Overwatch 2 Season 8 mid-season patch notes (January 9): Tank nerfs, Damage buffs, Year of the Dragon event, and more 

As we cross the halfway mark for Overwatch 2 Season 8, we near the release of the much-anticipated mid-season patch. With a new Tank, Mauga, introduced at the start of the season, Overwatch's meta witnessed a considerable shift. This mid-season patch is set to readjust certain hero abilities to improve their place in the meta and offer players an enjoyable in-game experience.

The upcoming patch will be released on January 13, 2024. Read on for a brief overview of all changes coming in the Overwatch 2 Season 8 mid-season patch.

---

Overwatch 2 retail patch notes - January 9, 2024

1) Year of the Dragon seasonal event

The fireworks and festivities for the Year of the Dragon begin on January 30. The Mischief and Magic prop hunt game mode returns to the Lijiang Night Market map with new props for Rogue Kiriko to transform into, which will make you look in every direction imaginable. In addition, celebrate with your fan-favorite Lunar New Year Modes, including Capture the Flag and Bounty Hunter Blitz.

---

2) Hero updates in Overwatch 2 Season 8 mid-season patch

The Season 8 mid-season patch has introduced various hero buffs and nerfs. Popular Tanks like Mauga and Roadhog, DPS like Sojourn and Sombra, and Supports like Illari and Ana, among others, have been on the receiving end this time.

TANK

Mauga Overwatch 2 (Image via X/@PlayOverwatch)

Mauga

• Base Health increased from 250 to 300.
• Base Armor decreased from 250 to 200.

Incendiary and Volatile Chainguns

• Ammo decreased from 350 to 300.

Cardiac Overdrive

• Lifesteal decreased from 70% to 60%.
• Cooldown increased from 10 seconds to 12 seconds.

Cage Fight

• No longer grants infinite ammo. Still reloads Mauga’s Chainguns at the start of the ultimate.

Berserker

• Overhealth conversion rate decreased from 60% to 50%.

Orisa

Augmented Fusion Driver

• Removed falloff damage penalty.

Fortify

• Now immune to taking forced critical hit damage. Fortify already prevents direct critical damage from headshots.

Roadhog

Take a Breather

• Total amount healed reduced from 500 to 450.
• Cooldown between usages increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds.

DAMAGE

Sojourn

Railgun

• Gradual energy no longer decays below 25%.

Sombra

Stealth

• Grace period where Stealth can be canceled immediately after entering it increased from 0.5 to 0.75 seconds.
• Cooldown now pauses at 1 second while capturing or contesting objectives from 1.5 seconds.
• Cooldown on respawning decreased from 1.5 to 1 second.

SUPPORTS

Ana Overwatch 2 (Image via Blizzard)

Ana

Biotic Grenade

• Effect duration reduced from 3.5 to 3 seconds.

Illari

Solar Rifle

• Primary fire charge gain is no longer paused by secondary fire nor by channeling Captive Sun.
• Ammo increased from 14 to 16.

Captive Sun

• Now fully refills secondary fire resource and resets overheated status.
• Removed the damage falloff penalty on the Sunstruck explosion.

Lifeweaver

Thorn Volley

• Projectile speed increased from 70 to 80 meters per second.

Petal Platform

• No longer pierced by piercing projectiles.

---

3) Bug fixes

General

• Fixed a bug that caused Endorsement Level to appear incorrectly in Custom Games.
• Increased the volume and clarity of Ultimate voice-over lines.
• Fixed missing Multikill voice-overs from activating when criteria are met.
• Fixed the 'Rugby Practice' challenge not progressing.
• Fixed a bug when spectating that caused the camera to become stuck on 2 members of the team.
• Fixed an issue that prevented the 'Hero Limit' option from saving after being modified in Custom Game options.
• Fixed an issue with Reticle options where Dot Size and Outline Thickness would change the reticle appearance even if their opacity was set to 0.
• Fixed a crash related to viewing replays.
• Fixed a bug that prevented you from being able to manually enter the value for Maximum Queue Delay in Streamer Protect settings (this value could always be set using the slider).

Heroes

Bastion Overwatch 2 (Image via Blizzard)

• Fixed a bug that allowed abilities with shockwaves to hit targets on a floor below.

Bastion

• Fixed an issue with Bastion's hitbox becoming desynchronized while in Assault mode.

Doomfist

• Fixed a bug with Rocket Punch that could cause the targets of the punch to potentially lose their walking animation.

Echo

• Fixed a bug that occurred when an Echo copied Sigma's Kinetic Grasp would not grow when taking damage.

Illari

• Fixed a bug where the Sunstruck effect wouldn't detonate if the damage threshold was reached in the last 0.6 seconds of the effect.

Mercy

• Fixed an issue that reduced Guardian Angels active duration by canceling the ability while simultaneously pressing crouch or jump.
• Fixed an issue that forced Mercy to reload if Valkryie was activated during the reload animation.

---

Players can preload the Overwatch 2 Season 8 mid-season patch to jump into the game as soon as the patch is released.

For more Overwatch 2 news, guides, and updates, follow Sportskeeda.