The latest update from the Overwatch 2 team has revealed some interesting details for Season 16, including important buffs for Freja and adjustments to various perks. Players can expect notable shifts in gameplay as Blizzard shares their vision for this patch, hinting at broader game-wide modifications along with the specifics on hero updates.
Overwatch 2 Season 16 early patch notes
6v6 is sticking around
A major highlight from the Director’s Take is that the favorite 6v6 format will remain in both Competitive and Open Queue. Even though about one third of players have been opting for the new 5v5 format, there’s enough enthusiasm surrounding 6v6 to keep it alive for this season. The open queue will be maintained to prevent excessively long wait times like those experienced during Overwatch’s earlier days.
Major perk changes are coming soon
Aaron Keller shared glimpses of several perk updates that players may expect. He mentioned, “If we feel a hero has a less impactful perk set overall, we also wanted to offer them new options. There’s also constant iteration going on behind the scenes to dream up bigger and better options for future seasons,” underscoring a commitment to variety among perks without favoring any single option consistently.
A complete list of these perk reworks should be available when the full Season 16 patch goes live.
Hero Changes
Freja
Primary Weapon: Revdraw Crossbow
- Freja’s weapon now holds 12 shots instead of previously having just eight.
Ultimate: Bola Shot
- The damage over time (DoT) and radius have been increased.
Juno
Perks:
- New perk: Locked On
- Lowers cooldown for Pulsar Torpedoes based on number of enemies hit.
- The Re-Boots skill moves to a Minor perk position; Hyper Boost is removed.
- Lowers cooldown for Pulsar Torpedoes based on number of enemies hit.
Mercy
Perks:
- New perk: Angelic Resurrection
- This grants Mercy an additional bonus overhealth of +100 while reviving teammates.
- This replaces Angelic Recovery.
- This grants Mercy an additional bonus overhealth of +100 while reviving teammates.
Sombra
Perks:
- New perk: Viral Replication
- Allows Sombra’s Virus to spread to nearby enemies.
- This replaces Stack Overflow.
- Allows Sombra’s Virus to spread to nearby enemies.
