Overwatch 2’s May 1 Patch Revamps Stadium Mode with Major Hero Adjustments

Overwatch 2’s Stadium mode is getting a fresh round of tweaks with the May 1 patch, focusing on balancing how heroes earn and spend currency. This update addresses some heroes dominating the mode while giving others a better shot at competing. If you’ve been grinding Stadium, these changes might disrupt your strategies.

Overwatch 2 May 1 Stadium Patch Notes

Tank Heroes

D.Va

Items

• Nano Cola™ Nitrous
  • Health reduced to 25 (down from 50)
  • Reduced Max Life increase to 5% (down from 25%)
  • Reduced duration of [Nano Boost] to 4s (down from 8s)
    • Dev Comment: This item has been causing D.Va to be too difficult to take down while out of her mech and has been adding too much consistency to her ability to get her mech back.
• Busan Blaster
  • No longer generates Ultimate Charge.
    • Dev Comment: Busan Blaster was allowing D.Va to get her mech back instantly which was not the intention of this item’s design.

Orisa

Powers

• Restortify
  • Reduced healing to 5% of your Max Life every 1s (down from 10%)
    • Dev Comment: We’ve observed many scenarios where it feels like Orisa can become invincible. In combination with some of her other powers and items, we felt that this power was healing too much.

Items

• Solar Regenergy
  • Reduced Armor Restoration to 3% of Max Life (down from 5%)
    • Dev Comment: This item was too efficient for its cost, so we’re tuning it back to be more in line with items of similar cost.

Reinhardt

• Reduced the amount of Stadium Cash gained from damage and healing by 13.64%
  • Dev Comment: Reinhardt had a higher rate of earning Cash from damage and healing due to his range. However, Reinhardt has been overperforming and making a bit too much Cash so we’re pulling this back a bit.

Zarya

Powers

• Lifelift
  • [Particle Barrier] health scaling reduced to 50% of your bonus Max Life (down from 100%)
    • Dev Comment: Lifelift has proven to be the most consistently helpful Power for Zarya. We’re reducing the scaling on it to try and make it feel less like a must pick in all styles of Zarya builds.
• Here to Spot You
  • Increased healing to 20% of your Max Life over 3s (up from 15%)
    • Dev Comment: Adding a little bit more healing in hopes of making this Power a bit more dependable of an option.

DPS Heroes

Mei

Powers

• Coulder
  • Reduced the knockback frequency rate by 60%
  • Increased how far enemies are knocked back
  • Increased the damage dealt per knockback to 20 (up from 10)
    • Dev Comment: While rolling around in ice balls has been very fun, we feel that the power currently feels too consistent at disrupting players for a long duration ability. We’re hoping with these changes that it will still feel powerful but reduce its ability to carry an enemy around for its entire duration.

Reaper

• Reduced the amount of Stadium Cash gained from damage and healing by 10%
  • Dev Comment: Reaper originally had a higher rate of earning Cash from damage and healing since on average he has more difficulty dealing consistent damage due to his range. However, Reaper has been overperforming and making too much Cash so we’re pulling this back a bit.

Soldier 76

• Reduced the amount of Stadium Cash gained from damage and healing by 12.5%.
  • Soldier 76 has been consistently making too much money from damage and healing, allowing him to consistently snowball his lead.

Powers

• Rocket Visor
  • Duration reduced to 0.5s (down from 0.75s)
    • Dev Comment: We love that players have been enjoying using this power. It’s been great to see some players pick up Soldier76 who may not have played him much in the past. That said we have always intended for the build centered around Rocket Visor to be a strong accessible build, but not necessarily the build with the highest practical ceiling. We’ve seen that it’s overperforming and can feel frustrating to play against. We’re hoping to reduce a bit of the power with this change but we will continue to keep a tactical eye on this build as we move forward with more balance updates.
• Biotic Bullseye
  • Increased ammo restoration to 10% per very important hit (up from 5%)
    • Dev Comment: We felt the payoff for making this power work was a bit too low to be worth it.

Support Heroes

Juno

• Increased the amount of Stadium Cash gained from damage and healing by 33.33%
  • Dev Comment: We know Juno has been very popular in Stadium but we’re addressing some of the most oppressive aspects of those builds in this update. We have found that on average, Juno was earning less Cash from damage and healing than other heroes, especially in the early rounds. We’re increasing this to help balance out with some of the Pulsar Torpedo build nerfs, as well as to help out the other Juno builds that are underperforming.

Powers

• Cosmic Coolant
  • Cooldown per target hit reduced to 0.5s (down from 1s)
    • Dev Comment: Pulsar Torpedo players have been everywhere you look in Stadium and sometimes it feels like there’s always a Pulsar Torpedo chasing you. We’re reducing the cooldown per hit to reduce some of her ability pacing.

Items

• PulStar Destroyers
  • Removed: 15% Ability Power
  • Added: 10% Ability Lifesteal
    • Dev Comment: We felt that this item had too much vertical power for damage focused Pulsar Torpedo builds. We’ve replaced the Ability Power with Ability Lifesteal to retain that aggressive playstyle.
• Solar Shielding
  • Ability Power reduced to 15% (down from 25%)
    • Dev Comment: This item was providing too much Ability Power combined with its effect at its current cost.

Kiriko

• Reduced the amount of Stadium Cash gained from damage and healing by 16.67%
  • Dev Comment: Kiriko was consistently earning a bit too much Cash from damage and healing in the data.

Lucio

• Increased the amount of Stadium Cash gained from damage and healing by 10%
  • Dev Comment: On average, Lucio was gaining less than average Cash from damage and healing, so giving him a small bump here.

Powers

• Crowd Pleaser
  • Healing reduced to 150% of Crossfade healing (down from 200%)
    • Dev Comment: In combination with Amp It Up, this power was allowing for too much burst healing that was outside of acceptable output ranges.
• Megaphone
  • Amp It Up duration reduced to 15% (down from 20%)
    • Dev Comment: Amp It Up healbot builds have been a little too consistent so we’re shaving a little power off.
• Signature Shift
  • Increased Projectile Size increased to 80% (up from 20%)
    • Dev Comment: Weapon Power Lucio builds have been overshadowed by Ability Power Healing and Soundwave builds. We’re adding more consistency to this power to make it a more dependable and accessible option.

Items

• B-Side Bop
  • Health increased to 50 (up from 25)
    • Dev Comment: This item has a very low pick rate, so we’re adding more Health to make it a more attractive option and add more power to less popular Lucio builds.

What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments below!