Overwatch 2's long-awaited November update is finally available, addressing hero balance concerns by nerfing six characters and bringing fan favorite Damage hero Mei back into the fold. Blizzard had originally planned to release the big Overwatch 2 November update on November 15, but it had to delay the patch at the last minute due to unforeseen technical difficulties. Blizzard then promised that the update would arrive on November 17, and it held true to its word.
Overwatch 2 players may be most interested in the nerfs that have come as part of the latest update. D.Va, Zarya, Genji, Junkrat, Sombra, and Kiriko have all been nerfed. Specifics of each nerf can be found in the patch notes (scroll down to see the full notes), but it's safe to say that the Zarya nerf will be most relevant to players. After the update, Zarya's bubble will last 2 seconds (down from 2.5 seconds), and the bubble cooldown has been increased from 10 seconds to 11. While this may not seem that significant, it could drastically change how Zarya is played in Overwatch 2 moving forward.
There have been many calls for Blizzard to nerf Damage hero Genji since Overwatch 2's launch, and the studio has done that now as well. Genji players should note that after the update, the cyborg ninja will have his maximum ammo reduced from 30 to 24 and his damage output will be reduced from 29 to 27. Of course, it's always possible that Blizzard will decide to tweak the heroes further, so fans should keep that in mind.
Besides the nerfs, the new Overwatch 2 update's most notable change is bringing Mei back to the roster of playable characters. Mei was removed due to bugs involving her Ice Wall ability, but it seems those issues have since been resolved. Blizzard has disabled three heroes since Overwatch 2's early access launch next month, but hopefully the developers are able to avoid that drastic measure in future.
One hero that fans were worried was at risk at being removed from the game was Support hero Brigitte. Overwatch 2 players discovered a bug that made it so Brigitte's shield never broke. Luckily, that bug has been fixed in this latest update, along with a host of other technical issues that have been plaguing the game. The live service nature of Overwatch 2 and the fact that it will have frequent updates indefinitely means that problems are going to arise every now and again, but hopefully the game is able to avoid any truly serious issues moving forward.
Here are the full Overwatch 2 patch notes for the update released on November 17:
HERO UPDATES
TANKS
D.VA
D.Va felt too deadly after the last round of changes given how resilient she can be with her improved Defense Matrix.
Fusion Cannons
- Spread increased from 3.5 to 3.75
Boosters
- Impact damage reduced from 25 to 15
Call Mech
- Call Mech ultimate cost reduced by 12%
ZARYA
Early player sentiment predicted Zarya as one of the weakest solo tanks in 5v5, although her high damage potential and barrier uptime have proven to be extremely effective. For opponents, feedback has indicated this can feel as though Zarya has very limited windows of vulnerability, which feels difficult to deal with when combined with her ramping damage potential.
These changes will reduce the barrier uptime, making it slightly more difficult for her to gain energy and will provide enemies with more time to deal damage to her.
Particle Barrier
- Duration reduced from 2.5 to 2 seconds
- Cooldown increased from 10 to 11 seconds
Projected Barrier
- Duration reduced from 2.5 to 2 seconds
- Cooldown increased from 10 to 11 seconds
DAMAGE
GENJI
Genji has greatly benefited from the move to 5v5. Changing to a single Tank and the reduction of crowd control has removed a lot of obstacles for Genji. However, he hasn’t received tuning updates since he wasn’t actively in the meta until launch—an intentional decision based on our general preference to avoid preemptive adjustments when possible. These changes will bring Genji more in line with the other flanking damage heroes like Tracer and Reaper.
Shuriken
- Maximum ammo reduced from 30 to 24
- Damage reduced from 29 to 27
JUNKRAT
Steel Trap
- Arming time increased from 0.5 to 0.75 seconds
- Trapped duration reduced from 3 to 2.5 seconds
SOMBRA
With Sombra’s rework, she gained a lot more damage to help account for the reduced ability lockout duration of Hack. This has proven to be too deadly for a flanker with easy access to the enemy backlines, especially in 5v5.
She can also no longer channel hack on an already hacked target as feedback indicated the reduced cooldown combined with hacking from stealth proved to be too frustrating for many players. This is essentially a per-target cooldown that enables Hack to keep its current 4-second cooldown for potentially hacking multiple targets.
Hack
- Ability lockout duration reduced from 1.75 to 1.5 seconds
- Hacked enemies are no longer valid targets for hacking for the duration of the 8-second effect
- Hacked enemy damage multiplier reduced from 40 to 25%
SUPPORT
KIRIKO
This invulnerability window is primarily intended to help avoid instantly dying to something unseen after teleporting through walls, but it ended up being a little too long and led to some confusion while shooting at Kiriko.
Swift Step
- Invulnerability duration reduced from 0.4 to 0.25 seconds
BUG FIXES
GENERAL
- PC Only – The Default setting for audio mix has been changed to “studio reference”
- Resolved an issue where some players could be stuck in Bronze 5 even after several rank updates
- Console Only – Fixed an issue where the PC interface was being forced on for some console players
- Console Only – Fixed a bug on console where your game could freeze if you opened and closed a Hero cinematic
- Console Only – Fixed an issue where 'Capture Highlight' could not be unbound from Left D-Pad
- Addressed multiple leaderboard issues causing inaccurate placement and ordering
- Players who getting healed will no longer see the healing status effect on their screen while they’re full health
- Fixed an issue where players would sometimes be placed into an empty game
- Resolved a bug that prevented players from rejoining their competitive game after being disconnected
- Fixed a bug where typing in chat could purchase an item from the Hero Gallery
- The 'No Name Card' selection in the Name Card interface is now selectable
- Fixed a display issue where players were shown the incorrect amount of Overwatch League tokens, which made them unable to purchase items. The display now shows the correct amount of tokens a player owns
- The 'Avoid Teammates' button is no longer hiding behind the Recent Players list
- Fixed an issue with the Challenge 'Farsighted' not correctly tracking and/or completing
- Fixed an issue with the Challenge 'Damage Sponge' not correctly tracking and/or completing
- Resolved instances of the player's screen becoming blurry/out of focus
- Fixed an issue where some players were missing the Noire Widowmaker skin
- Various visual improvements to the First Time User Experience
- Fixed in last update - Practice bots now show up through walls correctly when you play a healer
MAPS
Junkertown
- Fixed additional areas in the map that were causing performance issues in some cases
HEROES
Brigitte
- Fixed a bug where Brigitte's shield could become invulnerable under certain conditions
Cassidy
- Cassidy now correctly drops the flag during Combat Roll in the Capture the Flag game mode
Doomfist
- Fixed in last update - Fixed a bug with Seismic Slam being stopped early by obstructions
- Fixed in last update - Fixed a bug with being able to jump during Seismic Slam
Genji
- Fixed an issue with the Genji Mythic Skin's hit volumes
- Fixed in last update - Fixed an issue where players could get infinite Dragonblade Custom Games
Hanzo
- Fixed in last update - Jump/wall climb no longer destroys breakables
Junker Queen
- Commanding Shout and Rampage now correctly drop the flag in the Capture the Flag game mode
Kiriko
- Fixed an issue where Kiriko could escape map boundaries using Swift Step
Mei
- Has been added back to the line-up
- Fixed several issues with Mei's Ice Wall that allowed players and projectiles to occasionally pass through it or slip off it
Mercy
- Audio made a change to the sound of Mercy’s first-person glide to address frequencies that some players found uncomfortable
Reinhardt
- Fixed in last update - Fixed an issue where quick melee did not swing Reinhardt's hammer
Sojourn
- Sojourn can no longer pick up the flag in Capture the Flag when using Power Slide
Sombra
- Fixed in last update - EMP can no longer be damage boosted
Torbjorn
- Fixed in last update - Fixed an issue where quick melee did not swing Torbjorn's hammer
Wrecking Ball
- Fixed an issue with Adaptive Shield that could cause you to lose health in some cases
Overwatch 2 is available now in early access for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.