Overwatch 2‘s highly anticipated Season 10 update will be released on April 16 and naturally brings with itsome fresh cosmeticsand a whole heap of changes.
The biggest highlight of thenew patchis the official debut of new Damage character Venture. Their kit is similar to characters like Genji and Tracer in that they’re all about getting in, securing a quick pick for their team, and getting out before being focused down. Unlike characters who have been released in the past, however, Venture will be available from day one in Competitive Play.
Speaking of Competitive Play, those in the high ranks can now play with friends in much lower ranks thanks to some tweaks to matchmaking. If you and a friend (or friends) have a major skill disparity, you’ll be able to queue as a “Wide” group in Competitive, matching with other players that fit into this category. Those within similar skill levels or are playing solo will still end up in matches with people of a similar skill level.
As for events this season, the trial for the brand new Clash mode releases with the launch of Season 10 and run until April 29. This new mode sees five separate points on a large map, with one central point and two on either team’s side of the map. Whoever captures the central point first can push onto the next point until either one team has captured five points, or the final point on one team’s side of the map has been captured by the enemy. Alongside this Clash trial will be a Mirrorwatch game mode with unique abilities for each hero, though details on this are sparse. Mirrorwatch begins on April 23 and will run until May 13.
The final group of major changes comes through the usual wave of balance changes at the start of each season. However, this season also brings forth a mini-rework for Wrecking Ball. He’s now capable of retracting his grapple to be pulled to its origin point, along with giving some of his overshield to his allies, cause who doesn’t like spreading the love? Other than Wrecking Ball, numerous other characters such as Junker Queen, Tracer, Illari, and Moira have received smaller tweaks to bring them in line with the other characters. If you want the nitty gritty for this patch, read on below.
Overwatch 2 Season 10 patch notes
Limited-Time Mode: Clash Trial
Clash is an upcoming core game mode inOverwatch 2. Teams must battle back and forth over 5 capture points, with each captured objective adding a point to the prevailing team’s score. Teams can win in two ways: either by having control of all five objectives at once, or by scoring five points total before the other team. Clash will be available as a limited-time trial through April 29.
Complete one of these conditions to win the match:
Hanaoka – New Map
Explore never-before-seen corners of Hanamura in the new map Hanaoka, inspired by the visual themes of the beloved Assault map. Explore the shops and restaurants around town or follow the scent of Sakura trees into the once-proud Shimada castle.
General Updates
Challenges
Developer Comments: The number of Weekly Challenges has grown over time, and we are simplifying what players can aim to accomplish, while also making earning Battle Pass XP more straightforward.
Endorsement Changes
Players who are actioned for disruptive behavior and reduced to Endorsement Level 0 cannot use text or voice chat features until they return to Endorsement Level 1.
Developer Comments: Since we added the Endorsement system to Overwatch, players who have been actioned because of social reports (Inappropriate Communication, Gameplay Sabotage, etc) have had their Endorsement Level reduced to Level 0. That part of the system isn’t changing, but going forward, Level 0 players will no longer be able to speak in voice channels or type in text chat in most modes.
Hide My Name
Developer Comments: “The “Hide My Name” setting in the Social Options now displays a random anonymized Battle Tag to all players in a match, instead of only to the player with the “Hide My Name” setting enabled. New settings have been added to “Hide My Name From Friends” and “Hide My Name From Group.” Of these two settings, “Hide My Name From Friends” takes priority when group members are also friends. A large list of hand-crafted BattleTags have been created to support this feature. Could it contain easter eggs or silly references?”
Leaver Penalties
Two new thresholds for Unranked Leave Penalties have been added:
Developer Comments: Overwatch 2 is a competitive game even for Unranked game modes, and the match experience for all remaining players is negatively affected when a player leaves before it is completed. Remember a penalty only applies when you leave games and not when you complete games.
By introducing a lighter 5-minute penalty, we aim to discourage players from deliberately leaving games they don’t want to play, while not impacting those who may have a technical issue or an urgent need to step away from the game which they can resolve by the time the queue suspension is finished. The larger 48-hour suspension aims to target a very small portion of players who are aggressively leaving games.
Leaving 10 games in Competitive Play will now result in a season ban regardless of the number of games completed.
Games completed in Competitive Play now count toward the 20-game window of the Unranked Leaver Penalty.
Developer Comments: We already suspend players who leave a Competitive and increase penalties up to a season ban for leaving games frequently, but players can work their way back into good standing if they complete several matches. However, this new rule will stop players from gaming the system over time.
Golden Weapons
New Hero: Venture
Developer Comments: This is a pretty major change from past heroes, but we’ve always wanted to allow new heroes into Competitive when a new season for Overwatch 2 launches. In the past, we wanted to make sure new heroes were free of any bugs or outstanding balance issues, as well as giving players enough time to unlock a hero from the Battle Pass. Because of the recent hero trial, we’re confident Venture is ready to jump into the action right away…
Doomfist
Rocket Punch
Developer Comments: This quality-of-life improvement streamlines the transition between charging up an empowered Rocket Punch and another ability by removing the requirement of pressing the cancel input first.
Sigma
Experimental Barrier
Developer Comments: This change will improve Sigma’s ability to protect allies that are further away from him.
Adaptive Shield
Minefield
Developer Comments: The general goals here are to add a direct way for Wrecking Ball to support his allies aside from purely enemy team disruption, make the hero more approachable while also adding more avenues for skill expression, and improve quality of life around the grapple.
Recall
Pulse Bomb
Developer Comments: There is now more downtime before Tracer can safely reengage after driving her away and Pulse Bomb will require more precision.
Clobber
Tectonic Shock
Developer Comments: We are redistributing the damage on some of their abilities so that positioning relative to the enemy and tracking a target are more important for dealing maximum damage.
