Overwatch 2 - Junker Queen

the launch of Overwatch 2 is only a few weeks away, but Blizzard Entertainment has gathered plenty of feedback from the second beta and the esports scene. A list of changes has been revealed, both buffs and nerfs, that will be available when the game launches on October 4. These are in effect during the overwatch League’s Countdown Cup kicks off on September 22.

First, the Junker Queen sees several nerfs for Commanding Shout. Allies bonus health has been reduced from 100 to 50 HP and now lasts three seconds instead of five. However, temporary health will not diminish during this time. The cool down time is now 15 seconds instead of 11.

There will also be changes to the ultimate charge awarded when damaging a target with temporary health. You now receive 50 reduced Ult charge instead of zero, so you are encouraged to burn temporary health instead of waiting for it to end.

Previously, only DPS heroes would refund up to 30 percent Ult costs for trading heroes. This now applies to all heroes. To compensate, damage dealers get a new passive feature where eliminations give a 25 percent faster reload and move speed for 2.5 seconds. It does not stack, but can be refreshed.

Along with these changes, there are several improvements to Orisa, Baptiste, D.Va, and Bastion. Check them out below. Overwatch 2 launches on October 4 for Xbox One, PS4, PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.

Season 1 Preview Notes

The second public beta brought with it a plethora of hero achievement data. This, along with feedback from the wider community and professional players, played a major role in defining the hero balance landscape at launch. Based on this data and feedback, the Hero Design team has mapped out some balance updates that beta players will recognize as changed at the end of our second public beta test earlier this year. You’ll get the chance to see most of these changes in action first during the next Overwatch League tournament cycle, the Countdown Cup, which kicks off on September 22. Until then, let’s preview what to expect on October 4.

Junker Queen

Commander screaming

  • Allied health bonus reduced from 100 to 50 HP
  • Allied duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds
  • Temporary health no longer expires during its duration
  • Cooldown increased from 11 to 15 seconds

Based on data and feedback we’ve received from beta testing and (more recently) from observing professional play, we believe that the temporary health conferred by Junker Queen’s Shout ability has generally proved too strong and a dominant team composition in the highest ranks of the game. Reducing the health gain and duration while increasing the skill’s cooldown aims to decrease the overall strength of this skill and make its use more mindful and less forgiving.

We will continue to monitor Junker Queen’s performance and win rate, as well as wider player sentiment in the weeks following launch.

General

  • Temporary health now gives 50% lower final charge instead of zero final charge

Temporary health that gives no ultimate charge added a lot of hidden power to the effect, reducing the impact on riskier decisions and playstyles. This is especially effective in cases where you can give other players temporary health. For the players who do the damage, doing significant damage but not getting an ultimate charge can be extremely frustrating and not rewarding. With this change, our goal is to maintain some of the temporary health benefits while adding a reward for players who contribute to their teams through damage dealt.

  • Damage Roll Passive – New Passive: Eliminations provide 25% more reload and move speed for 2.5 seconds. Does not stack with itself, but refreshes duration
  • All heroes now return up to 30% ultimate power on hero swap

When we announced the change for up to 30% ultimate power to transfer when trading DPS heroes, we saw a lot of feedback asking why that wasn’t a broader change for all heroes. After further testing, we agree and make a change so that the entire selection should have access when we launch.

Of course, that means that the DPS role has a passive role again. So along with this change, we’re introducing a new passive for DPS that increases their move speed and reload speed by 25% for a short period of time after they get an elimination. We believe this change strikes the right balance between rewarding players who perform well in the damage roll without being overpowered. However, in future seasons we can keep experimenting with what these passives do as we want to shake up the meta on a regular basis.

Orisa

  • Base health increased from 250 to 275
  • Base armor increased from 250 to 275
  • Cooldown of Energy Javelin reduced from 8 to 6 seconds

For a hero rework hailed as fun to play, hard to kill, and especially powerful for an in-your-face Tank playstyle, Orisa remains a challenging hero to balance, with one of the lowest win rates in the game. Giving a hero more health is a reliable solution and increasing the frequency of her Energy Javelin should make her feel active and more effective as she attacks the front line.

D.Va

  • Booster impact damage increased from 10 to 25
  • Microrocket cooldown reduced from 8 to 7 seconds
  • Call Mech ultimate cost reduced by 12%

D.Va performed slightly less than other tanks in 5v5. Increasing damage from Boosters’ impact will add more weight to that “rush-in” moment for her, leaning on her strengths as a fast-moving attacker who can push deep into enemy lines.

Brigitte

  • Inspire duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds

Even with the removal of stun from her Shield Bash, Brigitte remains very strong in 5v5, especially in team compositions that take full advantage of the passive healing provided by Inspire. This change won’t affect Brigitte’s raw healing per second, but it should make her overall effectiveness less generous in situations where she can’t reapply Inspire.

Baptiste

  • Biotic Launcher primary fire damage increased from 24 to 25
  • Increased minimum fall-off range of the Biotic Launcher’s primary fire from 20 to 25 meters

Grace

  • Pressing Crouch during Guardian Angel now launches straight up
  • Angelic Descent can now be activated by holding Crouch while in the air

Mercy’s beta change that allows her to cancel Guardian Angel and boost whatever she’s looking for added a significant amount of flexibility to her move. Boosting up was difficult for many players, however, as they had to quickly look up before activating and then look down again to survey the battlefield. To address this, the Crouch input will now launch her upward regardless of her viewing direction. In addition, Crouch activates Angelic Descent in mid-air, similar to jumping. This adds a much-needed improvement in quality of life when performing the vertical boost with Crouch.

Bastion

  • Ironclad passive has been re-enabled (20% damage reduction while transformed)

Since the introduction of the recently upgraded Bastion, we’ve been following a general feeling that its new kit is a little too powerful, especially in Sentry form. To address this prior concern, we removed the Ironclad passive for the purpose of ruling in that perceived power. Now that we’ve had more time and game data to evaluate, we don’t think bringing the Ironclad passive back will push it over the edge.

mower

  • Hellfire Shotguns spread reduced from 8 to 7 degrees

residence

  • Railgun energy gain from non-player targets (barriers, turrets, etc.) reduced by an additional 50%

sombra

  • The duration of the hacking opportunity lockout has been increased from 1 to 1.75 seconds

The duration of Hack’s skill lockout often goes unnoticed unless used as an active pause. While we don’t want to go back to previous lockout numbers, we do want Sombra to have a little more time to feel the capability is effective. This change remains in line with our goals for less crowd control capabilities in Overwatch 2, and we will continue to closely monitor performance data and player feedback to ensure this remains the case.