Overwatch 2 Season 16 patch notes now live: Orisa buffs, Stadium, Freja, and more!

Overwatch 2 Season 16 is now live, and it features Freja as a damage hero, lots of balance changes, hero bans, brand-new cosmetics, and more. Read on for all of the Overwatch 2 Season 16 patch notes and what the franchise's own game director has to say about the Stadium game mode!

Here are the Overwatch 2 Season 16 patch notes for April 22, courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment. Tank heroes like D.Va, Hazard, Orisa, Reinhardt, and Roadhog received buffs while damage characters including Cassidy, Freja, Hanzo, Junkrat, Sombra, and Torbjorn also got improvements. Tracer and Mei saw adjustments. For the support role, Baptiste, Juno, Lifeweaver, and Zenyatta were buffed while Ana, Lucio, and Mercy received some adjustments.

One of the most exciting features this season is the new Overwatch 2 Stadium game mode. Stadium is all about five-versus-five (5v5) gameplay under a best-of-seven (Bo7) format. Players can purchase Items and Powers via the new Armory system within this game mode as well.

"This is the biggest addition we’ve ever made to Overwatch’s core gameplay," game director Keller said. “If you’ve been thinking about coming back to Overwatch, or trying it for the first time, this is the moment.”

According to Blizzard Entertainment, Stadium will even get updated regularly beyond the launch of Season 16. Updates will pertain to new heroes, maps, modifiers, and more.

As for what else players can get up to in Overwatch 2 Season 16, they can participate in the Stadium Initiation event, check out the updated shop rotation for DokiWatch and Iridescent skins galore, plays as Freja, experience the new hero bans system for themselves, level up the Battle Pass.

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more Overwatch 2 news and updates.