We are so back! Here are all of the Classic Overwatch patch notes!
Overwatch 2's first Overwatch Classic event begins on Nov. 12 and features Overwatch 1.0's heroes, abilities, and maps. However, since it's been many years since 2016, you may be wondering what the original iteration of the game was like. Read on for the Overwatch Classic patch notes, which include the original hero abilities, ultimates, and more!
The Overwatch Classic event features the first 21 heroes (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)
Overwatch Classic patch notes
Here are all of the Overwatch Classic patch notes for all 21 of the original heroes. In Overwatch Classic, you can farm your ultimate faster compared to Overwatch 2. This is because the ultimate cost was lower in the past. Note that the original 21 heroes featured in this event can also be interrupted out of their ultimate. Meanwhile, health totals, damage outputs, and even the size of projectiles are "reverted to before the Overwatch 2: Season 9 update," according to Blizzard.
Overwatch 1 Genji screenshot (Image via esports.gg)
Overwatch Classic patch notes: Offense heroes
Below are all of the official patch notes for the offense heroes in the original Overwatch. They include Genji, Cassidy, Pharah, Reaper, Soldier: 76, and Tracer.
Hero | Ability | Details | Overall Hero Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Genji | Cyber-Agility | Climb on walls and double jump | Genji’s Dragonblade won’t be able to be ignored so easily as he can attack for up to eight seconds. Genji is also more mobile as Double Jump will reset as you wall climb. |
| Shuriken | Throw an accurate burst of 3 projectiles | ||
| Swift Strike | Rapidly dash forward and inflict damage on enemies. Eliminations reset the cooldown | ||
| Deflect | Deflect incoming projectiles towards the direction you are aiming and block melee attacks | ||
| Dragonblade | Unsheathe a deadly melee weapon | ||
| Cassidy | Peacekeeper | Accurate and powerful revolver that can also wildly fire its remaining rounds | Cassidy’s damage output will be more increased than what you may be used to in Overwatch 2 with damage from fanning the hammer dealing 70 damage per projectile. Cassidy’s Flashbang is restored to its original form where heroes caught in its blast will be immobilized for a few seconds, leaving them vulnerable to attack. Finally, Deadeye has more versatility as Cassidy can cancel from firing and save up to half of his ultimate charge. |
| Combat Roll | Roll in the direction you're moving and reload | ||
| Flashbang | Stun enemies in front of you | ||
| Deadeye | Face off against your enemies. Press your ultimate to lock on, then Primary Fire to fire. | ||
| Pharah | Rocket Launcher | Long-range explosive projectile weapon | Pharah’s original kit allows her more opportunities to stay in the air longer and can have more potential to boop opponents from ledges using her Concussive Blast. She also deals more damage with higher splash explosion damage from the rockets in her Rocket Launcher. |
| Jump Jet | Fly rapidly upwards | ||
| Concussive Blast | Launch an explosive blast to knock back enemies | ||
| Barrage | Launch a continuous volley of mini-rockets | ||
| Hover Jets | Hold jump to hover | ||
| Reaper | Hellfire Shotguns | Short-range spread weapons | Aside from the broader damage changes in Overwatch 2, Reaper’s passive The Reaping will return to its original form where soul orbs will be dropped from defeated enemies that Reaper can pick up to gain 50 health. Make sure to plan how you use Wraith Form as it cannot be canceled early. |
| Wraith Form | Move faster and become invulnerable, but you cannot shoot | ||
| Shadow Step | Teleport to a targeted location | ||
| Death Blossom | Damage all nearby enemies | ||
| The Reaping | Collect Soul Globes to restore health | ||
| Soldier: 76 | Heavy Pulse Rifle | Automatic assault weapon | Soldier: 76 has had mostly tuning changes throughout Overwatch’s history. His Heavy Pulse Rifle deals less damage at 17 damage per projectile, but the rifle has no recoil and will instead have increased spread the longer you hold it. |
| Helix Rockets | Launch a volley of explosive rockets | ||
| Sprint | Run faster while moving forward | ||
| Biotic Field | Deploy a field that heals you and your allies | ||
| Tactical Visor | Automatically aims your weapon at targets in view | ||
| Tracer | Pulse Pistols | Short-range automatic weapons | Tracer’s time traveling playstyle has been relatively unchanged throughout Overwatch’s history, with tuning changes to her Pulse Pistols and Pulse Bomb being the biggest adjustments. Expect the Pulse Bomb to deal incredibly high damage that can finish off most heroes. |
| Blink | Teleport in the direction you are moving | ||
| Recall | Travel back in time to your previous location and health | ||
| Pulse Bomb | Throw out a powerful sticky explosive |
Overwatch 1 Hanzo screenshot (Image via esports.gg)
Overwatch Classic defense heroes patch notes
Similarly, here's everything you need to know about the defense heroes, which are Hanzo, Bastion, Junkrat, Mei, Torbjorn, and Widowmaker.
Hero | Ability | Details | Overall Hero Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hanzo | Storm Bow | Hold to charge then release to launch arrows further | Hanzo’s most notable change was swapping his original specialty arrow, the Scatter Arrow. This is a powerful choke buster attack which will launch a volley of projectiles reflecting on the walls, which combined with the Sonic Arrow, is a great way to stop a flanking target that may be hiding around the corner. Hanzo won’t have his Lunge jump passive either, so his mobility is more limited. |
| Sonic Arrow | Reveals enemies for a short time upon impact | ||
| Scatter Arrow | Splits into multiple ricochet arrows on impact | ||
| Dragonstrike | Launch a deadly Dragon Spirit that devastated enemies it passes through | ||
| Wall Climb | Jump at wall to climb up them | ||
| Bastion | Configuration: Recon | Mobile with a light automatic weapon | Bastion’s original kit is much different than what you play with today. Bastion is a tricky hero that can keep chokeholds nearly unpassable when staged in Sentry Form, firing a volley of machine gun fire, though he cannot move and has a limited amount of ammo while in Sentry form. This makes his biggest weakness- getting attacked from behind- easy to exploit if the opponent can flank around him. Don’t forget to use the Self-Repair to heal Bastion when you are not dealing damage. Also watch out as Configuration: Tank will deal massive bursts of damage as he freely roams the battlefield in tank form. |
| Configuration: Sentry | Immobile with a powerful rotary cannon | ||
| Configure | Switch between weapon configurations | ||
| Self-Repair | Heals yourself | ||
| Configuration: Tank | Mobile with a powerful cannon | ||
| Junkrat | Frag Launcher | Bouncing explosive projectile weapon | Junkrat has a lot more risk to his own health as damage from his Frag Launcher will be dealt to him as well. Concussion Mine only has one charge which will limit how Junkrat can use the ability to jump into action or deal damage to opponents. |
| Concussion Mine | Throw a knockback mine with Ability 1 then detonate it with Alternate Fire | ||
| Steel Trap | Place an immobilizing trap | ||
| Rip-tire | Drive and detonate an exploding tire | ||
| Total Mayhem | Drop bombs on death | ||
| Mei | Endothermic Blaster | Short-range spray weapon that freezes enemies | Many of you will find Mei’s original kit to be much cooler… literally. The primary fire from Endothermic Blaster will quickly freeze individual enemies, allowing Mei to deal an icy-cold elimination with the Alternate Fire. Also, the Ice Wall will be a more formidable obstacle to take down with each pillar having 500 health. |
| Endothermic Blaster | Long-range icicle launcher | ||
| Cryo-freeze | Become invulnerable and heal yourself | ||
| Ice Wall | Create a wall in front of you | ||
| Blizzard | Launch a weather control drone that freezes enemies in a wide area | ||
| Torbjorn | Rivet Gun | Slow-firing long-ranged weapon | Torbjorn’s original kit is about building his tools and resources out of the scraps fallen from both allies and opponents. Collect scrap to deploy Armor packs that you or your allies can pick up for additional Armor Health. When you use Deploy Turret, a small, low-damage Level 1 will be placed, but you can use your Forge Hammer to upgrade it to Level 2 which is the same turret that now deploys automatically in the live game. With the original Molten Core ultimate, power up Torbjorn with additional armor and faster movement, and instantly upgrade a Level 2 turret to the missile-launching, rapid firing Level 3 turret to secure any battle ground. |
| Forge Hammer | Swing to improve your turret or damage an enemy | ||
| Rivet Gun | Inaccurate but powerful short-range weapon | ||
| Build Turret | Build an upgradeable turret | ||
| Armor Pack | Build an armor power up | ||
| Molten Core | Increase your weapon attack speed, gain additional armor, and temporarily upgrade a level 2 turret to level 3 | ||
| Scrap Collector | Collect scrap to gain resources | ||
| Widowmaker | Widow's Kiss | Automatic assault weapon | Widowmaker is far more lethal with faster charge shots and more damage dealt at long-range. However, Widowmaker will be more vulnerable each time she uses Grappling Hook as it uses a longer cooldown. |
| Widow's Kiss | Hold for long-ranged sniper weapon | ||
| Grappling Hook | Launch a hook that pulls you towards a ledge | ||
| Venom Mine | Launch a poison trap | ||
| Infra-sight | Provide your team with a view of the enemy's location |
Overwatch 1 D.Va screenshot (Image via esports.gg)
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Overwatch Classic tank patch notes
Next, here's what to expect in Overwatch Classic for tank heroes D.Va, Reinhardt, Roadhog, Winston, and Zarya.
Hero | Ability | Details | Overall Hero Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| D.Va | Fusion Cannons | Automatic short-range spread weapons | D.Va’s original kit is more static and lacks the Micro Missiles ability that would be added later in Overwatch. Notably her Defense Matrix continuously channels the field for several seconds between a 10 second cooldown, and Pilot D.Va can be damaged from the blast of her own Self Destruct ability which takes 4 seconds to explode, making it a challenge for Pilot D.Va to stay out of the blast radius of the devastating ability. |
| Light Gun | Automatic weapon | ||
| Boosters | Fly in the direction you are facing | ||
| Defense Matrix | Block projectiles in an area in front of you | ||
| Self-Destruct | Eject and overload your mech, causing it to explode after a short time | ||
| Call Mech | Call down a new mech | ||
| Eject! | Eject out of your mech when it is destroyed | ||
| Reinhardt | Rocket Hammer | Devastating melee weapon | While Reinhardt won’t have the advantage of two charges to his Fire Strike and a smaller health pool, his Earthshatter will have more horizontal and vertical range to catch enemies off guard. Also, he will be able to mitigate incoming damage as his Barrier Health is much higher than in the live game. |
| Barrier Field | Deploy a frontal energy barrier | ||
| Charge | Charge forward and smash an enemy against a wall | ||
| Fire Strike | Launch a fiery projectile | ||
| Earthshatter | Knock down all enemies in front of you | ||
| Roadhog | Scrap Gun | Short-range spread weapon | Roadhog’s kit has often received tuning adjustments based around his ability to hook and catch opponents. Carefully avoid the hook as it will catch anything and everything around him and can deal a lethal one-two combo between his scrap gun and melee for an easy finishing blow to most low-health heroes. |
| Chain Hook | Drag a targeted enemy to you | ||
| Take a Breather | Heal yourself over a short time | ||
| Whole Hog | Damage and knock back enemies in front of you | ||
| Winston | Tesla Cannon | Electric frontal-cone weapon | Winston’s kit will be missing the long-range attack from his Tesla Cannon that was introduced in Overwatch 2. Also, carefully time your placements of Barrier Projector, as cooldown starts only after the shield expires instead of when it is deployed. |
| Jump Pack | Leap forward into the air. Landing on an enemy damages them | ||
| Barrier Projector | Deploy a protective energy dome | ||
| Primal Rage | Gain immense health, but you can only leap and punch enemies | ||
| Zarya | Particle Cannon | Short-range linear beam weapon | Originally, Zarya had separate cooldowns for Particle Barrier and Projected Barrier, so be careful of when you use either to protect yourself or your teammates. However, Zarya’s ability to gain energy from these abilities is much higher than in the current live game. |
| Particle Cannon | Energy grenade launcher | ||
| Particle Barrier | Create a damage barrier around you | ||
| Projected Barrier | Create a damage barrier around an ally | ||
| Graviton Surge | Launch a gravity well that pulls enemies to it |
Overwatch 1 Lucio screenshot (Image via esports.gg)
Overwatch Classic patch notes: Support heroes
As for the support heroes, the Overwatch Classic ones are Lucio, Mercy, Symmetra, and Zenyatta!
Hero | Ability | Details | Overall Hero Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucio | Sonic Amplifier | Sonic projectile launcher | While the identity of Lucio’s kit has remained the same, his Crossfade will feel the most different, as it provides a radius of 30 meters versus the 10-meter range in his current kit, but with less healing to his allies. However, this enables him to be a great character to help rush his team to the next team fight with ease. |
| Soundwave | Create a short-range blast wave to knock enemies away from you | ||
| Crossfade | Increases the effectiveness of your current song | ||
| Sound Barrier | Create temporary extra health for nearby allies | ||
| Mercy | Caduceus Staff (Primary) | Hold to heal an ally | Mercy’s Resurrect as an ultimate works as a great teamfight counterplay, allowing her to target up to five allies in range to be resurrected immediately. Watch out if there are multiple Mercy players on your team as the benefit from her Damage boost can be multiplied. |
| Caduceus Blaster | Automatic weapon | ||
| Caduceus Staff (Secondary) | Hold to increase an ally's damage inflicted | ||
| Guardian Angel | Fly towards an ally | ||
| Resurrect | Revive dead teammates | ||
| Angelic Descent | Fall very slowly | ||
| Regeneration | Restore your own health after not taking any damage | ||
| Symmetra | Photon Projector | Short-range beam weapon with increasing damage | Originally categorized as a support hero, Symmetra’s kit was more geared to providing utility to her allies than dealing damage directly. Her Photon Shield ability grants your allies with additional Shield Health, which can regenerate as long as they are not eliminated. With Teleporter as her ultimate, you can place the exit teleporter anywhere on the map and be linked directly to your active spawn room. Consider playing more than one Symmetra to create complex sentry turret fortifications to wash clean any chokeholds from your opponents. |
| Photon Projector | Hold to charge, release to fire orb | ||
| Sentry Turret | Deploy a small turret that damages and slows enemies | ||
| Photon Shield | Give shields to an ally | ||
| Teleporter | Deploy a teleporter that connects to the spawn room | ||
| Zenyatta | Orb Of Destruction | Energy projectile weapon, charge to release more projectiles | Zenyatta’s kit remains relatively unchanged, short of not having his Snap Kick passive that was added later. However, watch out for his Orb of Discord, as damage amplification increases 50% of the damage received on its target. |
| Orb of Harmony | Launch this orb at an ally to heal them | ||
| Orb Of Discord | Launch this orb at an enemy to increase the damage they take | ||
| Transcendence | Become invulnerable and heal nearby allies |
That's all of the Overwatch Classic patch notes. Are you excited to duke it out in this event? Stick around on esports.gg for more news and updates!
