The midseason patch landed on November 3 and it is a big one. New events, new skins, a stack of balance changes and some welcome news on gameplay sabotage. Here’s everything grouped so you can skip to the bits you care about.
Overwatch Midseason Update: What’s New and When
The midseason patch landed on November 3 with new events, skins and a pile of balance changes. Here’s the short version.
Event dates
- Taking Reign: November 3 to December 7 – Play games to complete. Pay for premium.
- Excavation Initiative: November 3 to December 7 – Play games on different days throughout the week to complete.
- Junkrat’s Loot Hunt and Double XP Weekend: November 19 to 23 – Play to complete.
- OWCS World Finals Cheer Rally: November 24 to December 7, with bonus Cheers for watching broadcasts December 2 to 6 – Watch on Twitch.
Mythic skin – Roadhog, Necrotic Knight
Overwatch Midseason Hero Changes: The Short Version
Blizzard’s goals this patch are pretty clear. Heroes who were too lethal or too tanky get trimmed, heroes who fell behind get a lift, and a few interactions get tidied up. Doctrine, Vendetta, D.Mon, Ana, Genji, Jetpack Cat and Sombra all take nerfs to cut burst, healing or survivability. Junker Queen, Mauga, Reaper, Brigitte, Illari, Ramattra, Anran and Shion get buffs to help them keep up. A few small fixes round it out, including Echo’s perk refilling ammo, new ally trackers for Junker Queen and Baptiste, and Sombra’s EMP now overriding enemy hacks on health packs.
Taking Reign (November 3 to December 7)
The year-long Reign of Talon story reaches its final chapter in this event. It runs for 34 days with 24 tiers of rewards, and levelling up is simple: you just play the game. The Free Pass includes a new Sigma Epic skin, and your efforts will even help decide what stands at Blizzard World Point 2.
The Premium Pass costs 1,000 Overwatch Coins and includes:
- Doomfist’s Resurgence Legendary skin, unlocked instantly
- Vendetta’s Legendary weapon skin, Anima Fang
- A lootbox
- Voicelines for Doomfist and Doctrine
- Highlight intros for Doomfist and Vendetta
- A Doomfist victory pose
- A Doomfist name card
- The title “Crowned”
You can complete a purchased Premium Pass at any time, even after the event ends, so there’s no rush.
Honestly, it feels a little on the nose to charge for an event. In fairness, it’s good value compared to what other things in the game cost, and the pay-later flexibility helps. I’m just not sure I love the idea of paying to take part in a story finale.
Eve Protocol Event
This is the skin drop for the month. D.Va gets an Ultra skin, while Widowmaker, Freja, Soldier: 76 and Vendetta all get Legendary skins.
The pack includes highlight intros for D.Va, Freja, Vendetta and Widowmaker, an emote for Soldier: 76, plus victory poses, sprays, name cards and player icons for everyone involved. Everyone except Soldier: 76 gets voicelines. There’s also an event with player cards for all the heroes involved, a D.Va voiceline and a weapon charm.
Progress comes from playing games, and wins and Stadium matches give double points, so it’s friendly to Quick Play grinders like me.
Roadhog’s Mythic: Necrotic Knight
Roadhog gets the Mythic skin Necrotic Knight this season. Mythics are a bit of a hot topic around here after my Treblemaker rant, so I’ll be keen to see how this one holds up in game.
Other Events
Excavation Initiative (November 3 to December 7): It’s back with some changes. Log in and win a game to earn Loot Boxes. A dig means winning one game a day across three days in a week, and each completed dig earns a lootbox. You can complete two digs a week for an additional lootbox. Base, Epic and Legendary Loot Boxes are up for grabs.
Junkrat’s Loot Hunt and Double XP Weekend (November 19 to 23): A reward-fueled weekend with Double XP added. Progress doesn’t reset, there’s no daily pressure, and the challenges are flexible so you can go all-in or pace yourself.
OWCS World Finals Cheer Rally: Earn Cheers by playing matches and completing challenges from November 24 to December 7. You can earn extra Cheers by watching OWCS World Finals broadcasts on official channels from December 2 to 6. Rewards include lootboxes, Battle Pass XP and cosmetics.
Drive Signature Customization
Once you reach the fourth checkpoint in the most recent Drive, you can equip any Signatures you earned in previous seasons. Reaching the fourth checkpoint in the most recent Team Drive also unlocks the same customization for Player Card Frames. Expect some very colourful profiles and a chaotically coloured lobby board.
Gameplay Sabotage Detection
Blizzard has improved its detection tools for disruptive behaviour and says it has already taken action against many players. Examples include consistently and intentionally failing to contribute to team fights, repeatedly jumping off the map and intentionally blocking team progress. You’ll also now get a “Thank You” message in the Notification Hub if you report a player and action is taken against them. Good to see reports getting some feedback.
Tank
- D.Mon: Power Barrier recovery goes from 0.2 to 0.3 seconds and it now has a 0.25 second minimum deploy duration. Propulsors impact damage drops from 15 to 0, and the Overstrike perk lifesteal falls from 150% to 125%.
- Junker Queen: Base health rises from 375 to 425 (450 to 500 in 6v6), Carnage cooldown drops from 9 to 7 seconds, and Commanding Shout gets a new UI tracker for allies in range.
- Mauga: Base armor goes from 125 to 150 and burning damage over time from 15 to 20.
- Ramattra: Void Accelerator ammo goes from 100 to 125.
- Winston: The Revitalizing Barrier perk healing drops from 35 to 30 per second.
Damage
- Anran: Zhuque Fans damage rises from 22 to 24, Inferno Rush loses its knockback and can no longer hit the same target multiple times, and Vermillion Ascent cast time drops from 1.2 to 1 second.
- Echo: The Aerial Munitions perk now also refills ammo.
- Emre: Cyber Frag detonation time drops from 0.6 to 0.5 seconds, plus some reticle setting improvements.
- Genji: Deflect duration drops from 2 to 1.5 seconds.
- Hanzo: The Sonic Disruption perk no longer overrides Sombra’s hacked health packs.
- Reaper: Base health rises from 275 to 300.
- Shion: Execution starting spread drops from 8.5 to 5.7 degrees and Satsuriku Spree volley time drops from 0.6 to 0.5 seconds.
- Vendetta: Overhead leap speed drops from 11 to 9.5, Palatine Fang initial swing delay rises from 0.15 to 0.2 seconds, and the Raging Storm perk knockback halves from 8 to 4.
Support
- Ana: Biotic Grenade explosion damage drops from 90 to 60, with self-healing preserved.
- Baptiste: Regenerative Burst gets the same new ally tracking UI as Junker Queen.
- Brigitte: Inspire internal cooldown drops from 1.25 to 1 second and instant healing rises from 12 to 15.
- Doctrine: Eternal Scepter primary fire recovery rises from 0.6 to 0.65, Infused damage drops from 90 to 80 and Infused healing from 120 to 110, Shrouded Momentum cooldown rises from 8 to 10 seconds, and Infuse cooldown rises from 8 to 9 seconds.
- Illari: Solar Rifle charge time drops from 0.65 to 0.575 seconds and Healing Pylon heal per projectile rises from 40 to 50.
- Jetpack Cat: Base health drops from 225 to 200, Frenetic Flight acceleration rises from 25 to 28 meters per second, and fuel regeneration falls from 25% to 20% per second.
- Sombra: Hotfix duration drops from 12 to 10 seconds, Cyberspace Weaken drops from 50% to 40%, and EMP now overrides enemy hack effects on health packs.
Doctrine took a bit of a trimming across the board, which stings a little given how much I enjoyed him in the playtest. His healing and burst were clearly high for the utility he brings, so I get it. I’ll be curious to see how he feels in a normal Quick Play lobby now.
Stadium Changes
Winston’s Tesla Field damage drops to 30 every second (down from 40). Cassidy’s Barrage Blastin’ and Silver Bullet powers are buffed, Genji’s Wyrm’s Maw gets stronger stacks, and Sojourn’s Hard Stuck gets a damage boost. Vendetta’s Apex Bloodlust lifesteal drops to 3% (from 4%), while Rampant Onslaught now gives 3 eliminations per stack (up from 2).
Bug Fixes Worth Mentioning
Fixes include D.Mon’s Propulsors launching her too fast in the air, Mizuki getting stuck in the payload on Circuit Royale, Wrecking Ball’s Grappling Claw retract controls boosting his roll speed too much, and some stuck spots on Watchpoint: Gibraltar. The patch notes also confirm the pesky Eichenwalde sightline will never return, with an apology to Torb. Rest in peace.
Plenty to dig into this season. What are you most excited about, the Doomfist skin, the Eve Protocol drop or the balance changes? Tell me in the comments or come chat with the Snowy Crew.
