Overwatch 2 Releases Big Mid-Season 19 Update

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Overwatch 2 just released a big update for the middle of Season 19 that includes the new in-game Story feature, the limited-time Spirit Showdown game mode, and balance adjustments to traditional, 6v6, and Stadium game modes. These changes are all officially live in Overwatch 2 right now.

Season 19 of Overwatch 2 started on October 14, bringing with it the Haunted Masquerade game mode, Divine Druid Lifeweaver skin, and more. The season is set to wrap up on December 9, meaning players are just about halfway through it.

overwatch 2 season 19 haunted masquerade skins events

To keep the season fresh for its second half, Overwatch 2 has officially dropped its mid-season update. One of the most noteworthy parts of this patch is the Story feature, a new subset of curated videos, cinematics, and other lore tidbits available directly in the game. The feature is pretty bare-bones at the moment, featuring mostly recent cinematics and Overwatch 2 comics like the one with Ramattra and Zenyatta, but fans can expect more to be added in the future.

overwatch 2 season 19 story feature interface

Two new events are coming in this update as well: Spirit Showdown and Junkrat’s Loot Hunt. The former, which is available in the game now through November 24, is a deathmatch game mode where players swap heroes randomly every time they get an elimination or die twice. The latter is a returning favorite where Overwatch 2 fans can earn up to nine loot boxes by playing games between November 20 and 23.

overwatch 2 season 19 spirit showdown game mode

Of course, no major patch would be complete without hero balance adjustments, and the mid-Season 19 update has a lot of them. A whopping 15 heroes had their base kits buffed or nerfed in all Overwatch 2 formats, with eight heroes tweaked in 6v6 specifically, and seven more receiving changes to their Items and Powers in Stadium.

These are only a few of the things that have arrived in the mid-Season 19 update. A bunch of bug fixes, adjustments to player progression and the new player card system, and the Cyber Fuel Junkrat Mythic skin are all in Overwatch 2 now as well. Beyond that, there are three other events fans will want to keep an eye out for: the Overwatch Champions Series World Finals from November 28–30, Season 19 Competitive Drives on December 4–9, and the hero trial for Season 20’s playable character in the near future. While she has not yet been officially revealed, gamers can expect to see the kit, backstory, and trial for the mysterious She-Wolf gladiator within the next couple of weeks.

Overwatch 2 Mid-Season 19 Patch Notes – November 11, 2025

Story

A curated subset of lore videos is now watchable directly in the game. Be sure to check back when new lore beats are added!

Spirit Showdown

From November 11-24, spirits decide your fate in the Arcade! Swap heroes when eliminating enemies or after dying two times.

As you complete challenges, you’ll earn exclusive free Spirit-themed rewards!

Junkrat’s Loot Hunt

Junkrat’s Loot Hunt is back again, running from November 20-23! Earn lootboxes by completing challenges that unlock as you play!

General Updates

  • Player Progression

    • Retired badges and sub-badges are accessible in the game again. Career Profile → Progression → Legacy.
    • Overwatch 1 player level has also been moved to the Legacy screen.
  • Player Cards

    • In Role Queue modes, instead of showing highest leveled heroes across the hero roster, player cards now show your highest leveled heroes in the role you are playing.
    • Non-Role Queue modes will continue to show highest leveled heroes across the entire roster.
  • Advanced Info Panel

    • Added the “Jump Cancel” keyword to abilities that can be ended early for bonus movement.

TANK

D.Va

  • Extended Booster Perk

    • Boosters now deal 100% additional damage.

Hazard

With Hazard’s block now less reliable against burst damage, this change increases his mobility, allowing him to reposition and engage more effectively.

  • Spike Guard

    • No longer prevents critical damage.
  • Violent Leap

    • Cooldown reduced from 6 to 5.5 seconds.

Orisa

Alongside Hazard’s updates, these adjustments address specific interactions that were previously mitigated by these defensive abilities, such as Mauga’s Ignited critical damage and Reinhardt’s Earthshatter.

  • Fortify and Terra Surge now only prevent headshot critical damage and not forced crits

Ramattra

Previous changes led to a healthier overall playstyle for Ramattra, but he could feel too fragile in certain matchups. Increasing his base health improves survivability in both forms.

  • -Base health increased from 250 to 275
  • Relentless Form Perk

    • No longer has half effectiveness while in Annihilation

Zarya

  • Energy Converter Perk
  • Energy gained reduced from 3 to 2

DAMAGE

Ashe

Increasing Ashe’s falloff range allows her to perform more consistently at her intended mid- to long-range distances.

  • The Viper

    • Secondary Fire falloff range rescaled from 30–50 meters to 40–60 meters

Cassidy

Flashbang’s short hinder duration could feel difficult to capitalize on. This slight increase gives Cassidy players a more reliable window to follow up when landing a Flashbang.

  • Flashbang

    • Hinder duration increased from 0.9 to 1.2 seconds

Echo

Echo can struggle to safely position within her effective range. Increasing her aerial acceleration during Flight gives her more control when engaging or escaping.

  • Flight

    • Movement acceleration in air increased by 100% when changing directions while Flight is active.

Mei

This damage increase ensures Mei’s Primary Fire remains the consistent choice in close-range duels.

  • Primary Fire

    • Damage per second increased from 100 to 110

Sojourn

These adjustments make Disruptor Shot easier to land and more reliable without increasing its travel distance.

  • Disruptor Shot

    • Damage per second increased from 80 to 90
    • Projectile speed increased from 30 to 40
    • Maximum travel duration reduced from 1 to 0.75 seconds

Sombra

Healthy Hacker has struggled to provide consistent value as a result of its short active window. These adjustments extend its effectiveness and offer more opportunities to benefit from the perk, even when combat occurs away from health packs.

  • Hidden Upload Perk

    • Stealth duration on successful hack increased from 2 to 3 seconds
  • Healthy Hacker Perk

    • Time before overhealth degeneration increased from 6 to 10 seconds
    • Overhealth degeneration increased from 10 to 25
    • Overhealth granted increased from 50 to 75
    • Packs can now be picked up at full overhealth to reset the degeneration timer

SUPPORT

Brigitte

Brigitte’s healing output can sometimes feel limited compared to other supports. Reducing Repair Pack’s cooldown provides more consistent healing across all situations.

  • Repair Pack

    • Cooldown reduced from 5.5 to 5 seconds

Juno

This partial reversion to Juno’s previous air strafing makes her movement more responsive without making her overly evasive to fight against.

  • Glide Boost

    • Movement acceleration in air increased by 50% when changing directions while Glide Boost active.

Kiriko

Kiriko’s Ultimate remains one of the most powerful in the game because of its large area and the value it provides to her team. Increasing its cost brings its time to earn more in line with its impact.

  • Ultimate cost increased by 8%

Lifeweaver

Lifeweaver’s larger model made him much easier to hit than most supports. With his lower health pool, this hitbox reduction offsets that loss in survivability, while weapon swap improvements make his gameplay smoother and more responsive.

  • Model and hit volume size reduced by 8%
  • Healing Blossom/Thorn Volley

    • Automatic reload time for the inactive weapon reduced from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds
    • Time between weapon swap reduced from 0.25 seconds to 0.125 seconds

6v6 Hero Changes

Most changes made to 5v5 are reflected in 6v6 unless otherwise noted. This patch aims to maintain consistent balance between the two modes while addressing outliers, particularly among tanks. Heroes that currently feel strongest or weakest in 6v6 have been adjusted to ensure a more balanced experience.

D.Va

  • Health reduced from 350 to 300.
  • Defense Matrix

    • Recharge rate reduced by 15%.

Doomfist

  • The Best Defense

    • Overhealth gained per target reduced from 35 to 25 HP.
  • Power Block

    • Amount of damage to gain Empowered Punch increased from 100 to 120.

Junkerqueen

  • Base health increased from 425 to 450.
  • Adrenaline Rush

    • Self-healing from wounds damage scalar increased from 1.5x to 1.75x.

Mauga

  • Cardiac Overdrive

    • Cooldown reduced from 17 to 15 seconds.

Reinhardt

  • Barrier Field

    • Shield health increased from 1500 to 1800.

Winston

  • Jump Pack

    • Cooldown reduced from 6 to 5 seconds.

Wrecking Ball

  • Base health reduced from 500 to 475.
  • Adaptive Shields

    • Overhealth gained per target reduced from 75 to 50.

Zenyatta

  • Orb of Discord

    • Now has a cooldown per target.

Stadium Updates

General Stadium Changes

  • Drafts have been updated to use blind pick system. This means that both players on each time pick at the same time and their hero is revealed together.
  • Draft mode now automatically assigns tanks to the 5th slot.
  • Players are now able to unequip powers on the same round they are equipped.
  • Powers are locked at the end of the Armory timer.
  • HP bars are now displayed for your team in Stadium matches.
  • The hero stat section in the Armory has been updated to sort by your highest stat increases.
  • Detailed tooltips for each row in the Armory hero stat section have been added.
  • Impacted abilities and weapons are displayed in these tooltips.
  • Interact on any tooltip to access the full details screen.

Stadium Combat Text Changes

  • Weapon Power and Ability Power are now displayed as two separate floating numbers. This feature can be adjusted from Settings.
  • A new setting has been added to adjust the lifetime of floating text.
  • A new setting has been added to display self-healing. This setting is defaulted to off.
  • We are now dynamically adjusting the height at which floating text is displayed to improve visibility for heroes in melee range.
  • Overkill and overhealing values are now displayed when eliminating an enemy or healing a friendly target.
  • Kill cameras will now display stadium combat text.
  • Improved the stability of stadium combat text on moving targets so it’s less distracting.

STADIUM – TANK

Hazard

Hazard’s wall-focused powers were hitting a little too hard, dishing out big burst damage on top of strong zoning potential. We’ve reduced the knockback damage for both Off The Wall and Fortress to make the ability feel fairer to play against while keeping its area control and impact intact.

  • Off The Wall – Power

    • Damage decreased to 60 (Down from 80).
  • Fortress – Power

    • Damage decreased to 25 (Down from 40).

Orisa

A few hero items were lagging behind in overall value and flexibility, so we’re giving them some extra polish. Enhanced Target Sensors and Oladele-copter Blades now offer more meaningful offensive boosts, Efi’s Theorem gains defensive utility to help sustain in fights, and HollaGram Helmet gets a price cut to make it easier for Orisa to support the team if they need unstoppable.

  • Enhanced Target Sensors – Rare Weapon Hero Item

    • Added: +10% Attack Speed
    • Added: +5% Weapon Power
  • Oladele-copter Blades- Epic Ability Hero Item

    • Added: +15% Ability Power
    • Added: +15% Weapon Power
  • Efi’s Theorem – Epic Ability Hero Item

  • HollaGram Helmet – Epic Survival Hero Item

    • Cost decreased to 9000 (Down from 10000)

STADIUM – DAMAGE

Freja

These changes are aimed at adding more build variety for Freja and making her weaker options more viable choices. We’re also reducing the vertical burst of her Weapon Power build, and adding an additional lever for us to have more fine tune control for further adjustments if needed.

  • Volley à Deux – Power

    • Spread of additional bolts reduced by 60%.
    • Additional bolts fire every 3rd shot (Down from every 5th shot).
  • Peak Performance – Power

    • Added +20% Updraft Height.
  • Forager – Power

    • Max Life per hit increased to 8% (Up from 5%).
  • Windwalker Boots – Rare Ability Hero Item

    • Added: “Take Aim Bolt Explosion damage reduces Updraft Cooldown by 1s”.
    • Removed: +20% Updraft Height.
  • Added: 5% Ability Power.

    • Removed: 5% Cooldown Reduction.
  • Aeroweave Cloak – Rare Survival Hero Item

    • Added: Restore 10% Max Ammo every 1s while momentum is slowed by Take Aim.
  • Cyclone – Power

    • Added: 25% reduced explosion damage from extra Take Aim Bolt.

Sojourn

Sojourn’s Disruptor Shot build was too costly for the payoff it provided, making it hard to justify in most matches. We’ve reduced the build’s overall expense and improved her defensive options through Power Slide buffs, giving her more flexibility to reposition and stay in the fight longer.

  • Hard Stuck – Power

    • Damage reduction decreased to 25% (Down from 50%).
  • Liao’s Logistics Data – Epic Ability Hero Item

    • Cost decreased to 10000 (Down from 11000)
  • Energy Leech – Rare Ability Hero Item

    • Cost decreased to 4000 (Down from 5000)
  • Fine-Tuned Thrusters – Power

    • Damage reduction increased to 35% (Up from 25%).
  • Zoom Zoom Zoom – Power

    • Attack Speed increased to 35% (Up from 25%).
    • Weapon Lifesteal increased to 100% (Up from 50%).
  • Experimental Tech – Power

    • Slow increased to 25% (Up from 15%).
    • Railgun Charge increased to 50% (Up from 33%).

Junkrat

Junkrat’s Ability Power builds have struggled to find their footing compared to his Weapon Power builds, so we’re adding more power and consistency to both his Concussion Mine and Trap centric builds for increased build variety.

  • Hop Boom – Power

    • Concussion Mine damage upon landing after detonating Concussion Mine on yourself increased to 20% reduced effectiveness (Up from 30% reduced effectiveness).
  • Trap II Esquire – Power

    • Removed Arming time to spawn Mini Steel Trap.
    • Max Number of Mini Steel Traps increased to 5 (Up from 2).
  • Rainin’ Lead – Power

    • Frequency increased to every 0.25s (Up from 0.3s).
  • Jamison’s Jumpers – Epic Ability Hero Item

    • Added: “Detonating Concussion Mine on yourself reduces Concussion Mine cooldown by 15%”.
    • Removed: +20% Concussion Mine Knockback Distance.
    • Added 25 Health.
  • Refreshing Radiation – Epic Survival Hero Item

    • Cost decreased to 9000 (Down from 10000).
    • Max Life Overhealth increased to 8% (Up from 5%).
    • Overhealth Duration increased to 5s (Up from 3s).
  • Lithium Alloy – Epic Ability Hero Item

    • Cost decreased to 9500 (Down from 10000).
    • Added: +10% Ability Power.
  • Rat Pack – Rare Ability Hero Item

    • Ability Power increased to 10% (Up from 5%).
    • Steel Trap Health increased to 100% (Up from 50%).
  • Charged Chompas – Epic Ability Hero Item

    • Ultimate Charge gain now triggers on all Ability damage (Instead of just Total Mayhem damage).
  • Spiked Gloves – Rare Weapon Hero Item

    • Cost decreased to 4000 (Down from 4500).
  • Thermal Trap – Rare Survival Hero Item

    • Cost decreased to 3750 (Down from 4000).

STADIUM – SUPPORT

Juno

Bringing back the extra heal that Medicinal Missiles used to have. This boost adds more sustain for allies and makes her supportive playstyle feel even more rewarding when landing those precise shots.

  • Medicinal Missiles – Power

    • Now heals extra 30 health on pulsar hit.

Brigitte

Brigitte’s Weapon Power build has remained niche and difficult to justify over her other build options. We’re adding a bit more firepower and survivability here to make it a more viable option in the right situation.

  • Whirlwhip – Power

    • Bonus Damage on 360 Rocket Flail swing increased to 125% (Up from 100%).
  • Righteous Cleave – Power

    • Healing on next Rocket Flail swing increased to 125% of damage dealt (Up from 100%).

Bug Fixes

General Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with Wuyang and Illari that caused incorrect Healing and Resource rates to be applied when affected by Attack Speed increases.
  • Fixed an issue where the Headhunter perk ignored headshot damage reduction from Bob’s Tank passive.
  • Fixed an issue where Reinhardt’s Charge did not pull Wrecking Ball out of Roll mode.
  • Fixed an issue where Mei’s Deep Freeze perk could potentially freeze enemies twice within a short timeframe.
  • Fixed an issue where characters affected by Ana’s Groggy were still slowed after using an ability that should have cleansed the Groggy effect.
  • Fixed an issue where Sojourn’s charge was lost after a primary fire when using the Overcharged perk.
  • Fixed an issue where the timer for Mercy’s resurrect was not shown in ping messages.
  • Fixed several minor color and formatting issues in Advanced Info Panel text.

Stadium Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where Kiriko’s clone could inadvertently stop the payload from moving due to too many friendly players on the objective.
  • Fixed an issue where the Salvaged Slug item interrupted Winston’s primary fire to reload the granted ammo.
  • Fixed an issue where Reaper’s aim was not accurate immediately after using Shadow Step.
  • Fixed an issue where the size of the mini Steel Trap from Junkrat’s “Trap II, Esquire” power was not accurate relative to its trigger timing.
  • Fixed an issue where Hazard’s Downpour ability did not gain benefits from life steal bonuses.
  • Fixed an issue where Torbjorn’s Clocked Power gave the benefit to all allied heroes instead of just Torbjorn.


Overwatch 2 Tag Page Cover Art


Released

August 10, 2023

ESRB

T For Teen // Blood, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco, Violence


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