Overwatch 2’s season 12 midseason patch takes aim at tanks once more

Blizzard just can't seem to get solo tanks down right.

Overwatch 2 WoW skins Lich King Reinhardt, Thrall Zenyatta, Sylvanas Widowmaker, and Diamond Magni Torbjorn
Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Whether you are for Azeroth or the Horde, there’s battles to be fought in Overwatch 2’s midseason update for season 12.

Recommended Videos

World of Warcraft invades OW2 in the special cross-collab between Blizzard properties, bringing new cosmetics into the fray. But this update also has some important balance changes to take note of before queuing up for matches in Quick Play or Competitive.

Read on below for the midseason patch notes in OW2 season 12.

Overwatch patch notes today – Sept. 17, 2024

Overwatch 2 WoW skins
For Azeroth! Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Along with the World of Warcraft collab skins for Reinhardt, Zenyatta, Torbjorn, and Widowmaker, the midseason patch for season 12 of OW2 once again has tanks on the table for some changes.

After several buffs to help tank survivability, Blizzard is now scaling it back, as it appears that tanks became a bit too strong as a result. The tank knockback resistance passive has dropped all the way down to 25 percent, from 40 percent prior.

“This knockback resistance value has changed a few times as the environment of the game shifts,” Blizzard said in the patch notes. “With Juno entering the roster and bringing more sources of speed boost to help rush down the enemy team, we’d like to make tanks more susceptible to displacement again.”

The second change, affecting multiple heroes in different roles, is a nerf to armor reducing seven per impact, down from 10, which Blizzard calls a “middle-ground value.”

Hero-wise, D.Va got a nerf to her health pool now with less armor, while Sigma, Roadhog, and Orisa all got slight buffs. For DPS heroes, Bastion, Cassidy, and Hanzo got buffed while Venture was nerfed, and Moira, Lifeweaver, and Zenyatta all were buffed for supports.

The update also added the new “Competitive Drive” feature. Competitive Drives are limited-time events during the end of Competitive Play Role Queue seasons that offer a new reward called Signatures, which are cosmetics that appear next to players’ names.

Each Drive has six rewards to earn at checkpoints reached by winning in Competitive Play: 500 Competitive Points, a Signature, 1,000 Competitive Points, an Advanced Signature, 1,500 Competitive Points, and an Elite Signature.

A fight between Overwatch 2 heroes.
Get on the payload for some fun. Image via Blizzard Entertainment

And for fans of Mystery Heroes, there’s a new spin on the mode that adds role queue, meaning you can queue up for a specific role and then get selected as a random character within that role to help focus the game mode and make it a bit less random than before.

For the full list of today’s changes and additions in the patch notes, check out the Blizzard website.

Author
Image of Scott Duwe
Scott Duwe
Senior Staff Writer & Call of Duty lead. Professional writer for over 10 years. Lover of all things Marvel, Destiny 2, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, and more. Previous bylines include PC Gamer, Red Bull Esports, Fanbyte, and Esports Nation. DogDad to corgis Yogi and Mickey, sports fan (NY Yankees, NY Jets, NY Rangers, NY Knicks), Paramore fanatic, cardio enthusiast.