Overwatch’s latest version, 1.16, is now live alongside the Halloween Terror update. The big news in 1.16 is a major change to the way ultimates are cast, alongside some helpful readability tweaks to the UI – do read on for full details.
This change might shake up the tier-lists a little, but our picks should still hold true on the live servers…for now.
Overwatch Patch 1.16 hero changes
The below changes all went live with patch 1.16, but Blizzard are still tinkering with Mercy and Lucio on the PTR – scroll to the bottom of this post for their latest versions. Lucio in particular has gone through quite an episode – click here for all the messy details.
D.Va
Boosters
- Players now have the option to now hold down the boost button, rather than using the default toggle method. Releasing the button will end the ability.The Hold Boosters option can be found under the ‘Controls’ tab in the ‘Options’ menu – select D.Va from the dropdown menu.
Genji
Dragonblade
- Stun attacks that hit Genji during his Dragonblade’s casting animation won’t interrupt the cast. (Soldier: 76, Winston, and Bastion’s ults work the same way.)
Orisa
Supercharger
- Can now be interrupted when Orisa is stunned or hacked.
Sombra
Hack
- Now interrupts the following ultimate abilities: Ana’s Nano Boost, Orisa’s Supercharger, Mei’s Blizzard, Reinhardt’s Earthshatter, and D.Va’s Call Mech.
Overwatch Patch 1.16 Ultimate Ability Changes
Ultimate charge is now immediately depleted when a hero’s ult is cast, rather than being depleted over a short period of time.
In previous versions, if you were killed while casting your ult, you would respawn with at least a partial charge. That’s not a thing any more. With this change, pressing ‘Q’ will instantly spend all your charge, even if your ult doesn’t finish casting before you’re killed.
A thread on the Overwatch subreddit points out that this will affect Mei and Bastion – already two of the least-picked and least successful heroes – more than anyone else, as their ult cast times are among the longest in the game. Other heroes that are faster on the draw will be much less stung by this change.
Overwatch Patch 1.16 User Interface changes
Assault Maps
- A team-coloured high-water mark will now appear in the progress bar until the attacking team has overtaken the defending team’s progress
- When capturing an objective, the progress bar is now broken into three segments; when filled, each segment will trigger an animation and audio cue
- The number of defenders currently on the objective will now be displayed with the attacker count, just below the progress bar
Spectating
- Team colours are now visible in the capture point progress bar on Assault, Escort, and Assault/Escort maps
Overwatch Patch 1.16 Bug Fixes
General
- Fixed a bug that allowed muted players to become unmuted after leaving and rejoining the same match
A.I.
- Fixed a bug that caused bots to get trapped in a movement loop after taking the tunnel under the capture point in the University section of Oasis
Competitive Play
- Fixed an issue that caused matches to end in a draw when both teams won their first attacking rounds in overtime on Hanamura, Horizon Lunar Colony, Temple of Anubis, and Volskaya Industries
- Custom Games and Game Browser
- Fixed a bug that prevented the Capture Speed Modifier setting from being applied in custom games
- Fixed a bug that prevented D.Va’s Projectile Speed slider from appearing in Custom Game settings
Heroes
- Fixed a bug that prevented D.Va’s Micro Missles from producing rumble feedback when using a controller with vibration enabled
- Fixed a bug that caused Lúcio’s soccer ball to fly off in the wrong direction when activating his Juggle emote at 30 FPS
- Fixed a bug that caused Mercy to maintain forward momentum after canceling Guardian Angel mid-flight
- Fixed a bug that could cause heroes to respawn as a different hero after being resurrected by Mercy
- Fixed a bug that caused Roadhog’s chest to deflate when his Tuckered Out emote was activated while the Mako or Sharkbait skins were equipped
- Fixed a bug that prevented the sound effects on Symmetra’s turrets from being heard by teammates
- Fixed a bug that prevented Torbjörn’s weapon-draw animation from being played when turret placement was canceled
Maps
- Fixed a bug on Junkertown that allowed some heroes to get stuck behind a barrel near the final point
- Fixed a bug on King’s Row that caused a dark box to appear if you stared into the robot city for too long
- Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to reach unintended locations on Volskaya Industries
- Fixed a bug affecting Ilios, Lijang Tower, Nepal, and Oasis that prevented overtime progress from resetting when the point had been flipped after both teams’ progress bars reached 99%
UI
- Fixed a bug that could cause Widowmaker’s scoped overlay to appear while spectating her from third person view
Overwatch PTR Updates
Though patch 1.16 has already gone live, Blizzard are still updating the PTR. The following changes will be pushed live at some point before the 1.17 patch cycle begins.
Mercy
Valkyrie
- Valkyrie now gives you a free ‘charge’ of Mercy’s Resurrection ability. If you don’t use it before Valkyrie expires, it doesn’t carry into Mercy’s neutral game. Unlike in previous builds, Valkyrie no longer resets or lowers Resurrection’s cooldown, nor does it increase its range.
Lucio
Wallride
- Wallride provides Lucio with a speed and height boost after jumping off a wall. Older versions contained an exploitable bug that enabled players to achieve a “super-boost,” which Blizzard wanted to fix. In doing so, they nerfed Wallride’s normal function and thus, Lucio’s overall mobility. The latest PTR buildaims to fix this by buffing his wallride boost.
- Hopefully, Lucio should feel more or less the same as he ever did, but you’ll no longer be able to use mouse wheel bindings or macros to achieve that super-boost. What a palaver.