New Overwatch Update Adds Ashe And Changes Other Heroes; Here Are The Full Patch Notes

A new update for Overwatch officially adds Ashe to the game. This new Hero’s addition is accompanied by a general update for all other Heroes, tweaks for four specific characters, map changes, and bug fixes.

Although this new update adds Ashe to Overwatch, she won’t be added to Competitive Play until two weeks after her release. Ashe is one of Overwatch’s more versatile offensive Heroes, possessing abilities that can deal precise damage from range or area-of-effect in close quarters. Her primary weapon, Viper, is a lever-action rifle that can fire in semi-automatic bursts or precise long-range shots. Coach Gun allows her to deal major damage to targets at close-range and her Dynamite ability throws out a timed explosive. Her ultimate, B.O.B., summons her omnic companion seen in McCree’s animated short, who targets enemies hiding out of Ashe’s reach.

The new update also implements several large Hero changes that were previously tested in Overwatch’s Public Test Region. The first change makes jump height consistent across the entire roster of characters, so no one Hero will now jump higher or lower than another. The power of Mercy’s ultimate has also increased, as well as how quickly it charges. Reaper has been adjusted to make him a more consistent pick for close-range combat. Symmetra’s primary weapon now has a faster fire rate, allowing her to more easily hold her own in a fight. Roadhog has undergone the most changes, with his Chain Hook, Scrap Gun, and Whole Hog all receiving major updates.

The exact changes that are now live for Mercy, Reaper, Symmetra, and Roadhog are listed in the full patch notes on Overwatch’s main website. We’ve listed out the other major changes–map updates and bug fixes–below.

Overwatch is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Overwatch November 13 Character And Map Updates, And Bug Fixes

Hero Updates

Mercy

Developer Comments: Mercy’s ultimate was charging a bit too slowly after her base healing was reduced in a previous update. These changes should restore some of her ultimate’s strength and let it build up more quickly.

Reaper

Developer Comments: Reaper’s specialty is fighting at a very close range. The more consistent spread pattern and increase in healing from his passive ability will make him more capable of standing toe-to-toe with his enemies.

Symmetra

Developer Comments: It’s still difficult to use Symmetra’s Photon Projector beam effectively, even after its range was increased. By speeding up the primary fire charge rate, it takes less time to ramp up to its full damage potential and will be a stronger option when she’s presented with targets to charge up on.

Roadhog

Developer Comments: Roadhog is receiving several large changes to make his abilities more consistent. His Chain Hook had issues with breaking when enemy targets jumped or fell behind environment collision. It will now slow them down in the air more when the hook lands, and wait less time before it starts reeling them in. Since Chain Hook’s cooldown now begins immediately upon use, so it no longer varies based on Roadhog’s distance to the hook target. We’ve also moved some of the projectiles closer to the center of the spread pattern on his Scrap Gun, which gives him a more consistent damage output for its primary and alternate fire. Previously, there was a long-standing bug that caused close-range targets to fly much further than expected. After this bug was fixed, we still wanted to keep some of the knockback burst it provided, so we’ve increased the overall velocity cap to maintain some of that functionality.

Map Updates

• Reduced the setup timer for Assault, Escort, and Assault/Escort maps from 1 minute to 45 seconds
• Assemble Your Team timer increased from 10 to 25 seconds in the second round on Assault, Assault/Escort, and Escort maps

Bug Fixes

A.I.

• Fixed a bug that caused Mei bots to attempt landing headshots on Wrecking Ball while he was immune to them in Roll mode
• Fixed a bug that caused bots to get stuck near Point A on Eichenwalde

Heroes

• Brigitte
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Brigitte’s Whip Shot from going on cooldown if it was interrupted before the chain retracted
• Doomfist
  • Fixed a bug that prevented victims of Doomfist’s Rocket Punch from ragdolling if they were eliminated by it
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Rising Uppercut from damaging enemies
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Doomist’s Seismic Slam from dealing damage if he hit by a knockback ability the moment he landed
• Junkrat
  • Fixed a bug that caused Junkrat to return to his idle animation if he was stunned while using RIP-Tire
• Lúcio
  • Fixed a bug that caused some allied heroes to say their “under attack” voice lines when receiving a friendly Sound Barrier
• Orisa
  • Fixed bug that prevented Orisa’s Fortify from canceling Doomfist’s Rising Uppercut air control effects
• Reinhardt
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Reinhardt’s Earthshatter to hit Brigitte when she blocked it with her Barrier Shield if she was strafing during high latency periods
• Roadhog
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Chain Hook from going on cooldown if it was interrupted before the chain retracted
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Chain Hook from destroying breakable objects when pulling the target backward
  • Fixed a bug that caused Roadhog’s Whole Hog visual effects to cover a wider area than the spread of projectiles
• Symmetra
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra to charge up her primary weapon on enemy ice walls
• Torbjörn
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Santaclad Torbjörn’s ultimate voice lines from playing when activating Molten Core
  • Fixed a visual issue that prevented Molten Core’s magma globules from appearing in the correct place with his Barbarossa or Blackbeard skins equipped
  • Fixed an animation issue that caused Torbjörn’s claw arm to suddenly appear when Overload and Molten Core were used in quick succession
• Tracer
  • Fixed an issue that caused Tracer to accelerate slightly slower and decelerate slightly faster than other heroes
• Wrecking Ball
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Wrecking Ball voice lines from playing when previewed after opening a Loot Box
• Zarya
  • Fixed a bug that allowed heroes to charge through a Graviton Surge without getting trapped

Hero Gallery

• Fixed an issue that caused some heroes legs to twitch when viewed in the Hero Gallery
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from rotating heroes in the Hero Gallery while the UI was hidden

Social

• Fixed a bug that allowed players to hear the voice lines of heroes controlled by players they muted

Maps

• Fixed a bug that prevented the payload from healing attackers if they were damaged while pushing it on Assault/Escort and Escort maps
• Fixed a lighting issue that caused a skyscraper in Hollywood’s skyline to appear pitch black