The Meta Shifts: Breaking Down the Overwatch Season 1 Mid Season Patch!

If you have been grinding out those competitive matches, you might want to hit the practice range before you queue up again! Blizzard just dropped the official mid season patch notes for Season 1, and the meta is definitely shifting. This update is all about subrole tuning, addressing overperforming heroes, and finally giving us that amazing new Mythic skin for Mei!

Let us dive right into the biggest changes hitting the live servers today.

Subrole Tuning

The developers are making some massive adjustments to the subrole passives to keep engagements balanced.

• Medic: Support players rejoice! Your self healing conversion just got a massive buff from 25 percent all the way up to 40 percent.
• Bruiser: The activation threshold is much more consistent now. It triggers exactly when you drop below 50 percent health instead of waiting until you are critical.
• Initiator: This subrole was providing way too much sustain. The passive healing has been nerfed from 75 down to 60, and it will no longer trigger while you are sitting at full health.

Tank Adjustments

The frontline is going to feel completely different this week.

• D.Va: Her mobility was just too oppressive with the Initiator passive. Her Boosters cooldown has been increased from 3.5 to 4 seconds.
• Ramattra: He is getting incredibly dangerous in extended brawls. His Annihilation damage per second is bumped up to 35, and his Void Barrier cooldown is slightly shorter.
• Roadhog: The Hook combo is back to being a true nightmare! His Scrap Gun damage per pellet got a solid increase to make those one shots much more consistent.
• Hazard: He is officially moving from the Stalwart subrole over to Initiator to support a much more aggressive playstyle.

DPS and Support Tweaks

We have some massive winners and losers in the damage and support categories.

• Anran: Inferno Rush just got a huge quality of life update. You will jump 20 percent higher and automatically climb over small ledges while it is active!
• Vendetta: Her perks are getting shuffled. Siphoning Strike is now a Major perk with a whopping 40 percent overhead lifesteal, while Raging Storm is getting its damage reduced and moving to a Minor perk.
• Illari: The sun is setting on her dominance. She is taking nerfs to her secondary fire resource, her Summer Solstice attack speed, and her Sunburn damage.
• Jetpack Cat: The controversial Territorial perk has been completely removed from the game! To compensate, Claws Out is moving to a Major perk with a shorter cooldown, and he is getting a brand new Minor perk called Ulterior Motive that converts 15 percent of Biotic Pawjectiles healing right back into fuel.

Stadium Mode and Event Finales

If you have been playing Stadium, the developers heard your complaints! They are officially updating the general Mod Icons to make them way easier to read during the chaos of a match. Plus, do not forget that the Talon versus Overwatch Conquest event is entering its final week! Whichever faction wins will determine which exclusive Echo skin everyone receives.

Removing the Territorial perk from Jetpack Cat is going to make support players incredibly happy, as he was basically an assassin for the first half of the season! The Roadhog buffs are definitely going to cause some rage in Quick Play, and the changes to the Medic passive are going to make diving the backline significantly harder. Make sure you log in to secure your side’s victory in the Conquest event before March 16!

For BREAK THE META, this is WILD SURF. Catch you on the next drop!