Overwatch patch 1.13 brought new changes to the live server on July 28th. This update includes the release of the new 25th Overwatch hero, Doomfist, along with updates to loot boxes, highlights, and Hero balances that were previously added to the Overwatch PTR.

Doomfist is a melee Offense Hero who uses a huge gauntlet as his weapon; he has powerful melee skills that you can use in a skill combo to inflict heavy damage. Doomfist deals high skill damage compared to his Hand Cannon attacks, and all his skills allow him to quickly move a long distance. You can use the mobility Doomfist gains from these traits to initiate fights, or ambush enemies from behind.

Doomfist has continuously shown off powerful plays ever since his addition to the PTR. This might be the reason the range for his Rocket Punch was reduced by 20%, and the height you could move when using Seismic Slam midair was lowered, which means that you can no longer use the Rising Uppercut and Seismic Slam skill combo to climb to a higher spot.

Now the chances of getting duplicates from loot boxes will be reduced drastically. This means that you will be getting items unacquired on that account first if you open your loot boxes after today’s patch. If you get a duplicate, the amount of credits you will get as compensation will increase, allowing you to buy the items you want at the same time you get various new items.

A huge change has been added to the highlight system- now you can have 36 highlights stored for your to enjoy, instead of just five. The top five highlights will stay for 24 hours even after you exit the game without saving them.

Also, you can now record your own versions of highlights, and export them as a video file; you can change the resolution and framerate for these videos, even up to 4K with 60 frames.

The ability to customize your own reticles is now live on the server; you can change the reticle settings like crosshair length and type, thickness, and opacity in the Control tab. You’ll be able to customize your own reticle to use ingame.

The balance patch on Heroes has been released as well. The biggest change would be the buffs to Reinhardt and Zarya, Heroes pushed back to the waiting room as Winston and D.Va were picked for the Dive Meta. Reinhardt has the swing speed for his Rocket Hammer increased by 10%, and fixed the bug with its hit registration. Zarya’s Graviton Surge now disables mobility abilities on all targets trapped in her ult.

McCree now can slow the targets he stuns with Flashbang. Before the update, the targets hit with Flashbang moved a bit when they were using a mobility ability or jumping during the hit, but now the stunned targets will not move at all when hit with Flashbang. It has become harder for stunned targets to escape.

Reaper received a buff which makes his sound effects and VO distance reduce by 50%. This allows Reaper to use his Shadow Step to flank enemies without getting caught, and gives him a chance to ambush enemies with more success.

Other than that, new changes include new sound effects and voice lines for D.Va’s Defense Matrix and Genji’s Deflect that indicates when an enemy ult has been absorbed or deflected, and Mercy can no longer resurrect allies in the spawn room.

You can read more on the 1.13 Patch on the live server on July 28th below.

▣ 1.13 Patch on Live Server - July 28th, 2017

▶ 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.

▶ 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.

■ 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