Overwatch Season 1 Patch Notes (2026) Preview: Hero Changes, Game Updates, Events, and More

A new era of Overwatch is officially here. The Season 1: Rise of Talon patch notes have been released, detailing the game's transformative overhaul. With a return to the old name, a fresh and new interface, and redefined gameplay, the update delivers hero balances, map changes, and more. Dive into our summary of the biggest changes in Overwatch Season 1.

Events in Overwatch Season 1: Rise of Talon

In Season 1, Overwatch will introduce two new events: 

• Conquest: This five-week-long event will allow players to select one side- Overwatch or Talon - and complete faction-specific challenges for unique rewards. A global winner among the two factions will be announced every week after tallying up both sides’ completed challenges. Similarly, at the end of the five-week event, a global winner will be announced, and players can receive an Overwatch- or Talon-themed Echo skin. Event rewards include 94 Lootboxes, new voice lines, player icons, exclusive Legendary titles, etc. 

• Year of the Horse: From February 13 to March 2, this Lunar New Year event will welcome back the fan-favorite Roadhog's Catch-a-mari game mode. You can eliminate opponents in this mode and complete challenges to earn Lunar New Year-themed cosmetics. 

Core Game Updates

Core Game Modes

• Clash has been removed from Quick Play

Map Updates

[embed]https://x.com/PlayOverwatch/status/2020997093595226539[/embed]

Gibraltar Narrative Updates

Recent Overwatch lore reveals that Vendetta, after taking over Talon, attacked Watchpoint: Gibraltar, due to which there are several changes in the map layout.

• A new entrance to the left side (from Attackers POV) building has been added

• The bridge is destroyed

• The large health pack position in the lower choke area has been adjusted

• Server room opening has been widened

• Some cover adjustments have been made to the high ground surrounding first point

Area 2:

• New ramps have been added to allow easier access to the high ground

• The dropship has been angled and the health pack inside of it has been moved to the ground level to stop defenders from health pack camping

Area 3:

• A new ramp has been added to allow easy access to the high ground on the far right side (from Attackers POV)

• The bridge has been destroyed

• Small rubble piles have been added to a few areas to smooth out movement in this area

Rialto and Colosseo 

Similar to Watchpoint: Gibraltar, the changes to the Italian maps Rialto and Colosseo come as a result of the latest developments in the game’s story. Since Vendetta hails from Italy, banners signifying the glory of her new empire have been raised across the city, and a throne has been raised in Rialto.

Competitive Play Updates

• Rank Reset: All ranks in Role Queue and Open Queue in Competitive Play have been reset to Unranked, and all players must complete their respective 10 placement matches for each role. Hero Skill Ratings have also been soft reset.
• Rank Rewards: Crimson Wolf replaces Galactic as this year's Competitive Weapon Variant. It can be unlocked with Competitive Points after the first two weeks of the season. Achieving Diamond or above in Role Queue or Open Queue will now unlock Doomfist's Crimson Wolf skin.

Hero Updates: General

• General Changes: All heroes can now see allied health states through walls; previously, only support heroes could.
• Console Aim Assist: Added a legacy option to use the previous aim assist strength curve. The previous 4% auto-aim change applied earlier this season for select heroes has now been extended to all hitscan heroes. (Note: Does not apply when using the Legacy Aim Assist option.)

Heroes Update: Sub Roles

In Overwatch Season 1: Rise of the Talon, each hero role will now be divided into sub-roles, each offering heroes unique passives. 

Tank 

Damage

Support 

Hero Balance Changes

[embed]https://x.com/PlayOverwatch/status/2020906900196409671[/embed]

With the addition of Sub Role Passives, several existing perks now overlap in functionality. Blizzard has replaced perks in these cases and continued to iterate on others to improve overall perk choices and balance.

Tank

• D.va - Health pool has been reduced in both 5v5 and 6v6 to increase opportunities to force her out of mech, as her mobility, defensive tools, and health pool combined make her overly durable and difficult to punish.

• Mauga - New Minor Perk

• Orisa - Projective Barrier Major Perk’s cooldown increased in 6v6.

• Reinhardt - Barrier Re-Charge (Minor Perk) removed. New Minor Perk triggers passive health regeneration 75% faster while using Barrier Field. 

• Roadhog - Take a Breather’s duration increased. Pulled Pork Major Perk’s maximum overhealth increased. 

• Sigma - Experimental Barrier health reduced by 50 HP, and Hyper Regeneration Minor Perk’s health conversion rate reduced. 

• Winston - Barrier Toss Minor Perk removed. The new Minor Perk, Electric Charge, provides Winston 10% movement speed (up to 30%) for each enemy damaged by his primary fire. 

• Wrecking Ball - Pack Rat Minor Perk removed. The new Minor Perk, Multi-Ball, allows Ball to deploy 7 additional mines by pressing Ultimate within 5 seconds after using Minefield.

• Zarya - Primary fire damage reduced. Energy Convertor Minor Perk removed, and the Spotter Perk has been moved from Major to Minor. Her new Major Perk, Extra Oomph, allows her to generate energy by dealing damage with Particle Cannon’s beam while a Barrier is active. 

Damage 

• Anran - Maximum damage and ammo increased. Her Inferno Rush and Dancing Blaze abilities had a few small changes as well. 

• Ashe - Minor Perk removed. The new Perk allows Ashe to briefly use her Coach Gun again with a reduced knockback after knocking an enemy back with it. 

• Cassidy - Combat Roll cooldown reduced. Gun Slingin’ Major Perk removed. New Perk allows him to heal 15 HP for each bullet reloaded after Combat Roll.

• Echo - Focused Rush’s (Minor Perk) movement speed bonus increased.

• Freja - Hunter’s Instinct Minor Perk removed, and the Relentless Barrage Perk has been switched from Major to Minor. New Major Perk gives Freja an additional charge of Updraft, but with reduced height. 

• Hanzo - Swift Lunge Minor Perk removed. Dragon Fury Perk moved from Major to Minor, albeit with a few changes. New Major Perk allows Hanzo to ready an explosive frost arrow that slows enemies by 35% for 3 seconds by pressing Reload.

• Pharah - Sky Spy Major Perk removed. New Major Perk allows Pharah to shoot two spiraling mini-rockets, dealing 40 damage each, after using a movement ability.

• Reaper - Shadow Step no longer cleanses on use. 

• Soldier:76 - Recycled Pulse Munitions (Minor Perk) removed. Its replacement Perk increases Soldier's Helix Rocket projectile speed by 50%.

• Sombra - No longer detects enemies below half health, and she now reveals enemy ultimate abilities on nameplates. Healthy Hacker Major Perk removed and replaced by a Perk that allows hacked health packs to grant allies temporary movement speed and overhealth.

• Torbjorn - Fully Loaded Minor Perk removed. As per the new Perk, Torb’s Molten Core activates Overload.

• Tracer - Damage reduced and projectile size increased. Flashback Major Perk removed, and Blink Packs Perk moved from Minor to Major.

• Vendetta - Health increased, and armor reduced. Swift Vengeance Major Perk removed, and Relentless Perk moved from Minor to Major. 

• Widowmaker -  Escape Plan Major Perk removed. New Perk allows scoped shots to charge up to 125%, piercing enemies when fully charged.

Support 

• Baptiste - Assault Burst Perk moved from Major to Minor, Biotic Reloader Perk removed, and Automated Healing Perk moved from Minor to Major. 

• Illari - Secondary Fire’s efficiency slightly reduced. 

• Kiriko - Heal projectile speed increased. Swift Step no longer cleanses on use. 

• Lifeweaver - Both Minor Perks and Petal Power Major Perk removed. 

• Mercy - Sympathetic Recovery, the passive that allows Mercy to regain health based on the heals she provides to allies, has been removed. Her health regeneration now begins sooner.

• Moira - Destruction’s Divide Minor Perk's focused healing/damage bonus increased.

• Wuyang - Passive healing reduced, while beam healing has been increased. 

• Zenyatta - Transcendent Condemnation Minor Perk removed. New Perk allows Zen to gain 10% lifesteal against enemies affected by Discord Orb.

Stadium Updates

Blizzard has released a new and accessible way to build your hero and choose your playstyle in Stadium: Hero Builder. It will give you the best recommendations based on constantly updating pick rate and win rate data of all items in the context of your current build. It'll also show you multiple build paths at the beginning of the match, so you can explore and try out new builds and playstyles.

As we head into Overwatch Season 1, Stadium will feature a ton of Hero updates. Vendetta has expanded her conquest into the Stadium, and Ashe receives a major rework. Powers are now granted in rounds 1, 2, 4, and 6. Additionally, a new Push map, Serenza, has also been added exclusively for Stadium. To learn all the Hero changes in Stadium and for additional details, check out the official patch notes. 

Stay tuned to Strafe Esports for more updates on the latest season of Overwatch. You can also follow us on our X account for the latest content and coverage.

Featured Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment

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