The Overwatch 2 Season 3 patch notes are here, and they’re huge
A key Ramattra nerf, huge Reinhardt buffs, and a partial Mercy rework are on the way.
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What you need to know
Overwatch 2 Season 3 is only a day away, and ahead of its launch, developer Blizzard has revealed the patch notes for the seasonal update. Like the ones that came before it, the game’s third season offers players new content to enjoy while also introducing important changes and improving Overwatch 2’s progression and social features.
Many of the changes and additions mentioned in the notes were announced by Blizzard in earlier press releases, such as the arrival of the new Control mapAntarctic Peninsula, the introduction of a “Streamer Protect” feature to combat stream sniping, tank health reduction in non-role queue modes, andthe return of Overwatch Credits. With that said, they also highlight several significant hero balance tweaks, several of which will have a massive impact on the Overwatch 2 metagame.
The most significant of these are nerfs to Ramattra’s Annihilation Ultimate, which has been dominatingranked Competitive playsince it was recently given a 20% speed boost. Once Season 3 arrives on February 7, the Ultimate will have a 12% higher cost, and affecting enemies with it will only slow its rundown timer rather than pause it. Additionally, Annihilation is being given a max duration of 20 seconds, capping how long it can be active on the battlefield.
On the flip side, Reinhardt — one of the weakest tanks inOverwatch 2right now — is getting a variety of large buffs to his kit. His Charge cooldown is being reduced from 8 to 7 seconds, and the damage of his Firestrikes is being raised from 90 to 100, which is where it was before Overwatch 2’s release. Earthshatter’s direct hit damage is being reduced from 250 to 170 as Blizzard wants to move away from one-shots with it, but its knockdown duration is being extended from 2.5 to 2.75 seconds. The knockpack impulse of his Rocket Hammer is also being reduced from 10 to 6; while this sounds like a nerf, it’s actually a buff, as it’s meant to reduce the chances of Reinhardt’s melee attacks knocking foes out of his range.
Both Wrecking Ball and Mercy are getting some big changes inOverwatch 2 Season 3as well. The former is getting a two-second Pile Driver cooldown reduction and 150 health replaced by rechargeable shield HP, which Blizzard says should reduce the amount of health pack hunting Wrecking Ball players will need to do between fights. Meanwhile, Mercy’s getting a small rework in the form of a new passive. Instead of her improved version of the support role’s health regeneration passive, Mercy will now have a “Sympathetic Recovery” passive that returns 25% of her Caduceus Staff healing to herself as health. Other changes to her kit include a 1.5 to 2.5 seconds nerf to Guardian Angel’s cooldown and a tweak to the Caduceus Staff that lowers its healing-per-second from 55 to 45, but increases its healing by 50% for allies under half health.
Some other notableOverwatch 2 hero changes and reworksinclude a Junkrat Concussion Mine damage nerf from 120 to 100, a two-second buff to the duration of Roadhog’s Whole Hog Ultimate, a half-second duration reduction for Ana’s Biotic Grenade, a 12% recoil cutback for Soldier: 76’s Heavy Pulse Rifle, and a base health reduction from 200 to 175 for Widowmaker. For the complete patch notes that include bug fixes, Season 3’s map pools, and more, check out the section below.
Overwatch 2 Season 3: Patch notes
Here, we’ve listed the full Overwatch 2 Season 3 patch notes.
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New Map: Antarctic Peninsula
Journey across the frozen Antarctic Peninsula. Discover the abandoned station where the Overwatch Ecopoint team once searched for the source of a dangerous anomaly threatening the world and explore the wreckage of the icebreaker ship that failed to rescue Mei-Ling Zhou and her friends.
New Feature: Streamer Protect
Players can now activate Streamer Protect options in-game settings. These options will provide players with ways to hide identifying information when livestreaming matches.
General updates
Accessibility Improvements
Challenges
Endorsements
Game Report
Mystery Heroes Changes
Overwatch Credits are back
Ping System Update
Competitive play
Workshop updates
Workshop Moderation Tools
We added new menu options when reporting a player. Our goal is to give players more ways to report inappropriate behavior so that we can take action in a timely manner. As a result, you can select the category and sub-category that best explain why you are reporting the player or their custom content. The major categories include:
Hero updates
ALL HEROES
TANK ROLE PASSIVE
TANK
D.Va
Doomfist
Junker Queen
Orisa
Ramattra
Reinhardt
Roadhog
Sigma
Winston
Wrecking Ball
Zarya
DAMAGE
Cassidy
Junkrat
Mei
Pharah
Reaper
Soldier: 76
Sombra
Symmetra
Torbjorn
Widowmaker
SUPPORT
Ana
Brigitte
Lucio
Mercy
Moira
Zenyatta
Season 3 map pools
Bug fixes
GENERAL
MAPS
HEROES
Overwatch 2 Season 3 is releasing on February 7, and the game as a whole is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. It’s arguably one of thebest Xbox shootersavailable, and since it’s free-to-play, it doesn’t cost anything to check it out. Alternatively, there’s the Overwatch 2: Watchpoint Pack that provides access to a Premium Battle Pass, in-game currency, and more. Make sure you buy it after Season 3 starts so you get its Premium Battle Pass and not Season 2’s.
Overwatch 2: Watchpoint Pack
The $40 Overwatch 2: Watchpoint Pack offers fans a variety of benefits that will allow them to get guaranteed access to a Premium Battle Pass track, unlock some unique rewards, provides some in-game currency to use, and more.
See at Microsoft|See at Battle.net
Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).
