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

Amy Chen

Amy Chen

· 4 min read

Season 16 arrives with updates to certain hero Perks, Orisa buffs, a brand-new game mode, and cosmetics galore.

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!

Overwatch 2 Season 16 is now live with the Stadium game mode
Overwatch 2 Season 16 is now live with the Stadium game mode (Screenshot via esports.gg)

Overwatch 2 Season 16 patch notes

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.

Overwatch 2 Season 16 patch notes
Yes, the latest Overwatch 2 patch buffed the horse (Screenshot via esports.gg)

Tank heroes: Overwatch 2 Season 16 patch notes

D.Va

Bunny Stomp
Now combined with Ejection Suit.
Bunny Power
New Minor Perk
Eject grants 75 temporary overhealth and Call Mech’s damage radius is increased by 50%.
Extended Boosters
New Minor Perk
Hitting an enemy with Boosters increases the duration by 0.5 seconds.

Hazard

Off the Top
Increase Leap Slash’s damage from 30% to 50%.

Orisa

Augmented Fusion Driver
Damage increased from 13 to 14.
Fortify
Now prevents Hack’s ability lockout from interrupting abilities.
Heat Dissipater
Increase amount of heat reduced per headshot by 33%.

Reinhardt

Fiery Uptake
Removed.
Crusader’s Fire
New Minor Perk
Refund a charge of Fire Strike when you stun an enemy, overfilling up to 3.
Shield Slam
Shield Slam distance increased by 50%.

Roadhog

Hog Toss
Removed.
Pent Up
New Minor Perk
When Pig Pen is triggered, refill 50% Take a Breather resource which can overfill.
Hogdrogen Exposure
Increased radius from 8 to 10 meters.

Sigma

Levitation
Jump can now be held down to hover.

Winston

Base health increased from 225 to 275.
Base armor reduced from 250 to 200.

Wrecking Ball

In 6v6 game modes, Armor health reduced from 150 to 100.

Freja is now playable
Freja is now playable (Screenshot via esports.gg)

DPS heroes in today’s Overwatch 2 patch notes

Cassidy

Past Noon
Removed.
Even the Odds
New Minor Perk
Regenerate 20 health per second for each enemy targeted by Deadeye.

Freja

Perks
Time to earn Minor Perk reduced by 18%.
Revdraw Crossbow
Number of shots before max spread increased from 8 to 12.
Bola Shot
Bola Shot Damage and Explosion radius increased from 5 to 5.5 meters.
Bola Shot damage over time increased from 75 to 90.

Hanzo

Storm Bow
Arrow draw progress is preserved while wall climbing.
Storm Arrows
Projectile speed increased from 110 to 140 meters per second.

Junkrat

Aluminum Frame
Now also reveals trapped enemies to allies.
Tick Tock
The description has been changed to “Concussive Mine strengthens .5 seconds after landing, increasing damage by 50%, explosion radius by 50%, and health by 200%.”

Mei

Chilling Reach
Removed.
Biting Cold
Moved to Minor perk.
Secondary fire hits slow enemies by 20% for 1.5 seconds.
Deep Freeze
New Major Perk.
Continuously hitting enemies with primary fire freezes them for a short time.

Sombra

Viral Efficacy
Removed.
Encrypted Upload
New Minor Perk.
Hack can be used while invisible, successful hacks increase the duration of stealth by 2 seconds.
Stack Overflow
Removed.
Viral Replication
New Major Perk.
Hitting a hacked enemy with Virus spreads Virus to enemies within 8 meters.

Torbjorn

Overloaded Turret
Now transforms into Level 3 Sentry Turret if Overload was activated before fully constructed.

Tracer

Flashback
Blinks restored reduced from 3 to 2.
Quantum Entanglement
Quantum Entanglement now additionally grants 20 over ammo.

Juno's updated Perks
Juno’s updated Perks (Screenshot via esports.gg)

Overwatch 2 patch notes today: Support heroes

Ana

Groggy
Reduced initial slow from 75% to 50%.
Now also deals 50 damage over the duration.
Biotic Bounce
Second bounce damage and healing reduced from 50 to 25.

Baptiste

Biotic Launcher
Healing explosion increased from 50 to 60.
Direct impact healing increased from 20 to 30.
Maximum ammo reduced from 13 to 10.
Assault Burst
Will now do instant healing but cannot critically heal low targets.

Juno

Hyper Boost
Removed.
Re-Boots
Moved to Minor Perk.
Duration increase removed.
Locked On
New Major Perk.
Reduce the cooldown of Pulsar Torpedoes by 1.5 seconds for every enemy hit.

Lifeweaver

Thorn Volley
Projectile speed increased from 80 to 100 meters per second.
Lifeweaving
Bonus healing increased from 30 to 40.

Lucio

Groovin
Removed.
Beat Drop
New Minor Perk.
Amp it Up is active during Sound Barrier.

Mercy

Angelic Recovery
Removed.
Angelic Resurrection
New Minor Perk.
Mercy gains 100 overhealth after casting Resurrect.

Zenyatta

Orb of Discord
In 6v6 game modes, Duration before expiring when target is out of sight reduced from 3 to 1.5 seconds.
Ascendance
Jump can now be held down to hover.
Duality
Increased converted damage from 20% to 30%.

Overwatch 2 Stadium now live

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.”

Overwatch 2 Stadium patch notes

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.

Stadium basics

Stadium is a new core game mode listed alongside the Unranked, Competitive Play, and Arcade cards in the main menu.
Two teams of five compete across multiple rounds and maps.
First to four round wins will win the match.
Available only in Role Queue.
Custom Game modes are not yet available for Stadium.
Players may group up with other players regardless of skill or Competitive rank in Stadium.

Stadium maps

Nine new or modified maps on three different map types are added.
Control maps play one round only and capture progress is faster.
Clash maps play on three objective points only.
Push maps play with distance to the objective at approximately half the distance as full Push maps.

Stadium heroes

Heroes selected are locked in for the entire match.
Tank Heroes: D.Va, Junker Queen, Orisa, Reinhardt, and Zarya.
Damage Heroes: Ashe, Cassidy, Genji, Mei, Reaper, and Soldier: 76.
Support Heroes: Ana, Juno, Kiriko, Lucio, Mercy, and Moira.
Perks are not enabled in Stadium.

Cash

Spend Stadium Cash to buy Items for your Hero and gain additional max health.
Each player starts with 3,500 at the beginning of the match.
Players earn more Stadium Cash by dealing damage, providing healing, and getting eliminations or assists.
Players can earn bounties by eliminating or assisting with eliminating an opponent that has been performing well.
The player on each team with the most Stadium Cash earned for the round receives a 1,000 cash bonus.
A team that is significantly behind at the start of a round will have a bonus multiplier added to their earnings throughout that round.

Bounties

Every player starts with a value of 300 at the start of the match.
Every time a player gets an elimination or assist their bounty value increases by 75 and can have a maximum value of 2,000.
Every time a player with more than 300 is eliminated their bounty is reset to 300.
Every time a player with 300 or less is eliminated their bounty value drops by 100.
Any player with a bounty of 750 or more is displayed in the gameplay HUD.

Health

For Damage and Support players every 500 total cash earned adds 1 additional max health at the end of the round and for the remainder of the match.
For Tank players every 750 total cash earned adds 1 additional max health for the remainder of the match.
Up to 300 additional health can be added on from Stadium Cash earnings.
The initial 3,500 cash at the start of the round does not provide additional max health.

Armory

At the start of each round, players will enter the Armory and have a limited time to browse.
Players can use Stadium Cash to buy Items that modifies their weapons, abilities, and more.
On round 1, 3, 5 and 7, players can equip Powers for transformative modifiers that enhances and changes that Hero’s playstyle.
Example Builds are available for every Hero.

Items

Players can have up to six Items equipped at any time.
Players can sell previously obtained Items for equal value to the purchase price.
Items are organized into three categories, Weapon, Ability, and Survival.
Weapon Items typically modify the stats of weapons that have no cooldowns to use.
Ability Items typically modify the stats of abilities that are limited by a cooldown or ultimate charge.
Survival Items typically modify the stats of the Hero’s survival capabilities including max health, movement speed, and more.
Items are organized into Common, Rare, and Epic tiers. Common Items are the most affordable with Epic ones being the most exclusive.
Many Items are available to equip for all Heroes.
Each Hero will have exclusive Hero Items that specifically change the attributes of that Hero’s weapons, abilities, or passives.

Powers

At the start of the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th round players will equip a Power for their Hero.
Powers cannot be removed once they are equipped.

Leagues

Stadium is a competitive mode with its own ranking system.
There is a total of seven Leagues, Rookie, Novice, Contender, Elite, Pro, All-Star, Legend
Each League has five divisions with 5 being the lowest rank and 1 being the highest.
Players start in the Rookie Division 5 League every season.
Players gain Stadium Points for every match win along with progress to advancing into the next League.
In the Rookie and Novice Leagues, players do not lose Stadium Points for a loss.
Players lose small amounts of Stadium Points after a match loss in the Contender or Elite Leagues.
Players lose similar amounts of Stadium Points to what they win after a match loss in Pro, All-Star, and Legend Leagues.

Rewards

Players earn 10 Competitive Points for every match win in Stadium.
Players earn additional rewards including Name Cards, Weapon Charms, and Titles based on which League they reached the highest throughout the season and these rewards are only useable for the duration of the next season.
Players can earn the Epic Orisa Elite Skin by reaching the Elite League in the Tank Role in Season 16.
Players can earn the Epic Genji Elite Skin by reaching the Elite League in the Damage Role in Season 16.
Players can earn the Epic Moira Elite Skin by reaching the Elite League in the Support Role in Season 16. Players can earn the Legendary Juno All-Star Skin by reaching the All-Star League in any Role in Season 16.

Competitive leaver penalties

The same leaver penalties for Competitive Play also apply for Stadium.
Players who disconnect or leave will only have a few minutes to return without penalty.
Players who abandon a match entirely will be given the same penalties as if leaving a Competitive Play match up and including a season ban.
Players who are suspended or banned in either Stadium or Competitive play cannot play both modes while that suspension is in effect.

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.