours SprayFree
    74. Null Sector Invasion Name CardPremium
    75. 100 Overwatch Credits, Slicer SprayFree
    76. Sojourn “Best Journeys” Voice LinePremium
    77. Zarya Spear Victory PoseFree
    78. 100 Overwatch Credits, Pharah VS. Warhead Pharah SprayPremium
    79. Widowmaker Arachnid Friend EmoteFree
    80. A-700 Wargod Ana Mythic Skin Components, A-700 Wargod Player Icon, Alas Ana SprayPremium

Season 6 Mythic Skin: A-700 Wargod Ana


Overwatch 2 Season 6 Invasion
Image Credit: Blizzard

A-700 Wargod Ana is the Overwatch 2 Season 6 Mythic skin. It’s available midway through the Premium Battle Pass, like Season 5’s Mythic skin, with customizable aspects unlocked at Tiers 61 and 80. As the name implies, it transforms Ana into an omnic under the Null Sector omnic terrorist group, which serves as the enemy force in Overwatch 2: Invasion.

The default version of the skin uses Null Sector’s iconic white and purple hues, but it can also be changed to be black and red or tan and orange. There are also various variations for the skin’s armor and the appearance of Ana’s gun. The photos above depict the many armor colors and styles.

Overwatch 2 Season 6: Invasion PVE Story Missions


Overwatch 2 Season 6 Invasion
Image Credit: Blizzard

The new PvE story missions in Overwatch 2 Season 6 are the meat of the game. In these, you and three other players (or AI-controlled bots) team up to fight Null Sector, a gang of omnic terrorists led by none other than Ramattra, the tank hero introduced in Season 2. In total, three new missions will be available to play, including “Resistance” in Rio de Janeiro, “Liberation” in Toronto, and “Ironclad” on the all-new Gothenburg map.

During these stages, you’ll be able to play as heroes who are either returning to or partnered with the Overwatch task force. Reinhardt, Winston, Tracer, Sojourn, Genji, Mei, Brigitte, Lucio, and Baptiste are among those mentioned, among many others.

Similar to the limited-time Overwatch Storm Rising level released in 2019, these Overwatch 2: Invasion missions advance the story of the Overwatch universe through many cutscenes and extensive interaction between the characters. Overwatch appears to be regrouping and coming together to stop Null Sector (and Talon, who has been gaining strength in the shadows).

To access the story missions in Season 6, you must first purchase the OW2 Invasion Bundle for $15. It includes “permanent access” to all three tiers, 1,000 Overwatch Coins, and the opportunity to acquire an exclusive Vigilante Sojourn Legendary skin. It also unlocks Sojourn if you don’t already get her.

Overwatch 2 Season 6: Maps and Flashpoint Mode


Overwatch 2 Season 6 Invasion
Image Credit: Blizzard


Overwatch 2 Season 6 also featured a new PvP mode called Flashpoint. Each team is charged with conquering control locations known as flashpoints distributed across enormous areas. Only one flashpoint can be active at a time, with the one in the center of the map always unlocking at the start of the round. When a flashpoint is taken, it locks and a random neutral flashpoint is unlocked. This will continue until one team has captured three of the five flashpoints.

Notably, Flashpoint maps are the largest in Overwatch history and have been built to be totally symmetrical so that both sides have access to the same cover, sightlines, and pathing. When flashpoints closer to one team’s spawn unlock, things become less symmetrical. In these instances, one team will most likely reach a position before the other, resulting in a greater attack/defend engagement in which a varied assortment of Overwatch 2 characters can excel.

Suravasa and New Junk City are the two Flashpoint maps available. We expect Blizzard to create more maps for the mode in the future, as it is a fundamental mode that will always be available in both Unranked and Competitive playlists.

Overwatch 2 Season 6: New Hero Illari

Overwatch 2 Season 6 Invasion
Image Credit: Blizzard


Season 6’s new hero, like the previous one, Lifeweaver, is a Support hero. Her name is Illari, and now that the Invasion update is available, we can give you a full rundown of her abilities:

Overwatch 2 Illari abilities & weapons

Here are all of Overwatch 2 Illari’s abilities, as well as their primary fire and secondary fire weapons:

Illari Abilities

Outburst: Launches you in the direction you are moving, knocking back enemies. Hold the jump to go higher.

Healing Pylon: Deploy a pylon that heals allies

Captive Sun (Ultimate): Fire is an explosive ball of solar energy. Enemies hit are slowed and explode after taking significant damage.

Illari Weapons

Solar Rifle (Primary fire): Long-range auto-charging rifle

Solar Rifle (Secondary fire): Medium-range healing beam that consumes solar energy.

While we don’t know where Illari will fit in the PvP meta because she just came out and won’t be playable in Competitive play for a few weeks, it’s evident that she was built to be most effective in defensive mid-range settings. Her Solar Rifle has a lot of power if you land a lot of critical hits, and the Healing Pylon is great for helping your allies defend objectives. 

Overwatch 2: How to Unlock Illari

While Illari is already in the game, she is not instantly available for everyone to play. To access Illari, you must either purchase the Season 6 Premium Battle Pass or earn Tier 45 on the Battle Pass’s Free reward track. This means that free-to-play gamers will have to wait for a bit to play as the new hero, while you can play as her right immediately if you purchase the Battle Pass.

Overwatch 2 Season 6: Patch Notes and Changes


Overwatch 2 Season 6 Invasion
Image Credit: Blizzard

In addition to all of the new content in Overwatch 2: Invasion, Blizzard used the Season 6 update to make significant balance changes to the game. For your convenience, we’ve included the complete patch notes below.

Overwatch 2: Invasion

Overwatch 2: Invasion is now available! Enjoy the new Invasion Story Missions, all-new skins, and cosmetic rewards in the Invasion Battle Pass, the new core PVP game mode Flashpoint, and the new Support Hero Illari!

Using solar threading augmentation, Illari strikes down her enemies by harnessing the power of the sun.

Illari

    • Illari has been added to the line-up.
  • Solar Rifle (Primary Fire)

      • Long-range auto-charging rifle.
  • Solar Rifle (Secondary Fire)

      • Medium-range healing beam that consumes solar energy.
  • Outburst (Ability 1)

      • Launches you in the direction you are moving, knocking back enemies. Hold the jump to go higher.
  • Healing Pylon (Ability 2)

      • Deploy a pylon that heals allies.
  • Captive Sun (Ultimate)

      • Fire an explosive ball of solar energy. Enemies hit are slowed and explode after taking significant damage.

New Game Mode – Flashpoint

Flashpoint is the newest core game mode available on two of the biggest maps to date: Suravasa and New Junk City. The gameplay begins with both teams pursuing a central objective called a Flashpoint, aiming to capture it before the opposing team does. Capture progress for Flashpoint is like the Control game mode, but plays out faster.

A point is captured by a team once a Flashpoint reaches 100% capture progress. If the Flashpoint is being contested by a member of the opposite team currently not in control when the capture progress reaches 99%, Overtime will activate until either the team in control can remove all remaining opponents, or until the contesting team can retake control of the Flashpoint.

A point is scored when a Flashpoint is fully captured by a team, however, gameplay continues when a new Flashpoint located somewhere else on the map is activated, and both teams must immediately race to capture it. As additional Flashpoints unlock, the spawn locations of each team will be of generally equal distance to the currently activated Flashpoint.

The team is the first to successfully capture three of the five flashpoints wins the match.

Flashpoint is available now in Unranked modes and will be available for Competitive Play later this season.

Invasion Story Missions

Players who purchase the Invasion Bundle from the in-game shop can play in all-new Story Missions with their friends or others in the queue. These massive co-op experiences will have players face the invading forces of Null Sector, who have launched an all-out global offensive. Play through all of them and unlock the Overwatch 2 hero Sojourn, along with her new Vigilante Legendary skin.

Players can access the Story Missions can be accessed through Winston’s Desk in the Missions card in the play menu, where players can explore the Story Missions hub and new Intel Database. Playing missions and completing various goals will unlock lore entries, movies, never-before-revealed details about your favorite heroes and characters, and clues about the future of the world of Overwatch!

New Limited Time Event: Kings Row- Underworld

Stop Null Sector from taking over the Omnic Underworld in this new co-op event that’s free to play for everyone! Reactivate a combat-modified TS-1 Utility Bot to aid in liberating endangered omnics, but be warned: massive amounts of Null Sector forces have occupied King’s Row. And that’s not all—a powerful new support unit will be healing the deadly OR-14 attack bot in your path.

Every week, we’ll be adding new challenges and ways to play this new co-op event. Keep checking back! The King’s Row – Underworld event runs from August 10 to September 5.

General Updates

    • Firing Range
    • Train your aim with an all-new addition to the Practice Range! Use targets large and small, stationary and mobile, to perfect your crosshair tracking skills. Rack up points and strive to set a high score!
Challenges
    • Added a new Weekly challenge: Making Progress – Earn 8 Progression Levels. Instead of rewarding additional Battle Pass XP, this challenge rewards 150 Overwatch Credits to buy items from the Hero Gallery and counts as a challenge to earn Overwatch Coins when you complete multiple weekly challenges.
    • Weekly Overwatch Coins reward requirements are updated from 4/8/11 to 4/9/12.
    • Added a new set of challenges for the “Invasion” story missions. They can be found under the Lifetime tab.
    • Added Player Progression challenges for all 38 heroes. Player Icons can now be earned through these challenges.
    • Added Gold player title rewards to Competitive challenges.

Developer Comments: We’ve adjusted the second and third tiers to 9 and 12, but expect players to complete “Making Progress” on their way to those thresholds, which should leave the difficulty to complete weekly challenges unchanged. We’ve kept the first tier requirement at 4, which should be easier to earn with the introduction of the new weekly challenge.

On Fire
    • Increased minimum Blazing time to 10 seconds.
    • Added a 3-second cooldown to Blazing to prevent the sound effect from playing too frequently.
    • The visual effects for Blazing have been enhanced.
Ping System
    • Changed Symmetra’s personal Teleporter pings to work like Illari’s personal Healing Pylon pings so that the waypoint UI is removed when these objects are pinged.
    • Fixed Lifeweaver pinging enemy Petal Platforms as if they belong to him.
    • Health Packs are now pingable.
Text Chat
    • The ‘Unfiltered’ setting for all text chat channels has been removed. Players will have a choice in their chat settings between Friendly and Mature. Players that had previously set Text Profanity Filters to Unfiltered will now have applicable filters set to Mature.
    • Regardless of text chat filter settings, please continue to report those using inappropriate chat using the in-game report tool.

Competitive Play Updates

Top 500 Leaderboards
    • The number of wins required to appear on the Top 500 Leaderboard has been increased from 25 to 50 for consistency with our other Competitive game modes.

Hero Updates

    • Armor health damage reduction is now additive with other sources of damage reduction and has a maximum cap of 50%.

Developer Comments: Armor damage reduction was multiplicative with damage reduction from abilities, creating situations where certain heroes were much more difficult to damage than intended, since they were bypassing the damage reduction cap. This change will smooth out some of the extreme spikes in survivability.

Tank

D.Va

Developer Comments: Once D.Va’s mech was destroyed, there was a window of time where the pilot could be damaged or killed before the player fully had control over their character. With this change, D.Va can no longer be damaged by things like explosions or melee attacks before the player fully transitions control from the mech to the pilot.

Boosters
    • Cooldown was reduced from 4 to 3.5 seconds.
Eject Mech
    • Pilot is now damage immune for 0.4 seconds while ejecting.

Doomfist

Developer Comments: Doomfist is performing well overall but tends to have more deaths on average compared to other Tank heroes. Lowering the Seismic Slam cooldown will reduce downtime in his ability rotations and translate into more survivability due to the increased mobility and potential for generating over health more often with his passive ability. Additionally, Power Block will now always reduce explosive damage from a projectile stuck directly to Doomfist, even though normally you have to face the direction of the incoming damage to block it.

Seismic Slam
    • Cooldown was reduced from 7 to 6 seconds.
Power Block
    • Now reduces damage from stuck projectiles.

Ramattra

Developer Comments: Similar to Doomfist’s Power Block change, Ramattra’s Block ability will now always apply damage reduction to projectiles stuck directly to him. His Annihilation ultimate ability was being generated slightly too quickly for how impactful it can be, so we are increasing its ultimate cost.

Block (Nemesis Form)
    • Block now reduces damage from stuck projectiles.
Annihilation
    • Ultimate cost increased 12%.
    • Block now reduces damage from stuck projectiles.

Sigma

Developer Comments: Sigma has always had somewhat floatier movement controls than most heroes in order to match his character movement animations. However, this led players to feel like his Tank role passive ability wasn’t reducing the amount he would be knocked back since it took him longer to stop than other tanks. We’ve now adjusted this to the standard hero movement values to make the gameplay interactions feel more consistent.

    • Base movement ground deceleration increased to match standard heroes movement.

Winston

Developer Comments: Winston’s Tesla Cannon ranged attack had a decently long charge time relative to the damage it deals. These adjustments will make it more responsive to charge and fire, which can be useful for situations such as finishing off low health enemies attempting to flee, or poking at enemies before leaping in. This comes at the cost of taking a longer time to recover after firing, which in some cases will be weaker as a burst-damage combo with Jump Pack and primary fire.

Tesla Cannon
    • Secondary fire charge time was reduced from 1.2 to 1 second.
    • Secondary fire recovery time increased from 0.5 to 0.75 seconds.

DAMAGE

Bastion

Developer Comments: There are several small tuning adjustments to Bastion here with the goal of improving overall effectiveness, as Bastion’s weakness of being a large and immobile target has proven tough to overcome, even with such powerful damage potential.

A-36 Tactical Grenade
    • Maximum explosion damage falloff reduced from 70% to 50%.
    • Detonation time reduced from 0.5 to 0.35 seconds.
    • Recoil adjusted to recover more quickly.
    • Projectile size increased from 0.2 to 0.25.
    • Impact damage increased from 15 to 30.
Configuration: Recon
    • Reload time reduced from 1.5 to 1.2 seconds.
Configuration: Assault
    • Transforming into Configuration Assault now repairs 50 armor health.
Configuration: Artillery
    • Targeting state movement speed increased from 20 to 25 meters per second.

Cassidy

Developer Comments: Even with the powerful and reworked Magnetic Grenade, Cassidy has still been underperforming, so we are reverting his maximum health back up to 225, having his gun damage falloff reach its full reduction sooner, and restricting the maximum range on magnetic grenade to help solidify his position as a close-to-mid range damage dealer.

    • Base health increased from 200 to 225.
Peacekeeper
    • Peacekeeper damage falloff range rescaled from 25-45 meters to 25-35 meters.
Magnetic Grenade
    • Projectile now has a maximum travel time of 1.5 seconds.
    • The slow amount reduced from 30 to 25%.

Hanzo

Developer Comments: Despite being conceptually strange, this gameplay mechanic felt good and fluid to use as Hanzo. However, it often resulted in some frustrating behavior for enemy players that can be alleviated without impacting Hanzo’s overall effectiveness too significantly.

Storm Bow
    • Arrow draw progress is no longer preserved while wall climbing.

Soldier: 76

Developer Comments: Soldier: 76 became much more deadly after his last round of changes so we are reverting the Helix Rocket explosion damage to lower his burst damage. We are also increasing his Tactical Visor ultimate cost to help account for his overall increased damage output, both during the ultimate and leading up to it.

Helix Rocket
    • Explosion damage was reduced from 90 to 80.
Tactical Visor
    • Ultimate cost increased 10%.

Sombra

Developer Comments: EMP frequency is a little too high given its relative power so we are increasing its cost. It will now also deal the usual percentage of max health damage to Lifeweaver’s Tree of Life ultimate instead of treating it like a barrier and destroying it instantly.

EMP
    • Ultimate cost increased 15%.
    • No longer destroys Lifeweaver’s Tree of Life.

Torbjorn

Developer Comments: We are continuing to add power into the Rivet Gun, as the previous changes didn’t quite make up for the turret damage decrease. In addition, we are also improving the Forge Hammer swing speed so that it is more effective to repair a turret while it is under fire.

    • Weapon swap time was reduced from 0.5 to 0.4 seconds.
Rivet Gun
    • Primary fire recovery time was reduced from 0.55 to 0.48 seconds.
Forge Hammer
    • Swing recovery time was reduced from 0.75 to 0.6 seconds.

SUPPORT

Ana

Developer Comment: Ana’s damage breakpoint change has proven too effective overall given her long range so we are reverting it back to its previous value. We are also increasing the size of unscoped projectiles when firing at enemies (her projectiles have always had a larger size for allies) which should help them land more consistently against close-ranged threats.

Biotic Rifle
    • Damage and healing per projectile were reduced from 75 to 70.
    • Unscoped projectile size increased from 0 to 0.1.

Brigitte

Developer Comment: Brigitte’s overall effectiveness and survivability have been high relative to other heroes, so we are reducing the Barrier Shield’s health. We’re also slightly adjusting the ultimate cost of Rally, as it has become more effective after its rework.

Barrier Shield
    • Barrier Shield health was reduced from 300 to 250.
Rally
    • Ultimate cost increased 6%.

Kiriko

Developer Comment: Protection Suzu now rewards more deliberate usage by increasing its healing when cleansing negative effects. It will no longer knock back enemies, as it wasn’t particularly important to its overall design and was there to provide feedback for the impact. These Kunai changes will make the weapon damage output more consistent and reduce some of the disparity between landing critical hits or not.

Protection Suzu
    • Knockback removed.
    • Healing reduced from 50 to 40.
    • Now heals for an additional 30 health when cleansing a negative effect.
Kunai
    • Damage increased from 40 to 45.
    • Recovery time reduced from 0.55 to 0.5 seconds.
    • Critical damage multiplier reduced from 3 to 2.5x.

Lifeweaver

Developer Comments: The Tree of Life outputs substantial healing but often doesn’t provide enough value for an ultimate ability. To increase its utility, any overhealing done via the Tree is now converted to overhealth. Thorn Volley’s spread is now less random, with half the projectiles having a smaller base spread to promote better mid-range consistency. Life Grip now has a longer mobility lockout duration to prevent accidental cancels by the affected ally using a movement ability immediately after the pull being started. Finally, we are supplementing Lifeweaver’s survivability with an increase to his overall health pool by converting some of it to shield health in order to account for the large petal hit volume on his back, as well as increasing the healing done by Rejuvenating Dash.

    • Base health reduced from 200 to 175.
    • Base shield health increased from 0 to 50.
Thorn Valley
    • Reduced spread for one of the two Thorn Volley projectiles fired per shot by 25%.
Rejuvenating Dash
    • Healing increased from 25 to 50.
Life Grip
    • Mobility lockout duration increased from 0.45 to 0.75 seconds.
Tree of Life
    • 50% of Tree of Life’s overhealing is now converted into Overhealth – up to 100 maximum Overhealth.

Lucio

Developer Comment: In order to help bring Lucio’s survivability more in line with the rest of the Support heroes, Crossfade self-healing during Amp It Up is now a more effective survival option for Lucio.

Crossfade
    • Crossfade self-healing penalty is now reduced from 60 to 0% for the duration of Amp It Up

Mercy

Developer Comment: Damage amplification effects have been an often discussed topic lately, and Mercy has been performing strongly at all skill ranks. We’re reducing the potency of Mercy’s damage boost beam but want to make sure it stays powerful enough to feel like an effective and interesting gameplay choice, as making the decision between healing or damage boosting is core to Mercy’s gameplay.

Caduceus Staff
    • Secondary fire damage boost reduced from 30 to 25%.

CO-OP Hero Mode Updates

With the introduction of Overwatch 2: Invasion Story Missions, we will have specific hero balance changes for multiple heroes to ensure players have a continuous challenge when playing in co-op modes like Story Missions and Event Missions.

    • Heroes no longer passively gain ultimate charge over time.
    • Ultimate costs increased in co-op game modes.

Tank

Winston

Tesla Cannon
    • Secondary fire now chains up to 4 additional nearby enemies, dealing depreciating damage each chain.
Jump Pack
    • Landing damage now increases while in the air, up to 250% more damage over 2.5 seconds.

Zarya

Particle Barrier
    • Particle Barrier duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
Projected Barrier
    • Projected Barrier duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
Graviton Surge
    • Damage per second increased from 5 to 30 for 105 damage total.
Energy (Passive)
    • Energy degeneration rate reduced from 2 to 1.5 energy per second.

Damage

Cassidy

Deadeye
    • Initial charge rate increased from 130 to 325 damage per second.
    • Ramped charge rate increased from 260 to 650 damager per second.
    • Now has a maximum damage cap of 1560 per target.

Echo

Focusing Beam
    • Damage per second increased from 50 to 85.
Duplicate
    • Echo can duplicate her allies in Co-op modes.
    • Duration increased from 15 to 20 seconds.
    • Ultimate charge rate multiplier during Duplicate increased from 4x to 9x.

Genji

Shuriken
    • Damage increased from 27 to 29.
Deflect
    • Duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
Dragonblade
    • Duration increased from 6 to 8 seconds.

Mei

Endothermic Blaster
    • Primary fire damage per second increased from 55 to 100.

Pharah

    • Hover Jets and Jump Jet now increases movement speed by 30%.
Concussive Blast
    • Explosion damage increased from 0 to 30.
Barrage
    • Explosion damage increased from 30 to 35.
Hover Jets (Passive)
    • Maximum fuel increased 20%.

Torbjorn

Deploy Turret
    • Turret damage increased from 11 to 15.

Tracer

Pulse Pistols
    • Ammo increased from 40 to 60.
    • Damage reduced from 5.5 to 5.
Pulse Bomb
    • Explosion damage increased from 350 to 550.

SUPPORT

Brigitte

Shield Bash
    • Damage increased from 50 to 60.
Rally
    • Duration increased from 10 to 15 seconds.
    • Rally does not increase Barrier Shield size in Story Missions.
Inspire (Passive)
    • The healing total was reduced from 75 to 55.

Lucio

Soundwave
    • Cooldown was reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
  • Crossfade

      • Speed Boost now also increases attack speed by 20%.

Map Updates

New Map – New Junk City

Explore deep beyond the gates of Junkertown and discover more secrets of the destroyed Omnium now inhabited by the Junkers in this massive Flashpoint map!

New Map – Suravasa

Discover the enchanting gardens and aqueducts of Suravasa. This Flashpoint map will host brawls across its intricate markets, temples, and ruins.

Lighting for Season 6

Push
    • New Queen Street – Dawn
    • Colosseo – Morning
    • Esperança – Morning
Hybrid
    • Blizzard World – Night (New)
    • Eichenwalde – Morning
    • Hollywood – Night
    • King’s Row — Night
    • Midtown — Morning
    • Numbani — Morning
    • Paraíso — Evening (New)
Escort
    • Dorado — Evening
    • Havana – Morning
    • Watchpoint: Gibraltar — Morning
    • Junkertown — Morning
    • Circuit royal – Morning
    • Rialto – Evening
    • Route 66 — Morning
    • Shambali Monastery — Night
Control
    • Antarctic Peninsula – Night
    • Busan – Morning
    • Ilios — Evening
    • Lijiang Tower — Dawn
    • Nepal — Morning
    • Oasis — Morning
Flashpoint
    • New Junk City — Morning (New Map)
    • Suravasa — Morning (New Map)

Bug Fixes

GENERAL

    • Fixed a bug that could result in Competitive Titles becoming unequipped.
    • Fixed an issue with splash damage being inconsistently applied to targets on ramps or stairs.
    • Fixed an issue that resulted in some players Hero Unlock challenges unable to progress.
    • Fixed a bug with the Challenge interface that could result in controllers unable to navigate it.
    • Play vs AI – Fixed a bug with Cassidy bot that would prevent him from using his full kit once Deadeye was activated.
    • Play vs AI – Fixed a bug with Ana bot only healing at regular intervals and reloading after each shot.
    • Play vs AI – Fixed an issue with Torbjorn bot being unable to use his Molten Core.
    • Fixed an issue with the Push mode progress indicator not reflecting team color.
    • Fixed a bug with some “Best” stats not being tracked correctly in Career Profile.
    • Resolved a bug with the Battlepass interface that could result in a player becoming stuck and forced to restart the client.
    • Fixed an issue that resulted in the Bonus XP tag being missing from the Role Select screen.
    • Fixed a bug with abilities that reveal enemy health bars revealing health bars for all players in Deathmatch.
    • Fixed an issue with High-Quality screenshots displaying artifacts in its images when used in the Hero Gallery.
    • Fixed a bug where the scoreboard would display large numbers incorrectly (1000 is now displayed as 1,000).
    • Resolved an issue with some abilities going through the ceiling at specific spots in some maps.

Maps

Junkertown
    • Fixed a bug with a fuel tank whose collision did not match the model.
Lijiang Tower
    • Fixed an area of the map that would cause Immortality Field to self-destruct.
Midtown
    • Fixed areas in the map that could allow players to become stuck.
Paraíso
    • Fixed locations that were missing collision.

HEROES

Ashe
    • Fixed a clipping issue with Ashe’s rifle that could occur when aiming down sights.
    • Fixed an issue with BOB not playing the correct animations for the full Hack duration.
Baptiste
    • Fixed a bug with the Immortality Field device negatively impacting Aim Assist on consoles. 
Bastion
    • Fixed a bug with the cooldown for Configuration : Assault not being properly reduced in some instances.
Cassidy
    • Fixed an issue with the Flashbang victory pose causing Cassidy’s leg to become distorted.
    • Fixed a bug with melee being cancelled if used right after Deadeye.
    • Resolved an issue with Magnetic Grenade that prevented Cassidy from receiving elimination credit if used on a flying or falling target.
Junker Queen
    • Fixed a bug with Rampage not correctly showing as disabled when disabled by some abilities.
Junkrat
    • Fixed an interaction with Lifeweaver’s Petal Platform and Junkrat’s Total Mayhem that would result in the bombs left from Junkrat’s death falling through the platform.
Kiriko
    • Kiriko should be able to target crouching allies and allies under low ceilings more consistently now.
    • Kiriko should more consistently appear at the same elevation as her target (instead of way above them).
    • Swift Step should more consistently keep Kiriko inside map bounds and not result in the player stuck inside the environment when she teleports.
    • Using Swift Step while on moving platforms (including payloads, cars, and boats) should no longer fail to move Kiriko towards her target.
    • Fixed an issue that could cause visual artifacts on Kiriko’s skin when customizing Kiriko’s Mythic skin.
Lifeweaver
    • Fixed a bug that made it possible for players to hide inside the Tree of Life.
    • Fixed a bug with Tree of Life blocking usage of Petal Platform if Tree of Life confirmation input is set to Ability 3 Release.
    • Fixed a bug with Lifeweaver’s flower not changing colors with skin selection.
    • Fixed an interaction that allowed Lifeweaver to cancel melee’s animation when combined with Petal Platform.
Lúcio
    • Fixed a bug with his Crossfade VFX being applied to his feet instead of his hand.
    • Fixed a bug with Bard Lucio’s strings becoming stretched after respawning.
Moira
    • Fixed a bug with Moira’s Fade not displaying correctly for Spectators.
Orisa
    • Fixed a bug with Fortify not correctly ignoring the Slow applied by an enemy Orisa Terra Surge or Mei’s Deep Chill.
Pharah
    • Fixed a bug with the Mission Complete highlight intro missing sound when you have some skins equipped.
Reinhardt
    • Fixed an interaction with Charge and Brigitte’s Shield Bash that could result in Brigitte receiving the full pin damage at first contact instead of being pinned.
Sombra
    • Fixed an interaction with Translocator and Petal Platform that allowed players to get out of the playable space.
Widowmaker
    • Fixed the missing sound effects on the ‘I see you’ highlight intro when certain skins were equipped.
Winston
    • Fixed an interaction with Winston’s Shield Generator and Tracer’s Pulse Bomb that could result in damage not being mitigated if the bomb was placed inside the top of the barrier.
Zarya
    • Fixed an interaction with Earthshatter that could result in Zarya getting zero charge if a bubble was active.

Overwatch 2 Season 6: Trailer


We’ve posted the official Overwatch 2 Season 6 trailer below, as well as a “Fight the Invasion” trailer that focuses on the narrative backdrop of its story missions and an Illari gameplay trailer.

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