Overwatch 2 Getting Massive Gameplay And Competitive Changes In Season 9

Overwatch 2 Season 9: Champions launches on February 13, bringing massive gameplay changes and an overhaul of the competitive mode. The gameplay changes include an increase to all heroes' health pools and an increase in size for all projectiles.

Season 9 of Overwatch 2 is shaking up the gameplay of the hero shooter in a major way. Detailed in a press release, the biggest changes are to hero health pools and projectile sizes.

Every hero is getting an increase in health, based on their current health:

• 150-175 HP heroes: increase of 25 HP
• 200-300 HP heroes: increase of 50 HP
• 300+ HP heroes: increase of 75-100 HP

That's not the only change impacting heroes' health and survivability. As previously announced, all heroes now have a passive heal. Damage and Tank heroes will gain 20 HP per second after not taking damage for five seconds, with the healing kicking in after 2.5 seconds for Supports. There is a new passive for Damage heroes, which reduces enemies healing by 20% while they are taking damage, which should discourage Supports from "pocketing" players by staying with them and constantly healing them.

The change to projectiles should help balance out the increase of health, making it slightly easier to land shots across all characters. These increases are coming for both hitscan weapons and travel-time projectiles, but some of the larger projectiles, like Reinhardt's Firestrike, won't get an increase. For those heroes, they will get an additional balance at some point in the future, although Blizzard wants to see how these changes play out first. Below you can see an infographic with the exact details.

On top of these massive gameplay changes, Season 9 of Overwatch 2 also marks a reset for the Competitive mode. Not only is everyone getting a true rank reset, but the way changes are tracked is changing too. To start, there is a new highest rank called Champion, replacing the Top 500 rank that previously held that spot. Once you get your new starting rank after completing 10 placement matches, progress towards the next rank, either up or down, will be displayed on a progress bar. Previously you had to wait until certain milestones to get an update on your rank.

There are now new weapon skins to unlock with Competitive Points, which are the Jade skins. All previous Competitive Points earned will become legacy points, which can be used to unlock the gold guns already in the game. Jade weapons can only be unlocked from 2024 Competitive Points, which are earned for playing matches, with more awarded for winning.

Overwatch 2 Season 9: Champions arrives on February 13. Blizzard recently released a trailer for the new season, showing off some of the new cosmetics and teasing a Cowboy Bebop crossover.