All hero buffs, nerfs, and Perk changes in Overwatch 2 Season 16

The Overwatch 2 Season 16 update brings plenty of hero changes, including a host of buffs, nerfs, and changes to many characters’ Perks.

Balancing is one of the hardest parts of any multiplayer shooter, particularly in Overwatch where players are incredibly attached to their mains. This only got more difficult with the addition of Perks, which gives every hero an extra set of effects that need to be tweaked.

The system has slotted perfectly into matches, but, as promised, Season 16 marks the first real overhaul to the system, with some characters even getting new Perks. So, here’s a breakdown of all the hero changes in the update.

OW2 Season 16 hero changes

Tank

Blizzard

D.Va

Bunny Stomp is now combined with Ejection Suit.

New Minor Perk “Bunny Power”

• Eject grants 75 temporary overhealth and Call Mech’s damage radius is increased by 50%.
  New Minor Perk “Extended Boosters”
• 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

Developer Comments: Orisa has been underperforming in comparison to other tanks. Increasing her
damage to allow her to be more threatening without boosting her survivability.

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.

New Minor Perk “Crusader’s Fire”

• 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

New Minor Perk “Pent Up”

• 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

Developer Comments: With the introduction of perks, Winston has been overperforming. By adjusting his
survivability—exchanging some of his armor for health—we aim to bring him in line with other tanks,
without significantly impacting his overall gameplay.

• Base health increased from 225 to 275.
• Base armor reduced from 250 to 200.
  Wrecking Ball
  Wrecking Ball
• In 6v6 game modes, Armor health reduced from 150 to 100.

Damage

Blizzard

Cassidy

Past Noon

• Removed.

New Minor Perk “Even the Odds”

• Regenerate 20 health per second for each enemy targeted by Deadeye

Freja

Developer Comments: We received positive feedback during Freja’s Hero trial, and it’s exciting to see
how much you enjoy experimenting with her kit. However, we’ve noticed that Freja is struggling to keep
up with other Damage Heroes, particularly in terms of lethality. So we’re adjusting the time it takes for
her to earn her minor perk, bringing it in line with other Heroes. Additionally, we’re increasing the
number of shots before her max spread kicks in, making her Revdraw Crossbow more reliable at all
ranges. Finally, while Freja’s Bola Shot was charging quickly, its effectiveness was somewhat
lacking. We’re boosting both its damage and radius slightly, ensuring it can better secure eliminations
when it lands.

• 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

Developer Comments: Restoring the functionality of Hanzo’s Storm Bow to retain draw progress will
enable him to use wall climb more effectively, improving his ability to take space and position himself.
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 (description changed)

• 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.

New Major Perk “Deep Freeze”

• Continuously hitting enemies with primary fire freezes them for a short time.

Sombra

Viral Efficacy

• Removed.

New Minor Perk “Encrypted Upload”

• Hack can be used while invisible, successful hacks increase the duration of stealth by 2 seconds.

Stack Overflow

• Removed.

New Major Perk “Viral Replication”

• Hitting a hacked enemy with Virus spreads Virus to enemies within 8 meters.

Soldier: 76

Field Emergency (description changed)

• Biotic Field’s healing is increased by 100% on Low health targets.

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.

Support

Blizzard

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

Assault Burst

• Will now do instant healing but cannot critically heal low targets.

Biotic Launcher Secondary fire

• Healing explosion increased from 50 to 60.
• Direct impact healing increased from 20 to 30.
• Maximum ammo reduced from 13 to 10.

Juno

Hyper Boost

• Removed

Re-Boots moved to Minor Perk.

• Duration increase removed.

New Major Perk “Locked On”

• 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 Perk

• Bonus healing increased from 30 to 40.

Lucio

Groovin

• Removed.

New Minor Perk “Beat Drop”

• Amp it Up is active during Sound Barrier.

Mercy

Angelic Recovery

• Removed.

New Minor Perk “Angelic Resurrection”

• 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%

For more on Overwatch, be sure to check out the ranks and rewards for the new Stadium mode, as well as how to play the new hero Freja.