Overwatch 2 official patch notes (October 10): Season 7 begins, Sombra reworks, and more

As Overwatch 2 welcomes a brand new season, Blizzard has introduced a series of changes in the form of hero buffs and nerfs, a complete rework for Sombra, and several new hero skins. With the new season comes a remarkable seasonal event, which marks the return of several exciting game modes. Players can also look forward to the Season 7 Battlepass, which brings forward a plethora of cosmetics and in-game accessories at a minimal cost.

Overwatch 2 Season 7: Rise of Darkness kicks off on October 10, 2023, taking players on a journey across the game's new Control map, Samoa. With several gameplay updates and bug fixes tied with the seasonal patch, the community has a lot to look forward to.

Players can head over to Blizzard's official website for the Overwatch 2 Season 7 patch notes. Read on for a brief overview of the official notes.

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Overwatch 2 Season 7 Rise of Darkness official patch notes

1) Halloween Terror 2023

Overwatch 2 is set to convert into a haunted arena for Season 7. The beloved Halloween Terror event will return with iconic game modes like Junkenstein’s Revenge, Wrath of the Bride, and Trials of Sanctuary, a new Blizzard crossover game mode.

In the latest mode, players can team up with the Sanctuary's heroes, power up their abilities, and defeat powerful bosses, including Butcher Roadhog, Azmodan Wrecking Ball, and Lilith Moira.

2) New Map - Samoa

New Control map Samoa in Overwatch 2 (Image via Blizzard)

In the new Control map, Samoa, players will fight on a tropical beach, a gleaming city, and even inside a volcano. Samoa will be available to play in a dedicated Arcade card immediately after Season 7 drops. It will also appear in Quick Play and other unranked modes starting on October 10, 2023, with it appearing in Competitive Play later in the season.

3) Sombra rework

Sombra rework in Overwatch 2 Season 7 (Image via Twitter/@PlayOverwatch)

Machine Pistol

Damage increased from 7.5 to 8.
Minimum Spread reduced from 0.5 to 0.
Number of shots until max spread has been increased from 3 to 6 shots.
Reload time reduced from 1.4 seconds to 1.2 seconds.

Hack

Cast time reduced from 0.75 seconds to 0.65 seconds.
Now cancels Stealth when hacking an enemy hero.
Cooldown increased from 4 to 6 seconds.
Hack has a reduced cooldown of 3 seconds if Hack is interrupted or if a non-hero enemy is hacked.
The “Hacked” warning text will now only appear while you are silenced and not for the remainder duration of the hack debuff.

Opportunist

Removed.

Stealth

Ability reworked to be a passive. Sombra automatically becomes invisible after 3.5 seconds while not shooting, using a damaging ability, or receiving damage.
Stealth movement speed bonus reduced from 60% to 45%.
Fade Out duration into Stealth reduced from 0.375 seconds to 0.25 seconds.
Fade In duration from Stealth reduced from 0.5 seconds to 0.375 seconds.
Updated the UI messaging to the Sombra player when hacking Health Packs to “Revealed” instead of “Detected”. Now the message “Detected” is only used when an enemy player is in the detection radius.

Virus

This is a new ability assigned to Ability 1 by default.
Fire a projectile that damages an enemy over time. Damage is dealt faster on Hacked enemies.
Impact Damage: 10 (20 on hacked target).
Damage over time: 100 over 4 seconds (100 over 2 seconds on hacked target).

Translocator

Can no longer can be manually activated. Translocator will now automatically teleport Sombra after 0.25 seconds from being thrown or when impacting the environment.
Reduces the Stealth passive cooldown after teleporting.
Projectile speed increased from 25 to 72.
Cooldown reduced from 6 seconds to 5 seconds. Cooldown now begins after Sombra teleports to the location of the Transponder.
Projectile launch initial vertical offset removed.

EMP

Ultimate charge cost increased by 15%.
Health percent damage decreased from 40% to 30%.

4) General Updates

Overwatch 2 Season 7 roadmap (Image via Twitter/@PlayOverwatch)

Group respawn

Heroes who die within 5 seconds of each other will respawn together, resulting in some players having either a slightly longer or shorter queue than the standard 10 seconds.
Heroes who die more than 5 seconds from another player eliminated will still respawn in 10 seconds on their own.
These changes do not apply to Competitive Play mode.

Developer Comments: We think that team fights are some of the most enjoyable moments in our game, but we’ve all been in matches where team cohesion–or lack thereof–makes these moments a rarity. These matches often turn into stomps for the team that can’t group up, and preventing stomps is a high priority for us. As such, this season, we’re modifying how heroes respawn for Quick Play. Heroes that die within 5 seconds of each other will be respawned in a wave together. This means that respawn times will sometimes change in order for heroes to respawn together. If a hero dies further apart than 5 seconds from another death on their team, they’ll still respawn in 10 seconds as they would have in the past.

We’ll be listening closely to feedback on this new system, and depending on the response and making any changes, we will consider adding these adjustments to Competitive Play in a later season.

Unranked leaver penalties

75% XP penalty removed.
The penalty thresholds have not changed, but the mechanics have also never been completely explained. The last 20 games played a player participated in are recorded. Leaving four of these 20 games activates the first penalty threshold. Leaving six of these 20 games activates the second penalty threshold.
Queuing for most game modes is now suspended when a player leaves a match inside a penalty threshold.
Players that reach the first penalty threshold will be suspended for 10 minutes.
Players that reach the second penalty threshold will be suspended for 30 minutes.
The queue suspension will reapply each time a player leaves a game when they are above the first penalty threshold but not when they complete their games.
Consecutive Match XP bonus has been renamed to Endurance Bonus.
Endurance Bonus is XP granted when finishing matches without leaving the previous match.

Overwatch 2 Season 7 (Image via Blizzard)

Developer Comments: Previously, if players left too many games, we would apply a 75% penalty to their Battle Pass XP that is gained. We found this had very little impact on those who leave deliberately and severely impacted those who don’t have much time to play but want to earn the rewards in our season Battle Pass. We’re changing this to make it more difficult for players who leave games to be disruptive while not applying too much impact to those who don’t intend on ruining the experience for others.

Story Missions

You can now spectate any Story Mission that your friends are playing if you own the campaign pack for that mission.

Hero Mastery

Scoring Update

Bonus score granted from time remaining in the gold bonus tier is now accurate to one-hundredth of a second. (Previously completed games in the Top 500 leaderboards are not adjusted.)
The user interface has been updated to display this new time accuracy everywhere that we display time and score.

Replays

Hero Mastery now supports replays.
Replays are saved for any completed course that results in a new scoring record.
The user interface for Hero Mastery replays has been customized to display score, time, and other information.

Player Progression

Lowered show priority for Time Played and Wins sub-badges in the Showcase.
Added Virus Kills to Sombra’s sub-badge set.

Developer comments: All heroes share the Time Played and Wins sub-badges. This change is intended to highlight each hero’s unique sub-badges to better reflect individual playstyle.

Challenges

Reduced the number of wins required to unlock Sojourn, Junker Queen and Kiriko through Hero challenges.
Illari is now unlockable through Hero challenges.

5) Hero updates

Tank

Wrecking Ball in Overwatch 2 (Image via Blizzard)

Orisa

Fortify

Damage reduction decreased from 50% to 45%.

Ramattra

Nemesis Form

Cooldown decreased from 8 to 7 seconds.

Wrecking Ball

Quad Cannons

Number of shots to reach max spread increased from 20 to 30.

Zarya

Projected Barrier

Size decreased 15% now matching back to the size of Particle Barrier.
Health decreased from 225 to 200 matching back to the health of Particle Barrier.

Damage

Cassidy

Combat Roll

Damage reduction increased from 50% to 75%.

Mei

Deep Chill

Removed.

Endothermic Blaster

Damage per second increased from 70 to 100.
Now immediately slows enemies by 40% instead of building up over time.

Torbjörn

Rivet Gun

Primary fire recovery increased from .48 to .51 seconds.

Overload

Overhealth bonus decreased from 100 to 75.

Support

Brigitte

Whip Shot

Damage increased from 70 to 80.

Illari

Solar Rifle

Secondary fire healing per second decreased from 120 to 105.

6) Hero option and input updates

Apart from the Sombra rework and buffs/nerfs to various other heroes, Overwatch 2's Season 7 patch will implement more quality-of-life settings and input options for several hero abilities. This aims to provide players the ability to personalize their experience of playing their favorite heroes.

Tank

D.Va in Overwatch 2 (Image via Blizzard)

D.Va

Added the hero-specific options:

Light Gun Input – Primary Fire by default.
Relative Light Gun Aim Sensitivity – 100% by default.
Relative Light Gun Gyro Aim Sensitivity – 100% by default (only available on gyro-supported platforms.

Doomfist

Added the hero-specific option:

Swap Meteor Strike Confirm and Zoom Out Inputs – Off by default.

Junker Queen

Added the hero-specific options:

Hide Commanding Shout Timer – Off by default.
Hold to use Jagged Blade – Off by default.

Orisa

Added the hero-specific option:

Hold to use Terra Surge – Off by default.

Ramattra

Added the hero-specific options:

Void Barrier Confirmation Input - Secondary Fire Release by default.
Void Barrier UI – On by default.

Changed the hero-specific option:

Annihilation Cancel Input options changed from Ability 1/Ability 3 to Ability 1/Ability 3/Off.

Reinhardt

Added the hero-specific option:

Charge Cancel Input – Ability 1 by default, with Primary Fire, Secondary Fire, or All as additional options available.

Roadhog

Whole Hog

Whole Hog can now be fired with Secondary Fire.

Added the hero-specific options:

Relative Aim Sensitivity During Whole Hog - 100% by default.
Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Whole Hog - 100% by default (Only available on gyro-supported platforms).

Sigma

Added the hero-specific options:

Experimental Barrier UI - On by default.
Hide Gravitic Flux Timer - Off by default.
Gravitic Flux Confirmation Input - Primary Fire by default.

Winston

Primal Rage

Primal Rage melee attacks can now be fired with Secondary Fire and Quick Melee along with Primary Fire.

Added the hero-specific options:

Relative Aim Sensitivity During Primal Rage - 100% by default.
Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Primal Rage - 100% by default (Only available on gyro-supported platforms).

Wrecking Ball

Added the hero-specific options:

Hide Adaptive Shields Timer - Off by default.
Adaptive Shields UI - On by default.
Piledriver UI - On by default.

Damage

Echo

Added the hero-specific options:

Toggle Glide – Off by default.
Secondary Fire Activates Glide on Gamepad - On by default.

Genji

Dragonblade:

Dragonblade melee attacks can now be fired with Secondary Fire and Quick Melee along with Primary Fire.

Added the hero-specific options:

Hide Dragonblade Timer – Off by default.
Relative Aim Sensitivity During Dragonblade - 100% by default.
Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Dragonblade - 100% by default (Only available on gyro-supported platforms).

Hanzo

Added the hero-specific option:

Toggle Primary Fire – Off by default.

Mei

Added the hero-specific option:

Cryo-freeze Cancel Input – All by default.

Pharah

Added the hero-specific options:
Relative Aim Sensitivity During Rocket Barrage - 100% by default.
Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Rocket Barrage - 100% by default (only available on gyro-supported platforms).

Reaper

Added the hero-specific option:

Wraith Form Cancel Input – All by default.

Soldier: 76

Added the hero-specific options:
Relative Aim Sensitivity During Tactical Visor – 100% by default.
Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Tactical Visor – 100% by default (Only available on gyro-supported platforms).

Torbjörn

Molten Core:

Molten Core can now be fired with Secondary Fire along with Primary Fire.

Added the hero-specific options:

Relative Aim Sensitivity During Molten Core - 100% by default.
Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Molten Core - 100% by default (Only available on gyro-supported platforms).

Support

Lifeweaver

Added the hero-specific options:

Tree of Life Cancel Input – Ability 3 by default.

Lúcio

Added the hero-specific option:

Toggle Wall Ride - Off by default.

Mercy

Added the hero-specific options:

Toggle Angelic Descent - Off by default.
Secondary Fire Activates Angelic Descent on Gamepad - On by default.

Moira

Added the hero-specific options:

Swap Biotic Orb Heal and Damage inputs - Off by default.
Hide Coalescence Timer - Off by default.
Relative Aim Sensitivity During Coalescence - 100% by default.
Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Coalescence - 100% by default (Only available on gyro-supported platforms).

Zenyatta

Added the hero-specific option:

Toggle Secondary Fire - Off by default.

7) Map updates

Route 66 Overwatch 2 map (Image via Blizzard)

Route 66 design changes

Blizzard has introduced new places for the attacking team to take cover near their initial spawn. After the payload passes the first checkpoint, only one of the two doors will close. This gives attackers a better chance of maneuvering through the choke points. Additionally, the later parts of the map will offer fewer places for players to take cover.

Lighting for Season 7

Push

New Queen Street – Morning
Colosseo – Evening
Esperança – Morning

Hybrid

Blizzard World – Night
Eichenwalde – Morning
Hollywood – Morning
King’s Row – Night
Midtown - Night (New)
Numbani – Morning
Paraíso - Evening

Escort

Dorado – Evening
Havana – Morning
Watchpoint: Gibraltar – Morning
Junkertown – Morning
Circuit royal – Morning
Rialto – Evening
Route 66 - Overcast (New)
Shambali Monastery – Night

Control

Antarctic Peninsula – Night
Busan – Morning
Ilios – Evening
Lijiang Tower – Dawn
Nepal – Morning
Oasis – Morning
Samoa – Morning (New Map)

Flashpoint

New Junk City – Morning
Suravasa – Morning

8) Bug fixes in Overwatch 2 Season 7

Samoa map in Overwatch 2 (Image via Blizzard)

General

Fixed a bug where some players were unable to capture Plays of the Game using the in-game capture system.
Fixed an issue with the ‘Random’ option for Victory Poses and Highlight Intros not saving.
Fixed a bug that could result in Support Heroes losing the ability to see allied health bars in Control matches.
Fixed an issue with the camera breaking during Plays of the Game if the player used a Souvenir during the play.

Maps

Watchpoint: Gibraltar

Fixed an issue with the end-of-game line-up camera clipping into the environment.

Junkertown

Fixed an area of the map that allowed turrets to be placed inside the environment.

New Junk City

Fixed some areas of the map that caused players to get stuck.
Fixed lighting in some areas around the map.
Fixed areas of the map that had gaps in its collision.

Rialto

Fixed an area near the boat docks that could result in players becoming stuck.

Suravasa

Fixed lighting in several areas on the map.
Fixed some collision on the map that could cause some odd interactions with certain ultimate abilities.

Story Missions

Toronto Mission

Fixed a few areas on the map that could trap Tracer.

Heroes

Cassidy

Fixed a bug that caused Magnetic Grenade to not detach from eliminated targets.

Illari

Fixed an issue that prevented the Perfect Placement achievement from completing in some cases.
Fixed an interaction with Healing Pylon and Lifeweaver’s Tree of Life, the pylon should now pass through the tree’s canopy.
Fixed an issue with Captive Sun that resulted in the normal primary fire being used if fired at the end of the ultimate duration.
Fixed a bug with Illari’s secondary fire that could cause performance issues.

Kiriko

Fixed an interaction that prevented the ‘Debuffs Cleansed’ emblem from counting Captive Sun effects cleansed with Kiriko’s Protection Suzu.
Fixed an issue that allowed Kiriko to teleport outside of the playable space.

Lifeweaver

Fixed an issue where Lifeweaver would call out an enemy Petal Platform as his own when pinging.

Mei

Fixed a bug that prevented damage from Mei’s alternate fire from being counted toward the progress of the ‘Weapon Damage’ emblem.

Sigma

Fixed an issue with Kinetic Grasp that prevented the following abilities from being converted into overhealth: Ramattra’s Ravenous Vortex, Mei’s Blizzard, Sojourn’s Disruptor Shot.

Symmetra

Fixed Symmetra’s footsteps failing to play while crouched.

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Edited by Abu Amjad Khan