Overwatch 2 Season 10 patch notes: Updates and changes

The early patch notes for PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch are ready for Season 10 of Overwatch 2, which is scheduled to arrive on April 16.

The major update in this patch is the introduction of the new DPS hero, Venture, who has undergone some changes since their initial free preview in Season 9.

Although previous heroes usually required payment and were not immediately accessible in competitive play, Venture will be accessible to all players and can be used in competitive matches right from the start. However, some changes have been made to balance their abilities, such as reducing the impact damage of Drill Dash in exchange for increasing its damage over time, and decreasing the vertical knockback of Tectonic Shock by 30%.

A trial period for Clash, the latest game mode in Overwatch 2, will launch the season with a new map called Hanaoka, inspired by Hanamura. This game mode includes five objectives for teams to compete for and will be open until April 29.

In addition, there have been significant changes made to ranked play. The previously implemented Grouping Restrictions have been eliminated. Instead, teams will be categorized into pools based on the narrowness or wideness of the skill difference between players. This change is expected to effectively address issues with smurfing, as players of varying skill levels will now be able to queue together with their friends.

Despite some tanks receiving improvements, the balance of the game remains intact. Along with the Wrecking Ball rework, the damage output of Junker Queen’s Carnage has been increased, Reinhardt’s Earthshatter now has a larger range and longer stun duration, and Sigma’s Experimental Barrier has been made faster.

The flanking abilities of Tracer and Sombra, two troublesome DPS heroes, will be weakened. The cooldown for Brit’s Recall will be extended, while the size of Pulse Bomb’s projectile will be decreased. Additionally, Sombra’s Virus ability will have a slight decrease in its damage over time, going from 100 to 90.

In order to increase their healing capabilities, both Illari and Lifeweaver are receiving buffs. Additionally, Moira will have a decrease in Biotic Grasp damage while Coalescence will see a slight increase in healing. Furthermore, Lucio’s Sound Wave damage will be raised by 10.

Based on the current evidence, it is uncertain whether the tank experience will see an improvement from the increased buffs and support healing power. However, it is already evident that Season 10 will be a noteworthy one, with numerous quality-of-life improvements and one of the most impressive Battle Pass themes to date.

Complete list of updates:

Overwatch 2 Retail Patch Notes – April 16, 2024

Clash – Features of the New Game Mode

Clash, a core game mode in Overwatch 2, is set to release in the near future. In this mode, teams will compete in a back-and-forth battle over five capture points. Each captured objective will contribute a point to the leading team’s score. The game can be won in two ways: either by controlling all five objectives simultaneously, or by achieving a total of five points before the opposing team. From April 29, players will have the opportunity to try out Clash for a limited time.

Rules of Clash

On a mirrored map, 5 objectives were arranged in a linear pattern.
At any given time, only one objective is active.
The center objective is active at the start of matches.
When players stand on an objective and fill a progress bar, they successfully capture it. However, this progress cannot be made if the objective is being contested by enemy players.
When a team successfully captures the current objective, they receive 1 point towards their overall score and a new objective is activated on the scoring team’s side for them to continue playing towards.
Objectives can be captured multiple times. In the event that one team is pushed off an objective, the opposing team can capture it and the next active point will be located in the opposite direction.

Objectives

To win the match, one of these conditions must be completed.

Throughout the match, the team was able to capture 5 objectives, resulting in a total score of 5.
Despite the team’s score, they are able to successfully capture the final objective (A or E) on the opponents’ side.

In the first Clash map, Hanaoka, players can return to Japan and explore the town’s shops and restaurants. They can also follow the scent of Sakura trees to reach the once-proud Shimada castle.

New Mythic Hero Skin Updates

Legendary Skins of Mythic Heroes

In order to obtain Mythic hero skins, players can now unlock them using Mythic Prisms at the new Mythic Shop.
To obtain Mythic hero skins, 50 Mythic Prisms are required to unlock the initial set of customizations. Each level can then be upgraded with 10 Mythic Prisms to access more customization options.

Presenting Mythic Prisms.

Players can acquire Mythic Prisms by participating in the Premium Battle Pass, which can then be utilized in the Mythic Shop to buy the current featured Mythic hero skin for the ongoing season, as well as certain past Mythic hero skins.
Obtaining Mythic Prisms through the Premium Battle Pass is the most efficient and effortless method of obtaining a Mythic hero skin and all accompanying customizations each season. Additionally, players have the option to acquire extra Mythic Prisms within the game or through their platform’s store marketplace.

Overall Changes

Obstacles and Obstacles to Overcome

Additional Battle Pass XP will now be rewarded for completing Weekly Challenge milestones.
The Weekly Challenges’ Overwatch Coins can now be acquired through the Battle Pass by all players.
Decreased the amount of Weekly Challenges.

Updates to Endorsements

Players who receive disciplinary action for disruptive behavior and are demoted to Endorsement Level 0 will be unable to utilize text or voice chat functions until they have been reinstated to Endorsement Level 1.

Ever since the implementation of the Endorsement system in Overwatch, players who have received disciplinary action for social misconduct (such as Inappropriate Communication or Gameplay Sabotage) have had their Endorsement Level reduced to 0. This aspect of the system will remain unchanged, however, going forward, players at Level 0 will have their ability to communicate limited in most modes, with the inability to use voice channels or type in text chat.

Privacy Protection

Updated option in Streamer Protect, located in the Social Options section.
You can now conceal your BattleTag from both your group members and friends in a match.
When enabled, your BattleTag will now be displayed as a random anonymized BattleTag to all players during a match, rather than only being hidden from the player who has the “Hide My Name”setting enabled.

The “Hide My Name”option in the Social Options will now show a randomized anonymized Battle Tag to all players in a match, instead of just the player who has the option enabled. Additional settings have been implemented for “Hide My Name From Friends”and “Hide My Name From Group.”When group members are also friends, the “Hide My Name From Friends”setting will take precedence. A wide variety of carefully selected BattleTags have been curated to support this functionality. Is it possible that these tags may include hidden surprises or humorous references?

Advancement

Progression badges/sub-badges and rewards have been incorporated into Venture, with the latter being accessible through Hero Challenges.

Penalties for Leaving Games

Additional thresholds have been incorporated for Unranked Leave Penalties:

If you leave 2 games out of 20, you will be suspended from queuing for most modes for 5 minutes.
If a player loses 10 or more out of 20 games, they will be suspended from queuing for most modes for 48 hours.
The remaining threshold tiers remain unchanged.

Regardless of the number of games completed, a season ban will now be imposed for leaving 10 games in Competitive Play.

Despite completing enough games to get back into good standing, players who consistently leave games can still receive a ban from Competitive Play in just 5 games.

Now, the Unranked Leaver Penalty will include the games completed in Competitive Play within its 20-game window.

Competitive Changes

Job Titles in the Market

Competitive Role Queue now awards end-of-season titles based on the role in which the rank was achieved.
Some examples of champions are Champion Tank, Champion Support, Champion Damage, and Open Queue Champion.

Competitive Advantage

Each Role Rank Card now shows the corresponding Competitive Role-Specific title.
Users can now choose the Role Rank Cards to access the Match History for the specific role they have selected.
Match history will display the following: Map / Game Mode, Heroes / Role, Date, Score, Results of the match
The Game Report for a match can now be accessed by selecting Match History.

Grouping Limitations

All former limitations on Competitive Grouping have been eliminated.
The categorization of all groups in Competitive Play has been updated to distinguish between Narrow and Wide classifications.
Players in a Narrow Group must have a maximum difference of 5 divisions between each other if they are ranked between Bronze and Diamond.
Players in the Master division can only be placed in a Narrow Group if they are within a maximum of 3 divisions of each other player in their group.
At Grandmaster and Champion levels, players are not allowed to be in Narrow groups, regardless of their ranks’ proximity. This rule guarantees that our top-ranked players engage in the best quality Narrow matches.
Narrow Groups will always be matched with either other Narrow Groups or solo players. In cases where a group consists of both Wide and Narrow configurations of players, the Narrow configuration will always be given priority.
A Wide Group is any group that does not meet the specified criteria.
Wide groups consisting of 4 players are not permitted to queue. This rule is in place to ensure that solo players are never obliged to participate in a Wide match.
The elongation of group sizes has resulted in longer wait times and decreased match satisfaction as it becomes more challenging to find groups of players with similar ranks and roles to play against.
The group’s width modifies the change in a player’s Rank Progress after each match.
As the group becomes larger, their ranks will be less affected by wins or losses.
The higher the rank of the top player in a Wide Group, the less the ranks of all players in the group will fluctuate when they win or lose.
Players will now receive notification if their chosen role configuration would result in a Wide Group.
The Tier Legend has been revised and now includes a banner to clarify the rules mentioned above.

Ranking System

The introduction of the “Wide”modifier aims to decrease the impact of winning or losing matches on Rank Progress. The wider the group, the less significant the changes in Rank Progress will be after a match.
The modifier “Volatile” has been renamed to “Demotion.”
The direction of the arrows displayed under the modifiers has been switched from right to left to left to right.
New Modifier: Demotion Protection
This modifier is displayed on the Rank Progress bar to indicate that a loss did not result in a decrease in Skill Division. However, if you lose the following match, you will be demoted to the previous Skill Division.
The Rank Progress bar now includes Victory and Defeat alongside the displayed modifiers.

Legendary Weapons

Golden weapons can now be bought using either Legacy Competitive Points or 2024 Competitive Points, but they cannot be purchased using a combination of both currencies.

Hero Revamps

Introducing Venture: Our Latest Hero

An addition has been made to the line-up with Venture now included.
Competitive Play is readily accessible for Venture to participate in.

The recent hero trial has given us the opportunity to thoroughly test and fine-tune Venture before unlocking it for Competitive play. This is a significant change from our approach with past heroes, as we have always strived to ensure that new heroes were free of any bugs or balance issues before introducing them into the competitive scene. Additionally, we wanted to give players enough time to unlock a new hero through the Battle Pass. However, with the successful trial of Venture and the decision to unlock all heroes, we are confident that it is prepared to enter the action immediately when the new season for Overwatch 2 launches.

Types of Tanks

Doomfist is the name of a powerful character.

Rocket Punch is the name of a powerful attack.

The empowered punch will remain unspent if the windup is interrupted by either Seismic Slam or Power Block.

The developer has made a quality-of-life improvement to streamline the transition between charging up an empowered Rocket Punch and using another ability. This has been achieved by eliminating the need to press the cancel input beforehand.

The individual known as the Junker Queen.

The word “carnage”refers to a scene of widespread and bloody destruction.

The impact damage has been raised from 90 to 105.

Reinhardt is still the same.

Earthshatter is a powerful force that disrupts the surface of the Earth.

The duration of knockdown was extended from 2.75 seconds to 3 seconds.
The range of Shockwave has been extended from 20 to 25 meters.

This modification will enhance Sigma’s capacity to safeguard distant allies.

Sigma is a letter in the Greek alphabet.

The barrier was part of an experiment.

The speed of movement has been raised from 16.5 to 20 meters per second.

The overall objectives are to enhance Wrecking Ball’s ability to assist his allies beyond solely disrupting the enemy team, increase the hero’s accessibility while also providing more opportunities for players to showcase their skill, and enhance the usability of the grapple.

The song “Wrecking Ball”remains unchanged.

The Grappling Claw is a useful tool.

To retract the Grappling Claw and move towards the anchor point, hold down the jump input while it is attached to terrain. This action can be reassigned in the hero’s settings.
The cooldown for Wrecking Ball’s ability will now be 1 second if he cancels it before reaching ramming speed. However, the full cooldown will still be triggered if he is interrupted by Hack, Hinder, or stuns.
The maximum duration timer will only be activated if he reaches ramming speed.

Adaptive Armor

The reactivation of this ability now allows for the redistribution of up to 300 overhealth to nearby allies, with a maximum of 75 per person.
The radius for detecting both enemies and allies has been extended from 10 to 13 meters.

A minefield is a dangerous area filled with explosive devices that have been buried underground.

The health has been raised from 50 to 60.

Understanding the Effects of Damage

Sombra is a character in the popular video game Overwatch.

A virus is a type of malicious software.

The total damage dealt gradually over a period of time has been reduced from 100 to 90.

The developer remarks that Tracer now has a longer period of downtime before she can safely reengage after being driven away, and that Pulse Bomb will demand greater precision.

Tracer is a term used to describe a person or device that is used to track or follow something or someone.

Remember

The cooldown has been extended from 12 to 13 seconds.

Explosive device

The total projectile size was previously 0.3 meters, with a base size of 0.2 meters. However, it has now been reduced to 0.25 meters, with the base size being changed to 0.1 meters.

Developer Comments: In order to make positioning relative to the enemy and tracking a target more crucial for dealing maximum damage, we are redistributing the damage on certain abilities.

The word Venture means to embark on a new and possibly risky journey or undertaking.

Dash Drill

The impact damage has been reduced from 60 to 40.
The damage dealt over a period of time has been raised from 40 to 60.

Overpower

The damage caused by impacts has been reduced from 40 to 30.
The damage over time has been raised from 30 to 40.

Tectonic shock is a sudden and powerful movement of the Earth’s crust caused by the release of stress accumulated over a long period of time.

A decrease of 30% has been applied to the vertical knockback.

The development team has decided to reassign support power in order to make further improvements following the Hero Trial from the previous season.

Customer Service

Illari is the subject of the paragraph.

A Solar Rifle is a type of firearm that utilizes solar energy as its power source.

The time taken for primary fire recovery increased from 0.2 to 0.25 seconds.
The heal-per-second for secondary fire has been increased from 105 to 115.

Lucio is still the same person.

The Sonic Amplifier is a device used to enhance sound.

The damage dealt by each projectile has been reduced from 20 to 18.

A sound wave is a disturbance that travels through a medium, such as air or water, causing particles to vibrate and creating a sensation of sound.

The damage has been raised from 35 to 45.

Lifeweaver is the title given to a person who possesses the skill and ability to bring life and vitality to something or someone.

Dash that rejuvenates

The heal was raised from 50 to 60.

The Tree of Life is a symbol of interconnectedness and the cycle of life.

The pulse healing has been raised from 75 to 90.

Moira is still the same person.

Biotic Grasp is a term used to refer to a specific type of grasping or gripping action that is performed by living organisms.

The damage per second has been reduced from 65 to 60.

The process of coalescence.

The rate of self-healing per second has been increased from 50 to 55.

Resolved Issues

Overview

The Hero Mastery Gauntlet bug that led to an excessive number of AI teammates has been fixed.
Resolved an issue with Wall Climb where Heroes with the passive were able to continuously climb without limit.
The issue with Diamond, Masters, and Grandmaster not producing any effects upon entering the Top 500 has been resolved.
Resolved an issue with duplicate entries on the Leaderboard.
Repaired the absent flash alert on the taskbar when entering a game as a substitute.

Interactive Maps

In a previous update, a resolution was implemented for an issue where jump pads could become deactivated.

Circuit Royale

An issue with the payload tires unexpectedly launching players has been resolved.

Paraiso is a Spanish word that translates to “paradise”or “heaven”.

The area near the second point where the payload dock could interfere with the effectiveness of Earth Shatter and Tectonic Shock against larger heroes has been addressed.

Legendary Heroes

The word “Echo”remains unchanged.

Resolved a problem with the Duplicate ability that previously caused deaths to not be counted if it was used while Echo falls off the map.

Doomfist is a playable character in the popular video game Overwatch.

An issue with Mei’s Ice Wall that permitted players to go under the map has been resolved.
The issue causing Power Block sounds to activate without actually blocking damage has been resolved.

Illari’s name was mentioned.

An issue with Captive Sun has been resolved, preventing it from affecting targets through floors and ceilings.

Junkrat is a character.

The self-healing passive for Riptire has been fixed to address a bug.

Lifeweaver is a title or description for someone who weaves together the threads of life, perhaps as a healer or counselor.

Corrected an issue where Tree of Life could heal certain un-targetable heroes.

Mauga is the name.

An issue was resolved where Mauga would be knocked down while Overrun was active due to an interaction with Brigitte’s Shield Bash.

Mercy is a quality that is often described as showing compassion and forgiveness towards someone in need.

A bug with the Caduceus Staff not opening up when using the Parasol emote and Pose has been resolved.

The word “venture”typically refers to a risky or exciting undertaking or project.

Overwatch 2 Season 10 patch notes: Updates and changes