Overwatch 2 Reveals Patch Notes for May 15 Stadium Update

Summary

Overwatch 2 introduced a hotfix for Stadium with hero nerfs and buffs, an increased bounty cap, and reduced Armory timers.
The adjustments include boosting Ana's abilities, reducing Zarya and Cassidy's income, and nerfing Reaper's powers in Stadium mode.
The hotfix is separate from the mid-Season 16 update, which will bring balance changes and new hero Freja, plus a Street Fighter collaboration.

Overwatch 2 just pushed out a hotfix for Stadium that nerfed Zarya, Cassidy, and Reaper, buffed Ana, increased the bounty cap, and reduced the Armory timer in early rounds. These balance adjustments are live in Overwatch 2 now and are separate from the mid-Season 16 update on May 20.

Stadium is the new game mode Overwatch 2 released at the start of Season 16. Since then, Overwatch 2 has released a small update for Stadium just about every week, featuring balance adjustments, bug fixes, and other tweaks.

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Now, Overwatch 2 has followed suit with yet another Stadium hotfix. One of the biggest changes in this update came in the form of an increase to the Bounty cap a player can reach from 2000 to 3000 Stadium Cash, drastically increasing the comeback potential from taking down key members of the enemy’s team. Additionally, fans will have less time to shop at the Armory in the first three rounds of Stadium in Overwatch 2, with 25 fewer seconds in rounds one and three, and 15 in round two.

The hotfix also included some hero balance adjustments. The largest change was with some buffs to Ana; the Home Remedy Power now provides twice as much Overhealth, and the Venomous Power now deals 20 additional damage. For Items, Quick Scope now provides 5% extra Weapon Power, and I.V. Drip an additional 50 Overhealth. To compensate, the Dreamy Power was slightly nerfed to make other options more attractive.

A few other heroes were not so lucky. Zarya and Cassidy both had their Stadium Cash income from damage and healing reduced by 12.5%. Meanwhile, Reaper’s Revolving Ruin Power in Overwatch 2's Stadium mode had its Attack Speed scaling and maximum stacks reduced, and both Wraith Renewal and Spirited to Slay received bug fixes that, while technically returning them to their intended interactions, could be considered nerfs as well.

These balance adjustments are completely separate from the Overwatch 2 mid-Season 16 update, which will arrive on May 20. Players can expect more balance adjustments, plus Freja’s arrival as the first new Overwatch 2 hero in Stadium. What’s more, Mercy’s Mythic Weapon skin will be added to the store, and the Overwatch 2 x Street Fighter 6 collab will begin, featuring eight new skins and an in-game event. The crossover gameplay trailer will be released on May 19, so interested fans should be sure not to miss it.

Overwatch 2 Stadium Hotfix Patch Notes – May 15, 2025

Hotfix Balance Update

This is a game balance hotfix. Replay codes from the May 6, 2025 patch are still available.

Stadium Updates

Economy

Increased bounty cap to 3000 (up from 2000).

Developer Comments: Bounties are intended as a comeback mechanic, and we feel like the current cap can increase to maximize that potential.

Armory

Reduced timer from 100 seconds to 75 seconds in round 1 and 3.
Reduced timer from 75 seconds to 60 seconds in round 2.

Developer Comments: We are reducing the amount of time you can shop during early rounds. We find that players need this time later in the game as they as are selling and countering, but it's not as useful up front.

TANK

Zarya

Developer Comments: Zarya continues to overperform at all levels. Most of her power comes from how Weapon Power scales with Energy, allowing her to reach very high damage ceilings, so slowing down the rate at which she can scale her Weapon Power.

Reduced cash income from damage and healing by 12.5%.

DAMAGE

Cassidy

Developer Comments: Cassidy continues to be too dominant too consistently, especially at higher levels of play. Most of his power comes from how well he scales with Weapon Power, so shaving off a bit of his currency gain to slow down the pace of his scaling.

Reduced income from damage and healing by 12.5%.

Reaper

Developer Comments: We're squashing a few bugs that we believe have contributed to Reaper's high win rate. We're also making a slight adjustment to Revolving Ruin's ramp up time and maximum stacks. We're planning to make some more adjustments to Reaper's weapon builds in the future to incentivize them to build stats other than just Weapon Power.

Revolving Ruin - Power
- Reduced Attack Speed per stack to 4% (down from 5%).
- Increased maximum stacks to 10 (up from 8).
Wraith Renewal - Power
- Fixed an issue where Wraith Renewal healing was always being doubled, regardless of what your current Life was.
Spirited to Slay - Power
- Fixed an issue that caused Reaper's cooldowns to be reset without getting an Elimination.

SUPPORT

Ana

Developer Comments: Ana’s abilities feature some of the longest cooldowns in the support roster, and their impact hasn’t always matched that investment in Stadium. This update improves the effectiveness of her utility, helping her keep allies in the fight longer and better rewarding well-timed ability usage. These changes should give Ana more consistent value in extended engagements.

Home Remedy - Power
- Increased Overhealth gain to 200% (up from 100%).
Dreamy - Power
- Decreased heal to 80% (down from 100%).
- Decreased duration to 4s (down from 8s).
Venomous - Power
- Increased damage to 50 (up from 30).
Quick Scope – Rare Hero Weapon Item
- Increased Weapon Power to +10% (up from 5%).
I.V. Drip – Rare Hero Survival Item
- Increased Overhealth to 150 (up from 100).

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OpenCritic Reviews: Top Critic Avg: 77 /100 Critics Rec: 65%

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Released: August 10, 2023
ESRB: T For Teen // Blood, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco, Violence
Developer(s): Blizzard
Publisher(s): Blizzard
Engine: Proprietary Engine
Multiplayer: Online Multiplayer
Cross-Platform Play: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S

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Overwatch 2 is an always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl. Power up your railgun and disrupt the battlefield as Sojourn, or yield your axe and command attention as Junker Queen. Battle to take control of a robot and move it toward the enemy base in the new Push Mode. Bring the fight to new destinations across the globe in iconic locations like New York, Rome, Monte Carlo and Rio. Daily challenges and frequent updates mean there is always something new to play.