Real? Fake? Genji needs healing? You decide.
No secret is safe when it comes to esports professionals. This isn't to say that each and every player player has loose lips. But, there sure does seem to be a number of sinking ship in the Overwatch harbor right now. Word on the street is that Overwatch Season 9 is shaping up to be a massive change forward for the game. This may have been confirmed earlier today thanks to two former Overwatch League players who appeared to leak the Overwatch Season 9 patch notes.
The first leak occurred on the Twitch stream of Rupal "Rupal" Zaman, former main support player for the Florida Mayhem. The source of the notes themselves is unknown, but it's an open secret in the community that PTR servers exist for upcoming content. Typically reserved for content creators and pro players, this leaves the door open for potential Overwatch Season 9 leaks to get out.
And out they did, as Rupal appears to give out massive spoilers for what's to come in Overwatch Season 9. The notes also made it to the stream of fellow NA pro Alex "Seeker" Taylor, who played on Team Canada in OWWC 2023.
Editor's note: As with all leaks of this nature, we take them with a grain of salt and a gallon of penicillin. If these patch notes are found to be false we'll update accordingly. So, your mileage may vary.
Overwatch Season 9 leak: Patch notes?
Well, let's dig in. A reminder: These notes are not confirmed and are missing in spots due to Rupal's webcam blocking the screen. This list may or may not be incomplete as well.
Hero updates
- Global Projectile Size Increase
- Most damage-dealing projectile sizes have been increased, allowing all heroes to hit their targets more easily
- Hitscan weapons with a high spread and rate of fire, such as Soldier: 76's Pulse Rifle, have been increased by 0.05
- Average hitscan weapons and abilities, such as Cassidy's Peacemaker, have been increased by 0.8
- Travel-time projectile weapons that are shotguns, such as Roadhog's scrap gun, or have a high rate of fire, such as Ramattra's Void Accelerator, have been increased by 0.05
- Travel-time projectiles that travel slower than 50 meters per second, such as Pharah's Rocket Launcher are increased by 0.15
- Travel-time projectiles that travel 50 meters per second or faster, such as Hanzo's Storm Bow, are increased by 0.1
Other abilities affected from this update
- Ana's Sleep Dart
- Brigitte's Whip Shot
- Orisa's Energy Javelin
- Reinhardt's Firestrike
- Roadhog's Chain Hook
- Sigma's Accretion
- Sombra's Virus
- Other hero abilities, such as melee and energy beams, are adjusted in either damage or hitbox width and is specified in each hero's update.
Health Pool Update
- The total Hero health pool for all heroes, including health, armor, and shields, are increased from around 15% to 20%.
Tank changes
- Pilot D.Va health increased from 150 to 175
- Mech D.Va armor increased from 300 to 375
- Mauga health increased from 300-400
- Orisa armor increased from 275 to 350
- Ramattra health increased from 200 to 275
- Reinhardt health increased from 200 to 250 and armor increased from 250 to 275
- Roadhog health increased from 550 to 650
- Sigma shields increased from 200 to 275
- Winston health increased from 200 to 225 and armor increased from 200 to 250
- Wrecking Ball armor increased from 100 to 175
Overwatch Season 9 leaks: Damage changes
- Ashe health increased from 200 to 250
- Bastion health increased from 225 to 275
- Cassidy health increased from 200 to 250
- Echo health increased from 200 to 250
- Genji health increased from 200 to 250
- Hanzo health increased from 200 to 250
- Junkrat health increased from 200 to 250
- Mei health increased from 200 to 300
- Pharah health increased from 200 to 250
- Reaper health increased from 250 to 300
- Sojourn health increased from 200 to 250
- Soldier:76 health increased from 200 to 250
- Sombra health increased from 200 to 250
- Symmetra shields increased from 100 to 150
- Torbjorn health increased from 200 to 250
- Tracer health increased from 150 to 175
- Widowmaker health increased from 175 to 200
Support changes
- Ana health increased from 200 to 250
- Baptiste health increased from 200 to 250
- Brigitte health increased from 150 to 200
- Illari health increased from 200 to 250
- Kiriko health increased from 200 to 250
- Lifeweaver health increased from 175 to 200
- Lucio health increased from 200 to 250
- Mercy health increased from 200 to 250
- Moira health increased from 200 to 250
- Zenyatta health increased from 75 to 100 and shields increased from 150 to 175
Global Health Generation Passive
- All heroes now regenerate 20 health points per second after 5 seconds of not taking damage
Ultimate Charge Update
- All hero Ultimate Costs are increased by 10%
D.Va
- Self Destruct
- Outer radius maximum damage increased from 900 to 1000
- Crush radius range increased from 4 to 6 meters
Doomfist
- Rocket Punch
- Max impact damage increased from 50 to 75
- Max wall slam damage increased from 30 to 40
Junkerqueen
- Rampage
- Wound damage over time increased from 60 to 90
Reinhardt
- Rocket Hammer
- Damage increased from 85 to 100
- Charge
- Wall impact damage increased from 225 to 275
Winston
- Tesla Cannon
- Damage increased from 60 to 75 damage per second
- Primal Rage
- Punch damage increased from 40 to 50
Zarya
- Particle Cannon
- Primary Fire Beam width increased from 0.15 to 0.20 meters
Overwatch Season 9 leaks: Damage role
- Reload speed bonus on elimination has been removed
- New role passive: Dealing damage reduces healing (blocked on stream)
Ashe
- B.O.B.
- B.O.B. weapon damage increased from 14 to 17
Cassidy
- Deadeye
- Initial damage rate increased from 130 to 150
- Damage rate increased from 160 to 300
Echo
- Focusing Beam
- Width Increased from 0.2 to 0.25 meters
- Duplicate
- Maximum combined health, including health, armor, and shields, increased from 300 to 350
Genji
- Dragonblade
- Swing recovery decreased from 0.9 to 0.7
Hanzo
- Storm Arrows
- Damage increased from 65 to 75
- Cooldown reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
Pharah
- Rocket Launcher
- Self-damage percentage decreased from 50% to 25%
- Recovery reduced from 0.85 to 0.8 seconds
- Projectile speed increased from 35 to 40
- Jet Dash
- New Ability on Secondary Fire
- Option to set Jet Dash to Double Jump
- Horizontal Dash in the direction you're moving
- 10 Second Cooldown
- Jump Jets
- 20% Weaker
- Cooldown increased from 10 to 14 seconds
- Gives 50% of your fuel back
- Concussive Blast
- 25% weaker horizontal knockback
- Range decreased from 8 to 5 meters
- Cooldown decreased from 9 to 7 seconds
- Now deals 30 explosion damage
Rocket Barrage
- Now instantly reloads Rocket Launcher
Hover Jets
- Fuel decreased by 20%
- Speed boost increased by 100%
- Now gives you better aerial maneuverability
- No longer refuels in the air, only will refuel on ground
- Fuel can increase to 200% capacity if filled from ground
- Can be used without fuel to slow your descent
Symmetra
- Photon Projector
- Primary fire beam width increased from 0.15 to 0.25
Overwatch Season 9 leaks: Support role
- Regenerative passive now reduces the delay before regeneration begins by half (2.5 seconds)
Brigitte
- Rocket Flail
- Damage increased from 35 to 45
Kiriko
- Kunai
- Base projectile size reduced from 0.18 to 0.15
Lucio
- Soundwave
- Damage increased from 25 to 35
- Knockback increased 12%
- Movement lockout duration increased from 0.3 to 0.45
The question begs: Do we think this is real? Part of me believes based purely on the fact that these changes are so specific in scale and scope. If these are real then the core of Overwatch changes completely, as aiming ability will be become less important. However, a lot of questions remain about what happens to the flow of Overwatch if everyone essentially gets a health and damage buff.
We'll update this as more information becomes available and as Overwatch Season 9 approaches in the next three weeks.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for esports news and Overwatch information.