Blizzard has swung open the gates today with the July update, bringing a gift basket full of balance changes, customization options, and a new hero into the live client.

The spotlight of this update is none other than Doomfist, a melee-centric DPS hero that has already been punching his way to your hearts in the PTR. Alongside the Talon agent’s debut Blizzard have included a wealth of crosshair customization options, and buffs to a multitude of heroes that have been absent in the competitive meta.

The full patch notes are reproduced below:

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

New Hero: Doomfist (Offense):

Equipped with charisma and ambition, Doomfist is a consummate tactician and one of the leaders of Talon: literally throwing down his gauntlet as he joins the fight. From his base in Nigeria, Doomfist is a commanding offense hero equipped with hard-hitting melee abilities. Driven by a belief that conflict is essential to humanity’s progress, he’s committed to advancing his vision of the future—even if the agents of Overwatch disagree with his methods.

Doomfist’s cybernetics make him a highly mobile, powerful frontline fighter. His primary attack is the Hand Cannon; this four-shot weapon fires projectiles from Doomfist’s knuckles one at a time or in a single blast. With his secondary attack, Rocket Punch, he charges forward and delivers a devastating blow, knocking back any opponent it connects with and dealing extra damage if the enemy is hurled into a wall.

Seismic Slam smashes into a targeted area, knocking opponents toward him so he can deal further damage. His Rising Uppercut tosses enemies high into the air, while his passive ability, The Best Defense…, grants him shields every time he uses one of his abilities against an opponent. Lastly, his ultimate ability, Meteor Strike, causes him to leap high and drop into a targeted area, dealing massive amounts of damage.

To learn more about Doomfist, click here.

Loot Box Updates

We always want the experience of opening a loot box to feel exciting and rewarding, and in our latest patch, we’re working to improve that experience in two key ways. First, we’re drastically reducing the amount of duplicates you will receive when opening loot boxes. Second, to compensate for this reduction of duplicate items, we’re also increasing the overall amount of credits you will receive from loot boxes. On average, you should be earning just as many credits, if not slightly more, from loot boxes as you did prior to these changes.

New Highlight Options

Our highlights system has received several major updates:

  • The game will continue to automatically generate highlights for you based on your recent gameplay. These auto-generated highlights—now categorized as “Today’s Top 5”—will be surfaced on a daily basis and persist for a full 24 hours (or until the game client is patched, whichever happens first).
  • Players can now generate their own highlights! The ability to capture 12 seconds of your own gameplay has been added to the game, and can be bound to a single button of your choice (or a button per highlight slot) in the Options menu under “Request Highlight.” These player-generated highlights will be saved under a new section called “Recently Captured” and will persist until the game client is patched. Players can have up to 36 recently-captured highlights stored at one time.
  • With the above, players can now record any of their “Top 5” or “Recently Captured” highlights, exporting them as a video file to their gaming platform’s designated media library (on console) or directory (on PC). On PC, players will also have the option to select the quality at which these highlights are exported, supporting up to 4K for Windows 8 or higher operating systems, and up to 1080p on Windows 7.

To learn more about this feature, check out our recent developer update: https://youtu.be/OkYJlPMdWNA

GENERAL

  • Adjusted the respawn timing to limit defensive stalling strategies when the offensive team has a clear advantage and plays aggressively

Custom Games and Game Browser

  • Clarified the text on the “Flag Carrier” options under the Capture the Flag settings for Custom Games
  • Removed the “Projectile Speed” and “Projectile Gravity” options for heroes who do not have projectile weapons
  • Minimum movement speed has been changed to 50% (formerly 10%)
  • Players can no longer select Roadhog during Limited 1v1 matches

User Interface

  • Added ability to create customized reticles
    • Reticle options can be found under the “Controls” tab in the “Options” menu (click the “Advanced” expander under the “Reticle” heading)
  • The name of Mercy's “Stethoscope” spray has been changed to “Heartbeat”
  • Statistics gathered from 6v6 Elimination matches will now be added to statistics in the Career Profile
  • Tie games will no longer be included in the win percentage calculation that’s listed under the Player Profile

HERO UPDATES

D.Va

  • Defense Matrix
    • New sound effects and voice lines have been added, indicating when Defense Matrix has absorbed an enemy’s ultimate ability

Genji

  • Deflect
    • New sound effects and voice lines have been added, indicating when an enemy’s ultimate ability has been deflected

McCree

  • Flashbang
    • Stunned targets are now slowed heavily, meaning they're less likely to escape while stunned (especially while in the air)

Developer Comment: This change will make McCree's Flashbang consistent against fast-moving targets like Genji or Lúcio.

Reaper

  • Shadow Step
    • Sound effect and VO distance has been reduced by 50%

Developer Comment: Even though Shadow Step wasn't intended to be used as a way for players to teleport right next to an enemy without their knowledge, the sound effects were audible from distances that made teleportation difficult from nearly anywhere. This change allows Reaper to be a bit more sneaky with his flanking options.

Reinhardt

  • Rocket Hammer
    • Swing speed increased by 10%

Developer Comment: In the last update, Reinhardt’s Rocket Hammer had an issue that allowed players with higher latency to swing faster. We fixed this bug, which suddenly made the swing speed feel too slow, so we’re compensating by increasing his standard swing speed. During this process, we also found and fixed a few bugs with Rocket Hammer’s hit registration. Overall, the hammer should feel much better.

Zarya

  • Graviton Surge
    • Now disables mobility abilities on all affected targets

Developer Comment: In the past, the abilities that allowed heroes to escape Zarya’s Graviton Surge felt fairly arbitrary. We’re cleaning this up and increasing Graviton Surge's overall power by rendering all movement abilities unusable when an enemy is trapped.

BUG FIXES

General

  • Fixed an issue preventing “Best In Game” stats from being updated
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the user interface to incorrectly indicate that an enemy player has been hit when colliding with them
  • Fixed a bug that could allow projectiles that would normally pierce shields (i.e. Reinhardt’s Fire Strike) to pass through other surfaces
  • Fixed a bug that caused some players to lose audio during the match

Competitive Play

  • Fixed a bug that caused players to get a leaver penalty during offseason matches, even after the in-game banner advised it was safe to leave the match

Custom Games and Game Browser

  • Fixed a bug that prevented players from being added to a Custom Game with 12 Spectator slots
  • Fixed a bug in Custom Game settings that prevented some heroes with Self Healing from having a Healing Dealt modifier
  • Removed the Projectile Gravity slider from heroes who do not have abilities affected by gravity

Heroes

  • Fixed a bug with D.Va’s Call Mech ability that allowed you to see her inside the mech before entering it
  • Fixed a bug that could cause eliminations from Junkrat’s Total Mayhem to be mislabeled in the kill feed
  • Fixed a bug that would cause Junkrat to use his Ultimate Callout when he is unable to use his Ultimate
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Roadhog’s Chain Hook to latch on to Orisa’s Supercharger
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to take damage after activating her Translocator
  • The sound effects on Reinhardt's Bloodhardt, Blackhardt, and Wujing skins have been updated to reflect the use of an axe instead of a hammer
  • Fixed a bug preventing Lucio from receiving the full speed boost when traveling backwards during a Wall Ride
  • Fixed a bug that occasionally prevented Torbjörn from building and upgrading his turret
  • Fixed multiple hit registration bugs in Reinhardt’s Rocket Hammer

Maps

  • Fixed a bug on Eichenwalde that prevented Soldier 76 from placing his Biotic Field in certain locations of Point A
  • Fixed a bug that caused AI-controlled players to perpetually move toward the objective on the Gardens point in Oasis
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Training Bots from facing the right direction and returning to their original location after being moved by player interactions on the Practice Range
  • Fixed a bug with that was causing unusual camera angles for Highlight Intros on Route 66
  • Fixed a bug that could cause D.Va to fall through the floor while boosting into the ground in a specific area on Volskaya Industries