All Overwatch Season 5 buffs and nerfs explained, new patch notes revealed

Torbjörn mains are not going to like this. 

Overwatch Season 5: A Grim Doctrine is officially out in the wild, and Blizzard Entertainment has the patch notes to show for it. This season introduces two major hero reworks for Roadhog and Sombra, the latter of whom is moving to a Support role in the roster. Additionally, splashy new hitbox changes are affecting a huge swathe of the roster, making them more consistent to hit overall. 

Jetpack Cat and Cassidy’s “Sky Noon” ult combo has also been disabled, and Ana is swapping Perks to get her hands on an explosive Sleep Dart. There’s a lot to go through, so let’s break down Overwatch Season 5’s balance changes.  

Overwatch Season 5 Sombra and Roadhog rework patch notes

Let’s start off with the hero reworks. Roadhog is getting reworked to reduce the lethality of his infamous Chain Hook, and be more of a traditional Tank with an ability that now lets him absorb incoming fire to dish out damage in return. His primary fire also now shoots in a two-burst cadence, which will let the Chain Hook (which is also getting adjusted) displace enemies without offing them immediately. 

Roadhog rework

Scrap Hook–Minor Perk

• Ammo reloaded increased from 2 to 4.

Shrapnel Launcher–Minor Perk

• Removed.

Here, Piggy Piggy - Minor Perk

• New Minor Perk.
• During Whole Hog, Chain Hook’s cooldown is reduced by 80%.

Pulled Pork–Major Perk

• Removed.

Toxic Exhaust–Major Perk

• New Major Perk.
• Enemies in front of Roadhog while Trash Compactor is active are slowed by 30% and take 20 damage per second.

Scrap Gun–Primary Fire

• Primary Fire now fires 2 bursts per volley.
• Ammo increased from 6 to 12.
• Total damage per volley increased from 175 to 204.
• Critical damage multiplier decreased from 2x to 1.5x.
• Shotgun pellet count decreased from 25 to 16.
• Shotgun pellet damage decreased from 7 to 4.25.
• Now fires a larger projectile in the center of each shot.
• Center projectile deals 34 damage.
• Spread decreased from 8 degrees to 6 degrees.
• Falloff range decreased from 30-50 meters to 20-35 meters.
• Projectile speed increased from 80 meters per second to 100 meters per second.

Scrap Gun–Secondary Fire

• Removed.

Trash Compactor

• New ability assigned to Secondary Fire by default.
• When activated, begin absorbing projectiles in front of Roadhog for 2 seconds.
• After the duration, fire an explosive projectile whose damage scales based on the damage absorbed, ranging from 75 to 200 damage.
• Explosion inner radius of 2 meters, explosion outer radius of 6 meters with a 30% falloff scalar.
• Impact damage is 10.
• Conversion rate is 30% of damage absorbed.
• Movement speed penalty of 15% while active.
• Cooldown is 10 seconds in 5v5.
• Cooldown is 11 seconds in 6v6.

Chain Hook

• Enemy stun duration after being pulled decreased from 0.4 seconds to 0.3 seconds.
• Target’s final distance from Roadhog after being pulled increased from 3 meters to 4.5 meters.
• Cooldown decreased from 7 seconds to 6 seconds in 5v5.
• Cooldown decreased from 8 seconds to 7 seconds in 6v6.

Take a Breather

• Max duration decreased from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
• Healing over time increased from 150 per second to 200 per second.
• Damage reduction decreased from 40% to 35%.
• Cooldown increased from 1.25 seconds to 2 seconds.

Now, let’s talk about Sombra. Sombra is moving from Damage to the Support role, with a rework that removes Hack entirely from her main abilities. Now, Sombra can instead Weaken enemies to halve their damage and healing output. 

Sombra rework

• Moved from Damage to Support role.
• Moved from Recon subrole to Tactician subrole.
• Experience required to earn minor perk increased by 67%.
• Experience required to earn major perk increased by 69.5%.

Encrypted Upload–Minor Perk

• Removed.

Life Hack - Minor Perk

• New Minor Perk.
• EMP applies Hotfix to all nearby allies.

High-Speed Bandwidth–Major Perk

• Removed.

Data Packet–Major Perk

• New Major Perk.
• Hacking health packs with Hotfix reduces its main cooldown by 4 seconds.

Viral Replication–Major Perk

• Removed.

Cybersecurity–Major Perk

• New Major Perk.
• Cyberspace’s healing is doubled on allies below half health.

Machine Pistol

• Damage per projectile decreased from 8 to 7.
• Minimum falloff distance increased from 15 meters to 20 meters.
• Maximum spread decreased from 2.3 degrees to 2 degrees.
• Shots until max spread increased from 6 to 10.

EMP

• Ultimate cost increased by 67.5%.
• Damage decreased from 25% of current health to 20% of current health.

Hack

• Removed.

Hotfix

• New ability assigned to Secondary Fire by default.
• Heal an ally over time for a set amount of health.
• Hotfixing an ally heals them for 65 instant health and 25 health per second over its duration.
• Hotfix lasts on an ally until either 175 total healing is done or until 12 seconds have passed.
• Hotfix can also target health packs and most enemy deployables to hack them, which does not require any Hotfix charges and triggers a separate 6 second cooldown.
• Hacked health pack duration decreased from 45 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Hacking health packs or deployables can be interrupted by taking damage, which will cancel the ability and trigger the separate 6 second cooldown.
• Hotfix can be used while stealthed, temporarily revealing Sombra without breaking stealth.
• Cast time is 0.5 seconds.
• Range is 17 meters.
• Has 2 charges.
• Cooldown is 8 seconds.

Virus

• Removed.

Cyberspace

• New ability assigned to Ability 1 by default.
• Launch a projectile that explodes on impact, creating a zone that weakens enemies and heals allies.
• Initial explosion deals 40 damage to enemies and 40 healing to allies.
• Zone deals 25 damage per second to enemies and 30 healing per second to allies.
• Zone duration is 3 seconds.
• Zone radius is 5 meters.
• Enemies within the zone are weakened, which is a new status effect that reduces the target’s own damage and healing output by 50%.

Translocator

• Stealth duration increased from 5 seconds to 6.5 seconds.
• Time to enter Stealth increased from 0.3 seconds to 0.75 seconds.
• Projectile range reduced from 18 meters to 12.25 meters.
• Movement speed bonus is now active immediately after teleporting instead of after fully entering Stealth.
• Cooldown increased from 6 seconds to 7.5 seconds.

Opportunist

• Removed.

Conspirator

• New Passive.
• Fully-charged enemy ultimates are revealed to you.

Overwatch Season 5 buffs and nerfs explained

Alright, now let’s talk about the general balance updates affecting the rest of Overwatch’s roster. This season, Ana is getting a handy new Perk that lets her Sleep Dart explode, affecting other enemies in the area. Cassidy’s Deadeye Ultimate ability also can no longer be executed while being carried in the air by Jetpack Cat’s Lifeline. 

Most interestingly, a huge portion of the playable roster has had their hitboxes adjusted, to allow players to hit them more reliably in battle. Here are all the buffs and nerfs in Overwatch Season 5:  

D.Va

Micro Missiles

• Fire rate increased from 11 to 14 shots per second.

Domina

Crystal Charge

• Cooldown reduced from 8 to 7 seconds.

Reconstruction (Passive)

• Ability lifesteal increased from 75% to 100%.

Bastion

Reconfigure

• Duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds.

Cassidy

Deadeye

• Now prevents attaching to Jetpack Cat's Lifeline.

Emre

Cyber Frag

• Cooldown reduced from 10 to 9 seconds.

Genji

Swift Strike

• Damage increased from 50 to 60.

Dragonblade

• Damage reduced from 110 to 100.
• Swing speed increased by 15%.

Shion

Rapid Reload–Minor Perk

• Removed.

Survival Instinct–Minor Perk

• New.
• Evade's overhealth duration is increased by 1 second.

Ana

Groggy–Minor Perk

• Removed.

Local Anesthetic

• New.
• Sleep dart explodes on impact, slowing enemies and dealing 45 damage over 3 seconds.

Doctrine

• Ultimate cost increased by 8%.

Transfusion - Major Perk

• Damage and healing conversion rate reduced by 50%.

Invigorating Drones

• Attack Speed reduced from 35% to 30%.

Shrouded Momentum

• Cooldown increased from 7 to 8 seconds.
• Damage reduction reduced from 50% to 40%.
• No longer provides critical hit immunity while active.

Deliverance

• Drone Fire Rate increased from 4 to 5.
• Overhealth and debuff duration reduced from 8 to 6 seconds.
• Decay duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.

Lúcio

Beat Drop–Minor Perk

• Amp It Up is now active for 4 seconds after casting Sound Barrier.

Sound Barrier

• Duration increased from 5 to 6 seconds.

Overwatch Season 5 Hero hitbox changes

Ana

• Head hit volume increased from 16.9 to 18.

Anran

• Head hit volume increased from 15.2 to 17.
• Torso hit volume increased from 18 to 23.
• Leg hit volume increased from 14.7 to 19.

Ashe

• Torso hit volume increased from 22.4 to 25.
• Leg hit volumes increased from 16.7 to 19.

Baptiste

• Head hit volume increased from 15.1 to 16.

Bastion

• Head hit volume increased from 20 to 21.5.
• Back minigun hit volume reduced from 20 to 18.
• Lower arm hit volume reduced from 20 to 15.

Cassidy

• Torso hit volume reduced from 37 to 33.
• Leg hit volumes reduced from 24 to 22.

Doomfist

• Head hit volume increased from 19.7 to 21.
• Waist hit volume increased from 30 to 35.
• Leg hit volume increased from 21 to 26.
• Fist hit volume reduced from 24 to 20.

Echo

• Head hit volume increased from 15.9 to 18.
• Leg hit volumes increased from 14.6 to 20.

Emre

• Head hit volume increased from 16 to 18.
• Leg hit volumes increased from 17.5 to 20.

Hanzo

• Head hit volume increased from 16 to 18.

Hazard

• Head hit volume increased from 18.5 to 20.
• Leg hit volumes increased from 21.9 to 24.

Illari

• Head hit volume increased from 14.9 to 18.
• Torso hit volume increased from 20 to 23.5.

Jetpack Cat

• Head hit volume increased from 15.8 to 18.5.
• Torso hit volume increased from 14.8 to 17.
• Waist hit volume increased from 19.5 to 26.
• Leg hit volumes increased from 9.7 to 12.

Junker Queen

• Head hit volume increased from 17.8 to 19.
• Torso hit volume increased from 26.2 to 28.
• Waist hit volume increased from 23.8 to 26.
• Leg hit volume increased from 19.2 to 22.

Junkrat

• Torso hit volume reduced from 32 to 29.
• Leg hit volumes increased from 17.3 to 20.

Juno

• Torso hit volume increased from 19 to 23.
• Hand hit volumes reduced from 8.5 to 5.
• Arm hit volumes reduced from 9 to 7.

Kiriko

• Head hit volume increased from 14.9 to 16.
• Torso hit volume increased from 17.7 to 21.

Lifeweaver

• Head hit volume increased from 14.8 to 17.
• Torso hit volume increased from 19.7 to 25.
• Leg hit volumes increased from 15.5 to 19.
• Waist hit volume increased from 15.9 to 20.

Lúcio

• Head hit volume increased from 13.2 to 16.

Mauga

• Head hit volume increased from 22 to 23.5.
• Hand hit volumes reduced from 16 to 12.
• Leg hit volume length reduced from 50 to 35.
• Torso hit volume increased from 40 to 42.
• Torso hit volume width increased from 30 to 40.

Mercy

• Head hit volume increased from 14.4 to 17.
• Torso hit volume increased from 22.4 to 24.5.
• Leg hit volumes reduced from 22.4 to 20.

Mizuki

• Head hit volume height reduced from 10 to 6.
• Head hit volume increased from 16 to 17.5.
• Torso hit volume increased from 22 to 24.
• Leg hit volumes increased from 17 to 19.

Moira

• Torso hit volume reduced from 27 to 25.

Reinhardt

• Shoulder hit volume reduced from 40 to 35.
• Hand hit volumes reduced from 25 to 20.
• Foot hit volumes reduced from 40 to 30.

Sierra

• Torso hit volume increased from 20.7 to 23.
• Legs hit volumes increased from 16.7 to 19.
• Lower leg hit volumes increased from 15 to 19.
• Lower leg hit volume height reduced from 54.9 to 40.

Sojourn

• Head hit volume increased from 14.9 to 16.
• Torso hit volume increased from 20.5 to 23.5.
• Leg hit volumes increased from 17 to 18.5.

Sombra

• Head hit volume increased from 14 to 16.
• Torso hit volume reduced from 25 to 23.
• Leg hit volumes increased from 15 to 18.

Symmetra

• Torso hit volume increased from 22.4 to 24.
• Leg hit volume reduced from 22.4 to 20.

Torbjörn

• Head hit volume reduced from 23.3 to 20.
• Claw hand hit volume reduced from 15 to 11.

Tracer

• Torso hit volume increased from 22.4 to 24.
• Legs hit volumes reduced from 22.4 to 20.

Venture

• Torso hit volume increased from 22.9 to 25.
• Leg hit volumes increased from 17 to 21.

Wrecking Ball

• Head hit volume increased from 22 to 25.
• Torso hit volume increased from 83.5 to 87.5.

Wuyang

• Head hit volume increased from 14.85 to 16.
• Torso hit volume increased from 20.2 to 23.

Zenyatta

• Head hit volume reduced from 20 to 17.
• Torso hit volume reduced from 32 to 30.
• Leg hit volumes reduced from 24 to 22.

Additionally, Blizzard has changed a specific sightline in Eichenwalde, located at a door near the map’s first chokepoint. We thought this would be worth mentioning outside of the above list of balance updates, as the change has ostensibly sent Torbjörn mains spiralling into despair. We’re sorry for your loss. 

Overwatch Season 5 is now live, and you can check out all the new content coming this season here.