Overwatch patch 1.23 is now live.

The main parts of the patch include the addition of the new map, Rialto, as an Escort map, and Hanzo’s remake, which has already gone through several changes on PTR.

Rialto, the new Escort map, is placed in Venezia, Italy, and features eye-catching canal and gondolas. Many players have been looking forward to this new map since they will be able to go to places they haven’t been able to in the Overwatch: Retribution mode from the Archives.

Players will be able to play in Rialto in Quick Play and Custom Game modes, and it will be available for Competitive Play in the next season, Season 11.

Along with the new map, balance changes for heroes have been added as well. Notably, the Hanzo remake that had become an issue among players on PTR went live with the new patch.

The projectile speed of Hanzo’s Storm Bow has been increased and the cooldown for Sonic Arrow has been reduced to 12 seconds, duration to 6 seconds, and radius to 7 meters.

Also, new skills, Lunge and Storm Arrows, have been added. Hanzo can now use Lunge to leap horizontally by pressing jump while in the air and quickly fire up to 6 arrows that inflict reduced damage by using Storm Arrows, which has replaced his Scatter Arrow. Hanzo’s consistent damage that had been pointed out as a problem by many players was fixed by this new change, and Hanzo players will now be able to inflict more damage depending on their skill level.

Just as many players had hoped, Lúcio’s Wall Ride and Soundwave have been buffed, and the damage for Tracer’s ultimate ability, Pulse Bomb, has been reduced from 400 to 300, making Tracer deal less damage against tanks.

Additionally, the speed of Junkrat’s ultimate ability, RIP-Tire, and Frag Launcher’s projectile size have been decreased. The hitbox of Genji’s Deflect was reduced as well, while the AoE for Brigitte’s Shield Bash has been reduced.

More details can be found in the following Overwatch patch note. 

▶ HERO UPDATES

Brigitte

Shield Bash
- Cone angle reduced from 90 to 60

Developer Comments: When fighting against Brigitte, it often felt like Shield Bash was able to hit players who felt like they were out of its range and should have dodged it. On the flip side, when playing as Brigitte sometimes players would hit the wrong enemy in the middle of a fight. With the cone being reduced, the ability is more accurate to its visual representation.

Genji

Deflect
- Hitbox size has been reduced

Developer Comments: The hitbox on Genji’s Deflect was big enough that it would sometimes reflect projectiles that were pretty far away from him. We’ve tightened up the hitbox, which should solve this problem while still fully protecting him from projectiles that would hit him from the front.

Hanzo

Storm Bow
- Projectile speed increased from 85 to 100

Sonic Arrow
- Cooldown decreased from 20 seconds to 12 seconds
- Duration decreased from 10 seconds to 6 seconds
- Radius decreased from 10 meters to 7 meters

New Abilities

Lunge
- Press jump while in the air to leap horizontally

Storm Arrows
- Replaces his existing Scatter Arrow ability
- Hanzo can now rapidly fire up to 6 arrows that deal reduced damage but are always fired at full power

Developer Comments: The goal of these Hanzo changes is to allow him to have new options and maintain his high damage output, while removing the frustration of fighting against the old Scatter Arrow. Hanzo is now much more mobile with his new Lunge ability, and with the combination of the bow projectile speed increase and the new Storm Arrows ability he can now deal his high damage more consistently than ever before.

Junkrat

Frag Launcher
- Projectile size decreased from 0.3 to 0.2

RIP-Tire
- Tire movement speed decreased from 13 to 12

Developer Comments: These changes are aimed at lowering some of the most frustrating parts about playing against Junkrat. Decreasing the Frag Launcher’s projectile size means he will have to aim a bit more carefully to land powerful direct hits and slowing the RIP-Tire’s movement speed gives his opponents slightly more time to destroy it before it detonates.

Lúcio

Wall Ride
- Wall riding is less likely to be interrupted along a single surface
- Can now go around corners (both outside corners, and inside corners) without having to leave the wall
- Can now land back on the same wall after leaping away, provided his leap takes him far enough away from the original jumping off point
- Added a minimum time that the jump key must be held before Lúcio can ride around corners

Soundwave
- No longer consumes ammo
- Can now be used while reloading

Developer Comments: Wall Ride has been significantly overhauled to allow it to function more smoothly across more areas of every map. Lúcio players should instantly notice a huge improvement in where and how Wall Ride can be used. In addition, Sonic Amplifier’s Soundwave ability was unnecessarily controlled by both a cooldown and an ammo cost, so we’re removing the ammo cost.

Tracer

Pulse Bomb
- Max damage decreased from 400 to 300

Developer Comments: Pulse Bomb was too good at killing tanks, who can be easy to stick due to their size. This damage reduction makes it less powerful as a tank-destroyer, while keeping it lethal against most other heroes.

▶ GAME BROWSER AND CUSTOM GAMES

General

- Mercy’s Regeneration (passive ability) can now be turned off in Custom Game settings
- Settings for Hanzo’s Lunge and Storm Arrow abilities can now be found in the Custom Game settings

▶  BUG FIXES

General

- Fixed a bug that caused the option “Invite to a Custom Game” to appear while in the Tutorial and Practice Range
- Fixed a bug that prevented oxygen tanks and fire extinguishers in spawn rooms from propelling after taking damage

AI

- Fixed a bug that prevented training bots from returning to their original position and behavior after being hit with an ability (e.g. Lúcio’s Soundwave)
- Fixed a bug that caused bots to use the wrong route when tracking down the player if their target jumped off a ledge
- Fixed a bug that caused bots to get stuck on the siege tank in the StarCraft area of Blizzard World
Game Browser and Custom Game
- Fixed a bug that caused custom game invites to persist on the invitee’s screen

Heroes

- Fixed a bug that prevented Bastion’s Zwing Zwing Zwing voice line from playing if the Null Sector skin was equipped
- Fixed a bug that prevented Brigitte from using abilities or Rocket Flail while her Repair Pack was in flight
- Fixed a bug that prevented Genji’s melee attack from making sound effects
- Fixed a bug that prevented Genji’s golden weapon variant from displaying its golden sheen when some skins were equipped
- Fixed a bug that allowed Junkrat’s RIP-TIRE to be immune to the freeze effects of Mei’s Endothermic Blaster
- Fixed a bug that caused Junkrat’s RIP-Tire to spawn inside of walls
- Fixed a bug that allowed Lúcio to move around while caught in Junkrat’s Steel Trap
- Fixed a bug that allowed Lúcio to travel straight up using Wall Ride
- Fixed a bug that caused Lúcio to lose movement speed if he landed on a wall from certain angles
- Fixed a bug that prevented crowd control abilities from affecting Resurrect (e.g. McCree’s Flashbang)
- Fixed a bug that prevented Moira’s flask from displaying in her Erlenmeyer victory pose when an Overwatch League skin was equipped
- Fixed a bug that caused Reaper’s Hellfire Shotguns to float when previewing his Dance emote in

Hero Gallery

- Fixed a bug that caused the camera to not focus correctly when viewing Roadhog’s Mug Shot victory pose
- Fixed a bug that caused Roadhog’s Chain Hook to float during his Footsteps highlight intro
- Fixed a bug that prevented the laser sight from Sombra’s Machine Pistol golden variant from tapering at its end if her Talon skin equipped
- Fixed a bug that caused Widowaker’s HUD to disappear if she used Widow’s Kiss while looking through the scope
- Fixed a bug that caused the logos on Symmetra’s Overwatch League skins to appear faded when viewed in the Hero Gallery
- Fixed a bug that caused the logos on Torbjörn’s Overwatch League skins to appear faded when viewed in the Hero Gallery
- Fixed a bug that caused the game to stutter during Tracer’s Recall when playing above 60 FPS

Maps

Fixed a bug that caused bots to get stuck walking into the side of the Rikimaru Ramen Shop on Hanamura
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to place turrets in unintended locations on Horizon Lunar Colony
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations in Horizon Lunar Colony
- Fixed a bug that caused the pig head on the bike to float after the bike had been destroyed in Junkertown
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to place turrets and Symmetra’s Teleporter in unintended locations in Junkertown