Overwatch PTR Patch Notes – February 26, 2019

A new Overwatch patch is currently in development and now available for testing! To share your feedback or report and issue, please post in the PTR Feedback or PTR Bug Report forums.

Please note that the below patch notes only include changes currently available for testing on the PTR. While many of these changes will also be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in a future patch, the PTR is PC-only and only reflects changes coming specifically to that platform.

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

New Hero: Baptiste (Support)

Baptiste is a battle-hardened combat medic who wields an assortment of experimental devices and weaponry to keep allies alive and eliminate his enemies. Baptiste’s Biotic Launcher fires a three-round-burst that rewards accuracy and recoil control with significant damage output. His alternate fire lobs grenades that heal allies near the point of impact. With Regenerative Burst , Baptiste activates an intense surge that heals himself and nearby allies over time. When danger is near, Baptiste can toss out his Immortality Field to prevent allies from dying. Baptiste moves around the battlefield with Exo Boots , jumping over obstacles and clearing distances that would stop other heroes. Baptiste deploys his Amplification Matrix as his ultimate, which doubles the damage and healing effects of friendly projectiles.

GENERAL UPDATES

Armor

Beam-type damage is now reduced by 20% when hitting armor

Damage over time effects are no longer mitigated by armor

Developer Comments: The damage taken by armor from damage over time effects, such as Widowmaker’s Venom Mine, and beam weapons, like Symmetra’s Photon Projector, varied greatly. Now it will be more consistent and predictable.

Damage Boost

Damage boost is now applied when a projectile is fired rather than when it hits a target

Developer Comments: Previously, the effects of damage boosting were only accounted for if the damage-dealing hero was being boosted as they landed a hit. Now, damage is applied to the projectile as it is fired. This means the damage-dealing hero doesn’t need to be boosted when the projectile hits an enemy for the damage boost to be accounted for.

Knockback

Knockback distance is now more consistent

Heroes that are flying can now be knocked back and slowed

Developer Comments: Knockbacks are now less affected by how the enemy was moving when they were hit. Instead of having small or large knockbacks that depend on chance, knockbacks will feel similar regardless of the enemy’s movement leading up to the knockback. Allowing flying heroes, like Mercy when using her Valkyrie ability or D.Va using her Booster ability, to be properly knocked back makes for more fluid, realistic gameplay.

Sound

A new sound plays when you land a hit while damage boosted

A new sound plays when you land a hit, but it doesn’t do any damage

Developer Comments: With the addition of Baptiste, we wanted to be sure that you can tell when your hits were being buffed or nullified, regardless of what hero you’re playing.

HERO UPDATES

Ana

Nano Boost Heal reduced from 300 to 250



Developer Comments: Giving Nano Boost an instant heal effect enabled players to survive longer and made Ana’s ultimate valuable. However, it needs to be slightly less effective for refilling large health pools.

Doomfist

Rising Uppercut Cooldown reduced from 7 to 6 seconds

Seismic Slam Cooldown reduced from 7 to 6 seconds



Developer Comments: Reducing the downtime of Doomfist’s abilities should make his gameplay feel more fluid.

Hanzo

Sonic Arrow Detection radius increased from 7 to 9 meters



Developer Comments: Because of how dense the environment is on some maps, the Sonic Arrow can feel ineffective in some areas. Increasing Sonic Arrow’s detection radius should make it more effective.

Lúcio

Sonic Amplifier Soundwave now counts towards Offensive Assists



Developer Comments: The knockback on Lúcio’s Soundwave is a great tool for pushing enemies into situations that get them killed, so they should be rewarded an offensive assist for doing so.

McCree

Fan the Hammer Damage reduced from 55 to 50

Deadeye Damage per second increased from 275 to 550 after locking onto targets for 2.5 seconds



Developer Comments: After reducing armor’s effectiveness for all heroes, Fan the Hammer doesn’t need to deal quite as much damage. Increasing Deadeye’s damage after being locked on for a bit makes it more effective when attacking high health, static targets (like barriers) and heroes with over 600 health. It will not impact how dangerous this is for heroes under 600 health.

Mei

Endothermic Blaster Primary fire damage increased from 2.25 to 2.75 (45 to 55 damage per second)

Ice Wall Health reduced from 500 to 400



Developer Comments: Increasing the damage of Mei’s primary fire should make her Freeze and Icicle move combination more potent. Making the pillars on Mei’s Ice Wall easier to destroy means less waiting for the wall to disappear on its own and more opportunities to counter it.

Moira

Biotic Grasp Heal over time duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds Total healing increased from 50 to 65



Developer Comments: These minor changes make Moira’s passive healing effect on Biotic Grasp slightly more effective when topping off an ally’s health.

Orisa

Fusion Driver Movement speed penalty while firing reduced from 50% to 30%



Developer Comments: As a defensive tank, Orisa can have trouble pushing forward with the team. Allowing Orisa to move faster while firing should make it easier to apply pressure on the enemy team and use her barrier in proactive ways.

Pharah

Rocket Launcher Minimum explosion damage increased from 16.25 to 20



Developer Comments: This change sets the Rocket Launcher’s minimum damage to where it was before we rebalanced its direct impact and explosive damage in a recent patch.

Soldier: 76

Pulse Rifle Damage increased from 19 to 20

Sprint Delay before you can fire the weapon after using Sprint reduced from .5 to .3 seconds

Tactical Visor Can target RIP-Tire and Immortality Field



Developer Comments: This change should potentially allow Soldier: 76 to kill an enemy hero one shot sooner. Reducing the time between when you use Sprint and when you can fire should make the ability more fluid and responsive. Giving Tactical Visor the ability to target Junkrat’s RIP-Tire and Baptiste’s Immortality Field drone is a quality of life improvement, since these are both critical targets.

Sombra

Hack Cooldown is reduced by half when hacking a health pack



Developer Comments: The cooldown on Hack often made it feel less effective to target health packs instead of players. This will make both health packs and players viable targets for hacking.

Torbjörn

Base health increased by 50 armor (250 maximum health)

Overload Armor gain reduced from 150 to 100



Developer Comments: Torbjörn’s survivability was a bit low, so we’ve shifted some power from his Overload ability to his base health.

Widowmaker

Infra-Sight Reveals enemy health bars Now canceled on death



Developer Comments: Infra-Sight had no counter to its effect, so it now ends when Widowmaker dies. To balance out its higher risk of use, Infra-Sight now reveals enemy health bars to Widowmaker’s team.

Wrecking Ball

Adaptive Shield No longer cancels Roll mode



Developer Comments: This will make Adaptive Shields a more powerful survival tool, since being forced out of Roll mode left Wrecking Ball more susceptible to fire.

BUG FIXES

Callouts

Fixed a bug where the “Need Healing” callout wouldn’t display in chat if the hero you targeted didn’t have healing abilities

Camera

Fixed a bug where, when playing certain heroes, the camera would clip into the hero when looking straight upwards

Career Stats Menu

Fixed a bug where the season labels for Competitive CTF and Competitive 6v6 Elimination didn’t display

Hero Gallery

Fixed a bug where, if switching between Junkrat Skins, one of the bombs on his vest would spin

Heroes

Ana Fixed a bug where Ana’s clothes would clip into her hip pouch while doing the Yut Nori emote

Ashe Fixed a bug that prevented audio feedback from playing to indicate ammo was low on Ashe’s rifle if it had three or fewer bullets

D.Va Fixed a bug that made D.Va very difficult to knock back while she was firing her Fusion Cannons

Genji Fixed a bug that caused Genji’s Dragonblade to end before the deflect duration was complete Fixed a bug where Genji would be knocked back unusually far when using Swift Strike to hit Doomfist’s Rocket Punch

Hanzo Fixed a bug where Hanzo’s leg would visibly move while he was in his Meditate pose

Mercy Fixed a bug where Mercy’s left knee would bend unnaturally when stunned by McCree’s Flashbang

Orisa Fixed a bug that made Orisa very difficult to knock back while she was firing her Fusion Driver

Reaper Fixed a bug where a button on the shoulder of Reaper’s Lu Bu skin appeared to be floating

Reinhardt Fixed a bug where a piece on Reinhardt’s back displayed incorrectly while using the Guan Yu skin in the Hammer Down highlight intro Fixed an issue that allowed Reinhardt’s Earthshatter to hit people further off the ground than intended in specific circumstances

Sombra Fixed a bug where Sombra’s stealth exiting sound effect wouldn’t play if an emote was used to exit stealth mode Fixed a bug where Sombra couldn’t quick melee while using her Hack ability

Symmetra Fixed a bug where Symmetra would gain ultimate charge while casting Photon Barrier

Torbjörn Fixed a bug that prevented Torbjörn from using Molten Core in custom games if Ability 2 was disabled

Widowmaker Fixed a bug that prevented Widowmaker’s Venom Mine from damaging a hero if they triggered it at the edge of its trigger radius



Maps