Overwatch 2 Patch Notes for August 24 Update Revealed

Overwatch 2 Update: Nerfing Illari with a Solar Rifling Good Time

Illari has been the talk of the town ever since she made her grand entrance into Overwatch 2 earlier this month. But, as with anything that gets too popular, Blizzard has decided to bring her down a notch with some nerfs and adjustments in the game’s latest update. Hero balance is a never-ending rollercoaster in Overwatch 2, but this update focuses solely on our beloved Illari.

Introducing Illari, the support hero armed with a solar rifle that can dish out damage and heal allies. She may seem like just another support hero, but her ability kit allows her to dive into her damage-heavy playstyle while making sure her teammates stay healthy. With her healing pylon acting as a healing turret and her outburst ability giving her extra mobility, Illari is a force to be reckoned with. And let’s not forget her explosive Ultimate, Captive Sun, delivering punishment to enemies who dare to group up.

But hold your horses, Blizzard saw how strong Illari was becoming and decided it was time to tweak things a bit. The August 24 patch brings nerfs to her healing pylon, reducing its healing from 40 to 30 and its shields from 75 to 50. Additionally, her Captive Sun’s initial impact and explosion damage can now be blocked by barriers. The duration of the Sunstruck effect has been shortened to 6 seconds, and the projectile size has been cut in half to make it harder to intercept. To put it simply, Illari got a solar-rifling good nerf.

According to the developers, these balance changes aim to create a better balance between healing and damage for Illari, while also giving opponents more opportunities to counter her abilities. But it’s not all about Illari in this update; Blizzard has also fixed a bunch of bugs that were ruining both PvP and PvE experiences. And as a bonus, they brought back a missing voice line that fans have been longing for.

While hero balance in Overwatch 2 is always a bit of a wild ride, this update surprisingly makes few changes to the game’s sandbox. Could this mean that Blizzard is finally getting closer to the ideal state of character performance? Only time will tell as we eagerly await the future hero overhauls and see how the Overwatch 2 sandbox continues to evolve.

Overwatch 2 Retail Patch Notes – August 24, 2023

General Updates:

Player Progression
- Updated the Wins sub-badge level-up requirement from 2 to 1 across all heroes, game modes, and roles, and re-tuned XP granted to balance.

Hero Updates:

SUPPORT

ILLARI

Developer Comments: Illari has been a shining star since her launch. The following changes aim to create a better balance between her healing and damage capabilities while adding more counterplay against her abilities. We felt the Healing Pylon was a bit too strong when placed out of line-of-sight or at odd angles, so we’ve made it weaker. Blocking Captive Sun’s projectile with barriers might not be immediately obvious, but we’ve also decreased its size, making it more challenging to block or destroy. Lastly, we felt the Sunstruck effect lasted a tad too long to reasonably avoid detonation damage.

Healing Pylon
- Heal decreased from 40 to 30.
- Shields decreased from 75 to 50.
Captive Sun
- Projectile Impact and explosion are now blocked by barriers.
- Projectile size decreased from 1.5 to 0.75 meters.
- Sunstruck duration decreased from 7 to 6 seconds.

Bug Fixes:

General

Fixed bug where some event challenges weren’t counting towards “Savior of the Underworld” for the Brigitte Sparkplug skin.
Fixed an issue that made the Ashe Snakewrangler Skin in the Battle Pass a premium reward instead of a free one. Any player on the free Battle Pass track who already unlocked this tier will receive this skin automatically.
Fixed an issue that resulted in players backfilling into the Underworld Event Mission and Invasion Story Missions.
Fixed an issue that allowed Spectating of players in the Underworld Event Mission and Invasion Story Missions.

HEROES

Echo

Fixed an issue with cloned Illari’s Captive Sun explosion, damaging herself and her allies.

Orisa

Fixed an issue where the “Who Said Chivalry Is Dead?” voice line is missing from Hero Gallery.
Fixed an issue where the World Cup Skin for Orisa was inaccessible.

MISSIONS

Toronto

Fixed in a previous update – Fixed an issue with Slicers clipping into the Ferry, making them difficult to target.

Gothenburg

Fixed in a previous update – Fixed an issue where “The Babies Are Safe” challenge was unable to be completed.
Fixed an issue with the Titan being invisible for the first few seconds of its intro.
Fixed an issue with an invisible collision around the Mega-Cannon that blocked Brigitte’s Shield Bash and Whip Shot.

Underworld

Fixed in a previous update – Fixed an issue where the “Stop, Thief!” challenge was unable to be completed.

Overwatch 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Source: Blizzard

Overwatch 2 Patch Notes for August 24 Update Revealed