ωThe action of Overwatch. takes place in a technologically advanced, highly stylized future earth. In a time of global crisis, an international task force of soldiers, scientists, adventurers, and oddities known as Overwatch. had come together to restore peace to a war-torn world. After many years, the group’s influence waned, and it was eventually disbanded. Overwatch. might be gone now . . . but the world still needs heroes.

With an emphasis on accessibility and pure fun, Overwatch. brings Blizzard’s signature easy-to-learn, hard-to-master gameplay to the FPS genre. Harnessing the power of their hero of choice, players will join forces in teams of six and battle each other across a range of futuristic global locations, from the hologram-lit streets of London to a bazaar in the shadows of a high-tech Egyptian pyramid. Every battlefield is iconic and built to highlight each character’s unique abilities, and fights can shift from streets to rooftops to open skies within the span of a breath.

While each hero represents a formidable force on their own, players can amplify their potential by assembling into a well-balanced team and creatively combining powers. No matter which hero or playstyle they prefer, players will be able to team up and accomplish the incredible in Overwatch.

Ana is now live in on PC. She is the 22nd hero added to the growing Overwatch hero roster.

After being out of the fight for several years, one of Overwatch's founding members is returning. Introducing Ana—a battle-scarred veteran who supports her teammates from a distance using a unique and highly specialized collection of weapons.

Ana’s primary weapon is her Biotic Rifle, which fires long-range darts that can restore the health of her allies or deal ongoing damage to her enemies. Meanwhile, her Biotic Grenade is perfect for a close-quarters clash, simultaneously healing teammates and injuring foes caught in its small area of effect. (Affected allies will also receive a temporary increase to all incoming healing, while affected enemies can’t be healed for a few moments.) And if the battle starts to get out of hand, Ana's sidearm can fire a Sleep Dart, knocking her adversaries unconscious.

Plus, Ana's ultimate ability, Nano Boost, empowers one of her teammates, granting faster movement, increased damage, and resistance to enemy attacks.

GENERAL UPDATES

Gameplay

If a match goes into Overtime for more than 20 seconds, the fuse will now start to "burn down" more quickly
Players now respawn more slowly during Overtime (increased spawn time by 2 seconds)

Competitive Play

Competitive Play matches can now only have one of each hero per team.
For more info, click here.

Miscellaneous

Added Ana as an AI-controlled hero in Practice vs. AI, Play vs. AI, and Custom Game modes
Timing on Zenyatta's Rapid Discord achievement is more lenient
Targeted teammates now respond by saying "I'm with you," when players use the “Group Up” communication
Renamed five sprays to avoid duplicate titles

HERO BALANCE UPDATES

General

Self-healing abilities now charge ultimate abilities. As a result, some heroes’ ultimate costs have been adjusted (see below).

Bastion

Configuration: Tank
Ultimate cost increased by 10%

D.Va

Defense Matrix
Cooldown decreased from 10 seconds to 1 second
A new resource meter has been added. This meter will deplete while Defense Matrix is active and then recharge when it’s not in use.
Defense Matrix takes 10 seconds to reach full charge from empty
At a full charge, Defense Matrix will last for 4 seconds
Defense Matrix will now remain active as long as its assigned hotkey is held
Defense Matrix has been reclassified as an alternate fire and is now bound to RMB (by default)
An option to “Toggle Defense Matrix” has been added under Options > Controls > D.Va
Self-Destruct
Ultimate cost decreased by 15%
Explosion delay reduced from 4 seconds to 3 seconds
Explosion no longer damages D.Va (the player who activates it)

Developer Notes: D.Va isn't being selected as often as our other tanks, and we feel a lot of that stems from the underperformance of her damage absorption abilities. So, we've reconfigured her Defensive Matrix, making it more flexible and giving players the ability to use it more often. We’ve also given Self-Destruct a little more oomph, because it felt slightly underwhelming when compared to many of Overwatch's other ultimate abilities.

Lúcio

Sound Barrier
Ultimate cost increased by 10%

McCree

Peacekeeper
Now maintains full damage at longer distances, but will deal less damage at extreme ranges

Developer Notes: While the game does feel better following the nerf to McCree’s close-range damage in a previous patch, it left him a little too weak. So, we're increasing his effective distance, making his range similar to Soldier: 76’s. This should hopefully give players another option for dealing with pesky long-range damage dealing heroes like Pharah and Hanzo.

Mercy

Caduceus Staff
Damage Boost
Effect will no longer stacks with bonus damage provided by another Mercy
Resurrect
Ultimate charge cost increased by 30%
Movement is no longer prevented during activation
Guardian Angel instantly resets upon use

Developer Notes: Mercy's ultimate is one of the most powerful abilities in the game; however, players would often fly into the fray and die while using it. With this update, Resurrect will now take a bit longer to charge, but Mercy will be a lot safer when activating the ability in the middle of combat.

Roadhog

Whole Hog
Ultimate cost increased by 45%

Soldier: 76

Heavy Pulse Rifle
Spread recovery will begin after a short delay (rather than instantly)
Tactical Visor
Ultimate cost increased by 10%

Zenyatta

Base shields increased by 50 (now 50 Health/150 Shield)
Primary fire weapon damage decreased from 45 to 40
Alternate fire weapon damage increased from 35 to 40
Orb of Discord and Orb of Harmony
Projectile speed has been increased from 30 to 120
Transcendence
Movement speed is now doubled upon activation
Healing amount increased from 200 to 300 health per second

Developer Notes: While Zenyatta has never had the healing abilities of Lúcio or Mercy, he made up for it by dealing more damage. However, his lack of mobility and low health has meant he’s struggled to find a place in many games. To increase his effectiveness, we've made several changes, the biggest of which is an increased shield pool. This will allow him to go head-to-head with more enemies. The Orb of Harmony and Discord changes are also a quality of life change, helping Zenyatta move his orbs around and apply their effects more quickly. And lastly, we’ve increased Transcendence’s healing throughput. This ultimate was designed to be the most effective against sustained, high-damage fire and least effective against short, high-damage bursts (like D.Va’s or Junkrat's ultimates). But, due to the amount of healing it provided, there were times when it was possible for even sustained fire to overcome Transcendence’s output. We’ve made the heal powerful and also allowed Zenyatta to move around more quickly while it’s active.

USER INTERFACE UPDATES

Game Options

Players can now enter numerical values for any option that also has slider (e.g. FoV, volume, sensitivity, etc.)
Players can now hide in-game chat by pressing CTRL-SHIFT-C or by typing "/hidechat" into the chat window
Controls
Mouse sensitivity can now be adjusted out to two decimals
Gameplay
Mid-match tips can now be toggled on or off (this will enable/disable tips that pop up after a player dies)
Social
Friend Request toasts can now be toggled on or off
Friend notifications can now be toggled on or off
Whispers can now be toggled on or off
Video
Added 21:9 aspect ratio support
Players can now enable a real-world clock by toggling the "Display System Clock" setting

Social Features

Certain commendations will now appear less frequently during end-of-round voting (e.g. Zenyatta’s Transcendence Healing and Zarya’s Projected Barriers Applied)

BUG FIXES

General

The Hero Gallery now remembers the last hero you were looking at and will properly highlight that hero whenever returning to the gallery
Reduced the chance for larger projectiles (i.e. Hanzo's arrows, Zenyatta's orbs) to hit targets around corners
Fixed a bug that caused the “payload is nearing its final destination” music to continue playing even after the match was over
Fixed a bug that caused the UI to disappear whenever the game was forced into windowed mode by an external application
Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause visual healing effects to appear on the wrong hero whenever multiple players attempted to pick up a Health Pack
Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause different heroes’ victory poses to clip into each other
Fixed several lighting issues with the killcam

Maps

The payload on King’s Row will no longer retreat back inside its starting location if the attacking team fails to push it
Adjusted the Hero Select screen volume for the attacking team on Watchpoint: Gibraltar
Added Spectator camera collision to most maps
Fixed issues with player collision across multiple maps
Fixed issues with ambient lighting and shadows across multiple maps

Heroes

Fixed a bug that was preventing friendly hero dialogue not being audible over long distances as intended
Fixed a bug that caused D.Va to sometimes ignore player collision when summoning her mech
Fixed several bugs where Mei’s Ice Wall would persist in the game world even after the player switched heroes or left the game
Fixed even more bugs that allowed Reaper to Shadow Step to unintended locations
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Reinhardt’s Barrier Field to get stuck in the “on” position if the player used the “Toggle Barrier” setting
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Roadhog to accidentally Chain Hook targets standing behind him
Fixed a bug that caused Winston’s Barrier Projector shield to ignore the “Sound Effects Volume” setting

Competitive Play

Fixed a bug that sometimes caused players not to be able to rejoin games

Overwatch features a variety of game modes for shooter veterans and players new to the genre:

• Quick Play automatically matches players with allies and opponents of a similar skill level—a quick and easy way to jump into the fight.
• Play Vs. AI mode pits a team of human players against computer-controlled opponents, with multiple difficulty settings to choose from.
• Custom Games allow teams of friends to tweak the game’s rules, including damage and healing modifiers and which heroes and maps are in play.
• Weekly Brawl! offers up an unexpected challenge every week, like “Justice Rains from Above” (an aerial extravaganza starring rocket-powered Pharah and Mercy, the high-flying healer) and the intense “Arcade” brawl, which features more health, faster cooldowns, and quick respawns.
• Training modes include a Tutorial that teaches players the ropes, a Practice Range where people can try their hand at heroes in a zero-pressure environment, and a Practice vs. AI mode where heroes can further hone their skills.
• . . . And more to come: sometime after launch, players looking for the ultimate team challenge will be able to test their mettle, earn ranks, and show off their skill in Competitive Play. Blizzard also plans to patch in new heroes and maps in the future at no additional cost.

As players compete in matches—win or lose—they’ll level up and earn Loot Boxes, each containing a combination of four items players can use to customize their heroes, including in-game credits and cosmetic goodies including skins, sprays, voice lines, and new animations. Among these items are legendary skins that dramatically alter heroes’ appearances, such as the post-apocalyptic Scavenger D.Va, or Lone Wolf Hanzo, which fills Overwatch’s expert bowman with the spirit of the wild.