Overwatch 2 Season 17 is carrying on the trend of positive upheaval with new changes to how the base game is played, alongside more additions to Stadium, Overwatch’s newest and biggest spin-off.
“It’s all about giving you more customisation, freedom, and tools to elevate your game across all of Overwatch 2,” senior game designer Dylan Snyder says in a dev update. Alongside a new Flashpoint map, Morocco, there are updates to Junk City and Suravasa, and the regularly scheduled new season patch notes for all the heroes. But the best part of Season 17 is the map voting, which lets players pick one map out of three to play.
And now there’s a new standalone mode in Overwatch 2, we’ll also be getting seasonal updates for Stadium, starting with Season 17. “Sigma, Junkrat, and Zenyatta are all entering the field bringing fresh energy and strategies,” senior systems designer Connor Kou says. “And lots of projectiles,” adds UI artist Sadie Boyd.
I’ve been a bit worried about Junkrat’s entry to Stadium ever since he was teased in the roadmap. Stadium is already a chaotic cluster of projectiles, bullets, and shields, and adding the hero with the most chaotic damage to the mix may overwhelm things slightly. Looking at Junkrat’s Powers, my worries are not alleviated.
For those who may not be as apt with aiming Junkrat’s projectile grenades, there’s Big Bang which increases projectile size by 33% every time it bounces, Slapnel which causes melee hits to explode knocking targets back, and Rainin’ Lead which will drop a Total Mayhem bomb after you launch yourself into the air with a concussion mine.
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For the more precise players, there’s Powers which reward you for accuracy. Bingo! reduces ability cooldowns by 25% and Bango! adds 20% burn damage for two seconds, with both Powers giving their benefits when you score a direct hit with Junkrat’s grenades.
It may all seem very scary for those of us who have been the victims of a random grenade hit, but most Powers in Stadium look pretty scary the first time you see them. So while I’m apprehensive, there are other suped-up heroes out there which will probably put Junkrat in his place.
Junkrat, Sigma, and Zenyatta Stadium Powers revealed from r/Competitiveoverwatch
Alongside the Aussie, there’s also Zenyatta and Sigma coming to Stadium. One of the coolest abilities exhibited during the dev update was Sigma’s little rotating shield. This adorable thing is a mini version of Sigma’s standard shield which just revolves around him at all times. It can also heal nearby allies if you pick Philharmonic Fortitude.
Zenyatta has a slightly more predictable Power set with his boosted abilities revolving around his orbs, kick, and ultimate. There is Circle of Strife which adds Discord Orbs to all enemies within range of his Transcendence, which will certainly piss a lot of people off, as he’ll give his teammates temporary immortality while weakening all his enemies.
Stadium is also getting a pre-build section, where you can save all of your homemade builds or copy others from the armoury, tab scoreboard, replays, or game reports. You’ll also be able to add a description to each one so you can detail the thought process behind it. “These tools ensure you have everything to create, organise, and share with ease,” Boyd says. It’s a huge quality-of-life update which Stadium has needed from day one, so it’s a big check off my list.
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