Overwatch Patch Notes (Oct 6, 2026): what changed

New Arcade Gamemode - Mystery Madness: Graveyard Games

• Mystery Madness is our new Halloween Event mode, combining elements of Mystery Heroes, Junkenstein's Lab, and Stadium. But there's an added twist: you gain Powers when you die. Mystery Madness is 5v5 Open Queue but with guaranteed 1-2-2 Role Composition and has the game format of Best-of-3 Control.

You can now progress Unvaulted Battle Passes from past seasons alongside the current season's Battle Pass!

• Legacy Seasons 1-15 Battle Passes are available to purchase in the shop under the new Unvaulted Battle Pass Tab.
• 2026: Season 4 Battle Pass will not be available to activate at launch and will be made available in the midseason.

New Escort Map – Grímsvötn

• Break in the season with all new payload map Grímsvötn, prison to the world's most dangerous criminals.

Halloween-themed versions of Hollywood, Lijang Tower and Château Guillard are available now through November 3rd in all queues.

Added new Option (Custom Restricted Words) to Social -> Text Chat.

Added information regarding Custom Restricted Words to Text Profanity Filters info dialog and Report dialog.

Player-sent chat messages containing a restricted word(s) will be hidden with a "Possible Bad Message (Custom)" warning, with the option to reveal the message.

While Streamer Mode is enabled, players will need to confirm before being able to view and manage their Custom Restricted Words list.

Locked Unvaulted Passes will arrive in later seasons.

Only 1 Unvaulted Pass can be active at a time to progress alongside the current season's Battle Pass.

Top 500 Challenger Leaderboard sorting default changed to Rank (from Challenger Score).

End of Season title rewards are now referencing Rank instead of Challenger Score.

Removed Heat Bonus.

Global "large" hitscan projectile size reduced from 0.07 to 0.04 meters.

Global "small" hitscan projectile size reduced from 0.04 to 0.02 meters.

Ammo reloaded increased from 2 to 4.

Shrapnel Launcher – Minor Perk

• Removed.

Here, Piggy Piggy - Minor Perk

• New Minor Perk.
• During Whole Hog, Chain Hook's cooldown is reduced by 80%.

Pulled Pork – Major Perk

• Removed.

Toxic Exhaust – Major Perk

• New Major Perk.
• Enemies in front of Roadhog while Trash Compactor is active are slowed by 30% and take 20 damage per second.

Primary Fire now fires 2 bursts per volley.

Ammo increased from 6 to 12.

Total damage per volley increased from 175 to 204.

Critical damage multiplier decreased from 2x to 1.5x.

Shotgun pellet count decreased from 25 to 16.

Shotgun pellet damage decreased from 7 to 4.25.

Now fires a larger projectile in the center of each shot.

Center projectile deals 34 damage.

Spread decreased from 8 degrees to 6 degrees.

Falloff range decreased from 30-50 meters to 20-35 meters.

Projectile speed increased from 80 meters per second to 100 meters per second.

Removed.

New ability assigned to Secondary Fire by default.

• When activated, begin absorbing projectiles in front of Roadhog for 2 seconds.
• After the duration, fire an explosive projectile whose damage scales based on the damage absorbed, ranging from 75 to 200 damage.
• Explosion inner radius of 2 meters, explosion outer radius of 6 meters with a 30% falloff scalar.
• Impact damage is 10.
• Conversion rate is 30% of damage absorbed.
• Movement speed penalty of 15% while active.
• Cooldown is 10 seconds in 5v5.
• Cooldown is 11 seconds in 6v6.

Enemy stun duration after being pulled decreased from 0.4 seconds to 0.3 seconds.

Target's final distance from Roadhog after being pulled increased from 3 meters to 4.5 meters.

Cooldown decreased from 7 seconds to 6 seconds in 5v5.

Cooldown decreased from 8 seconds to 7 seconds in 6v6.

Max duration decreased from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.

Healing over time increased from 150 per second to 200 per second.

Damage reduction decreased from 40% to 35%.

Cooldown increased from 1.25 seconds to 2 seconds.

Moved from Damage to Support role.

Moved from Recon subrole to Tactician subrole.

Experience required to earn minor perk increased by 67%.

Experience required to earn major perk increased by 69.5%.

Encrypted Upload – Minor Perk

• Removed.

Life Hack - Minor Perk

• New Minor Perk.
• EMP applies Hotfix to all nearby allies.

High-Speed Bandwidth – Major Perk

• Removed.

Data Packet - Major Perk

• New Major Perk.
• Hacking health packs with Hotfix reduces its main cooldown by 4 seconds.

Viral Replication – Major Perk

• Removed.

Cybersecurity - Major Perk

• New Major Perk.
• Cyberspace's healing is doubled on allies below half health.

Damage per projectile decreased from 8 to 7.

Minimum falloff distance increased from 15 meters to 20 meters.

Maximum spread decreased from 2.3 degrees to 2 degrees.

Shots until max spread increased from 6 to 10.

Ultimate cost increased by 67.5%.

Damage decreased from 25% of current health to 20% of current health.

Removed.

New ability assigned to Secondary Fire by default.

• Heal an ally over time for a set amount of health.
• Hotfixing an ally heals them for 65 instant health and 25 health per second over its duration.
• Hotfix lasts on an ally until either 175 total healing is done or until 12 seconds have passed.
• Hotfix can also target health packs and most enemy deployables to hack them, which does not require any Hotfix charges and triggers a separate 6 second cooldown.
• Hacked health pack duration decreased from 45 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Hacking health packs or deployables can be interrupted by taking damage, which will cancel the ability and trigger the separate 6 second cooldown.
• Hotfix can be used while stealthed, temporarily revealing Sombra without breaking stealth.
• Cast time is 0.5 seconds.
• Range is 17 meters.
• Has 2 charges.
• Cooldown is 8 seconds.

Removed.

New ability assigned to Ability 1 by default.

• Launch a projectile that explodes on impact, creating a zone that weakens enemies and heals allies.
• Initial explosion deals 40 damage to enemies and 40 healing to allies.
• Zone deals 25 damage per second to enemies and 30 healing per second to allies.
• Zone duration is 3 seconds.
• Zone radius is 5 meters.
• Enemies within the zone are weakened, which is a new status effect that reduces the target's own damage and healing output by 50%.

Stealth duration increased from 5 seconds to 6.5 seconds.

Time to enter Stealth increased from 0.3 seconds to 0.75 seconds.

Projectile range reduced from 18 meters to 12.25 meters.

Movement speed bonus is now active immediately after teleporting instead of after fully entering Stealth.

Cooldown increased from 6 seconds to 7.5 seconds.

Removed.

New Passive.

• Fully-charged enemy ultimates are revealed to you.

Fire rate increased from 11 to 14 shots per second.

Cooldown reduced from 8 to 7 seconds.

Ability lifesteal increased from 75% to 100%.

Duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds.

Now prevents attaching to Jetpack Cat's Lifeline.

Cooldown reduced from 10 to 9 seconds.

Damage increased from 50 to 60.

Damage reduced from 110 to 100.

Swing speed increased by 15%.

Rapid Reload – Minor Perk

• Removed.

Survival Instinct – Minor Perk

• New.
• Evade's overhealth duration is increased by 1 second.

Groggy – Minor Perk

• Removed.

Local Anesthetic

• New.
• Sleep dart explodes on impact, slowing enemies and dealing 45 damage over 3 seconds.

Ultimate cost increased by 8%.

Damage and healing conversion rate reduced by 50%.

Attack Speed reduced from 35% to 30%.

Cooldown increased from 7 to 8 seconds.

Damage reduction reduced from 50% to 40%.

No longer provides critical hit immunity while active.

Drone Fire Rate increased from 4 to 5.

Overhealth and debuff duration reduced from 8 to 6 seconds.

Decay duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.

Amp It Up is now active for 4 seconds after casting Sound Barrier.

Duration increased from 5 to 6 seconds.

Head hit volume increased from 16.9 to 18.

Head hit volume increased from 15.2 to 17.

Torso hit volume increased from 18 to 23.

Leg hit volume increased from 14.7 to 19.

Torso hit volume increased from 22.4 to 25.

Leg hit volumes increased from 16.7 to 19.

Head hit volume increased from 15.1 to 16.

Head hit volume increased from 20 to 21.5.

Back minigun hit volume reduced from 20 to 18.

Lower arm hit volume reduced from 20 to 15.

Torso hit volume reduced from 37 to 33.

Leg hit volumes reduced from 24 to 22.

Head hit volume increased from 19.7 to 21.

Waist hit volume increased from 30 to 35.

Leg hit volume increased from 21 to 26.

Fist hit volume reduced from 24 to 20.

Head hit volume increased from 15.9 to 18.

Leg hit volumes increased from 14.6 to 20.

Head hit volume increased from 16 to 18.

Leg hit volumes increased from 17.5 to 20.

Head hit volume increased from 16 to 18.

Head hit volume increased from 18.5 to 20.

Leg hit volumes increased from 21.9 to 24.

Head hit volume increased from 14.9 to 18.

Torso hit volume increased from 20 to 23.5.

Head hit volume increased from 15.8 to 18.5.

Torso hit volume increased from 14.8 to 17.

Waist hit volume increased from 19.5 to 26.

Leg hit volumes increased from 9.7 to 12.

Head hit volume increased from 17.8 to 19.

Torso hit volume increased from 26.2 to 28.

Waist hit volume increased from 23.8 to 26.

Leg hit volume increased from 19.2 to 22.

Torso hit volume reduced from 32 to 29.

Leg hit volumes increased from 17.3 to 20.

Torso hit volume increased from 19 to 23.

Hand hit volumes reduced from 8.5 to 5.

Arm hit volumes reduced from 9 to 7.

Head hit volume increased from 14.9 to 16.

Torso hit volume increased from 17.7 to 21.

Head hit volume increased from 14.8 to 17.

Torso hit volume increased from 19.7 to 25.

Leg hit volumes increased from 15.5 to 19.

Waist hit volume increased from 15.9 to 20.

Head hit volume increased from 13.2 to 16.

Head hit volume increased from 22 to 23.5.

Hand hit volumes reduced from 16 to 12.

Leg hit volume length reduced from 50 to 35.

Torso hit volume increased from 40 to 42.

Torso hit volume width increased from 30 to 40.

Head hit volume increased from 14.4 to 17.

Torso hit volume increased from 22.4 to 24.5.

Leg hit volumes reduced from 22.4 to 20.

Head hit volume height reduced from 10 to 6.

Head hit volume increased from 16 to 17.5.

Torso hit volume increased from 22 to 24.

Leg hit volumes increased from 17 to 19.

Torso hit volume reduced from 27 to 25.

Shoulder hit volume reduced from 40 to 35.

Hand hit volumes reduced from 25 to 20.

Foot hit volumes reduced from 40 to 30.

Torso hit volume increased from 20.7 to 23.

Legs hit volumes increased from 16.7 to 19.

Lower leg hit volumes increased from 15 to 19.

Lower leg hit volume height reduced from 54.9 to 40.

Head hit volume increased from 14.9 to 16.

Torso hit volume increased from 20.5 to 23.5.

Leg hit volumes increased from 17 to 18.5.

Head hit volume increased from 14 to 16.

Torso hit volume reduced from 25 to 23.

Leg hit volumes increased from 15 to 18.

Torso hit volume increased from 22.4 to 24.

Leg hit volume reduced from 22.4 to 20.

Head hit volume reduced from 23.3 to 20.

Claw hand hit volume reduced from 15 to 11.

Torso hit volume increased from 22.4 to 24.

Legs hit volumes reduced from 22.4 to 20.

Torso hit volume increased from 22.9 to 25.

Leg hit volumes increased from 17 to 21.

Head hit volume increased from 22 to 25.

Torso hit volume increased from 83.5 to 87.5.

Head hit volume increased from 14.85 to 16.

Torso hit volume increased from 20.2 to 23.

Head hit volume reduced from 20 to 17.

Torso hit volume reduced from 32 to 30.

Leg hit volumes reduced from 24 to 22.

Projectile Speed and Projectile Size have been added to all relevant weapons and abilities.

The Precise keyword has been added to describe attacks that have a "size" of 0.

Various new keywords and line items have been added to describe more complex hero ability mechanics in more detail.

Many small bug fixes and modifications have been made based on community feedback.

Tanks with Damage Reduction and Overhealth abilities are now more likely to get Protects when they're using these abilities and being targeted instead of nearby allies.

Increased the cooldown and lowered the damage mitigation threshold for Protects with the intent of giving a wider variety of tanks a chance to earn Protects more often.

Removed the text in the chat box that was added in Season 4 when pinging enemy heroes, since this often filled the chat box very quickly.

The 3 Tank maximum has been restored.

It will now be impossible to be offered your last 2 maps played within a 2 hour period.

Escort and Hybrid will now be treated as the same mode for the purposes of offering at least two different game modes in Map Voting. This means that if two of the three visible maps are Escort and Hybrid, the third must be another mode. The random map does not follow these new rules and can still be any mode.

Fixed an old pesky sightline through a door near the first chokepoint.

Quick Play is now Open Queue but with role limits of 1 Tank, 2 Damage, and 3 Supports. 1 Tank is required.

Passive Health from Currency has been reduced by 50%.

Healing reduction now applies on all Weapon Damage.

Healing reduction increased to 40% (Up from 35%).

Healing reduction duration reduced to 2s (Down from 3s).

Healing reduction increased to 40% (Up from 35%).

Ultimate E.M.P - Epic Ability General Item

• New
• 25 Health
• 5% Attack Speed
• 5% Cooldown Reduction
• After spending your Ultimate Charge, for 3s your damage applies 100% Healing Reduction for 5s.
• 9000 Cost

Biolight Overflow - Rare Survival General Item

• Removed.

Shields increased to 75 (Up from 50).

Health increased to 75 (Up from 50).

Overhealth reduction increased to 40% (Up from 35%).

Healing reduction increased to 40% (Up from 35%).

Several more minor bug fixes to the ping system since the refactor in Season 4. Please let us know if you see any remaining bugs after this patch!

Fixed a bug where Moira's Made My Night skin would say hello very enthusiastically.

Fixed a bug where you could sometimes end up with three tanks in Mystery Heroes.

Fixed a bug where the environmental death icon was sometimes missing.

Fixed an issue causing Dancing Blaze to not trigger some challenges related to healing.

Fixed reload speed reductions stacking twice on Synthetic Burse Rifle.

Fixed reload speed reductions not applying to Revdraw Crossbow.

Fixed an issue causing Dragonstrike to be counted as weapon damage for the purposes of challenges.

Fixed an issue causing Storm Arrows to not track its damage dealt correctly for the purposes of challenges.

Fixed reload speed reductions stacking twice on Frag Launcher.

Fixed reload speed reductions not applying to Void Accelerator.

Fixed reload speed reductions stacking twice on Scrap Gun.

Fixed reload speed reductions stacking twice on Kira Pistols.

Fixed an issue causing Soaring Slice to not properly track its damage dealt for the purposes of challenges.

Fixed reload speed reductions not applying to Widow's Kiss.

Fixed reload speed reductions not applying to Particle Cannon.

Fixed a bug where Stadium Combined Leaderboards did not show any placements.

Fixed a bug where Stadium Quick Play games did not grant the appropriate amount of match XP.