Overwatch patch 1.14 has gone live on August 30th. Patch 1.14 includes a new arcade mode, ‘Deathmatch’, a new map called Château Guillard, and the balance patches for several heroes, which were all tested on the PTR.

There are two game modes for the Deathmatch: Château Deathmatch, in which 8 players take on one another, and Team Deathmatch in which 4 players play as a team against the other team. Both modes will grant players 1 point whenever they land the final blow on an opponent, and the game ends once a player or a team gets to 30 points. When you die, there is no death timer, so you can respawn instantly by pressing Space Bar.

The Deathmatch takes place in the new map, Château Guillard, which was specially made for the Château Deathmatch mode. Château Guillard has small, complex paths running to and fro, with health packs and jump pads located here and there in the map. This makes for an enjoyable and carefree brawl. In Château Deathmatch, the game ends once a player gets 20 points, and only the top 4 players in the match are crowned as winners.

Team Deathmatch is a game mode where two teams fight earn 30 points. The map for Team Deathmatch is randomly selected from the original arcade maps. It is similar to 3 vs. 3 Lockout Elimination mode, but players can instantly respawn and must obtain 30 points before the opponent team does in order to win. If Mercy resurrects players before they respawn, the corresponding points for their deaths will be taken away from the enemy team’s score.

The balance changes that were tested on the PTR are now live as well. Heroes that were once played the least have now been buffed in the balance patch. These Heroes are Junkrat, Widowmaker, Orisa, and Roadhog.

Junkrat can now have up to 2 Concussion Mines, and his ult, RIP-Tire, no longer has a time limit when climbing a wall, and its speed has been increased by 30%. This means that Junkrat can deal more damage, has better mobility, and can more effectively take down enemies in unexpected ways.

The cooldown for Widowmaker’s Grappling Hook has been reduced from12 seconds to 8, and targets affected by Venom Mines are now visible through walls although only to the player who is playing as Widowmaker.

The projectile speed for Orisa’s Fusion Driver has now increased by 20%, the size of her Protective Barrier has increased by 20%, and the shape has been changed to allow for more efficient coverage.

Roadhog’s Take a Breather can now be used while moving, and damage taken while using it has been reduced by 50%.

Further details on patch 1.14 can be read in the Patch Note below.

▣ Overwatch Patch Highlights – August 29, 2017

▶ New Game Modes: Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch

Two new game modes have been added to the Arcade: Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch!
In Deathmatch, eight players go head-to-head until one player scores 20 points. Players will earn 1 point whenever they land the final blow on an opponent and will lose 1 point whenever they die to environmental damage (ex: falling off a cliff) or self-inflicted damage. This scoring will be tracked in a brand-new scoreboard. The first player to 20 points wins!

In Team Deathmatch, two teams of four players face off until one team scores 30 points. Players will earn 1 point for their team whenever they land the final blow on an opponent and will lose 1 point for their team whenever they die to environmental damage (ex: falling off a cliff) or self-inflicted damage. If players are resurrected before they respawn, the corresponding point for their death will be deducted from the enemy team’s score. This scoring will be tracked in our default scoreboard.

The first team to 30 points wins!

Both modes will play out on a selection of maps from our existing pool:

- Hanamura
- Horizon Lunar Colony
- Temple of Anubis
- Volskaya Industries
- Dorado
- Eichenwalde
- Hollywood
- King’s Row
- (TDM only) Black Forest
- (TDM only) Castillo
- (TDM only) Ecopoint: Antarctica
- (TDM only) Necropolis

We’ve made several modifications to many of these maps (including restricting play to a specific area and developing a special respawn system) when playing in these modes. We’re also introducing a brand-new map specifically for Deathmatch: Château Guillard! Learn more about this map below.

Both modes will be available for play in Custom Games. 

▶ New Deathmatch Map: Château Guillard

Château Guillard is located near Annecy in southeastern France. For hundreds of years, it was the estate of the influential Guillard family, until it gradually fell into disrepair after the family's power waned in the decades after the Revolution. Recently, the château has found a new owner: the Talon agent Widowmaker, who has returned to her family's ancestral home.

■  General

- A number of data format changes have been implemented

Developer Comments: Over the past few months, we’ve been working on a number of significant under-the-hood changes that will help us streamline the patching process. This will allow us to reduce the download size in future patches, but it does mean that today’s patch is larger than a traditional patch.

- Match-wide voice chat has been added for Deathmatch and Custom Games

- An “Aim Ease in” option has been added under the “Advanced” tab in the “Controller” menu. This allows players to customize their turn rate acceleration. If you’d like to know more, check out the developer explain over on the forums.

■ Hero Updates

▶ Junkrat

- Concussion Mine
Junkrat can now hold two mines

- RIP Tire
Tire’s movement speed has been increased by 30%
There is no longer a time limit when wall climbing

Developer Comments: Giving the Junkrat the ability to store two concussion mines adds some much-needed flexibility and versatility to his kit, particularly when using the mines for mobility. RIP-Tire’s damage has always been very good, but it was often difficult to steer the tire into position before it was destroyed. Increasing its speed will allow players to effectively detonate the tire more often and decrease the amount of time that Junkrat is vulnerable while controlling it.

▶ Orisa

- Fusion Driver
Projectile speed increased by 20%

- Protective Barrier
Barrier size increase by 20%
Barrier shape has been changed to allow for more coverage from enemies that are below the barrier

Developer Comments: The projectile speed increase helps Orisa’s consistency, especially at medium ranges (or further). Her barrier size has been increased to better protect her team, and the new shape makes the shield more effective when it’s used on slopes or on top of objects (such as a payload).

▶ Roadhog

Take a Breather
Can now be used while moving
Damage taken while healing has been reduced by 50%

Developer Comments: These changes help Roadhog be much more aggressive when looking for hook targets or blocking for his team. The combination of these effects significantly increases Roadhog’s sustainability and survivability.

▶ Widowmaker

- Grappling Hook
Cooldown has been reduced from 12 seconds to 8

- Venom Mine
Affected targets are now visible through walls (to you as Widowmaker only)

Developer Comments: Widowmaker is extremely powerful in the right hands, but her abilities often felt a little weak. The Grappling Hook cooldown reduction means she is more likely to have it available when she needs to escape. Venom Mine is intended to be an early warning system, uncovering enemies that are attempting to flank her or her team. With this change, she can see enemies when they trigger the mine, even if they’re on the other side of a wall.

■ Competitive Play

▶ General

- The length of Competitive Play seasons has been reduced to 2 months (formerly 3)

- The winner on Control maps will now be decided based on a best-2-out-of-3 series (formerly 3-out-of-5)

- Due to the shortened season length, fewer Competitive Points will be rewarded at the end of each season

- More Competitive Points will be rewarded for wins or ties in Competitive Play
15 Competitive Points for a win (formerly 10)
5 Competitive Points for a tie (formerly 3)

- Periodic Skill Rating decay has been reduced
Previously inactive players (in Diamond tier or above) lost 50 Skill Rating per day. This has been reduced to 25 Skill Rating per day

- Playing a match now increases the time till decay by 36 hours (up from 24 hours). The maximum number of days remains set at 7

- Players who place in Diamond or below can now lose their place in that tier if their Skill Rating drops below the minimum requirement. However, they’ll still earn their end-of-season rewards for their highest skill tier placed

- Player Skill Ratings will no longer be temporarily lowered at the beginning of a season (after placement matches)

- Changes in Skill Rating that occur after each competitive match have been adjusted to address some anomalies, especially with certain heroes

Developer Comments: Learn more about Skill Rating and Skill Tier updates in our forum post here.

▶ Gameplay

- Defensive spawn times will now slowly increase earlier in the battle when the attacking team has more players on the objective

■ User Interface

▶ General

- Added an “Outline Opacity” option under the custom reticle settings (found under Controls > Options > Advanced), which allows players to control the opacity of the black outline surrounding the reticule

■ Bug Fixes

▶General

- Fixed a bug that occasionally required the Capture Point progress bar to progress past the second tick mark before being activated

▶ Heroes

- Fixed a bug that could cause D.Va's black ejection screen to briefly reappear after being ejected from her mech

- Fixed a bug causing D. Va’s Light Gun to utilize the wrong texture while outside of her mech when the Junker skin was equipped

- Fixed a bug that caused D. Va’s hair to stand straight up on the Hero Select screen when her Cruiser skin was equipped

- Fixed a bug causing the lights on the back of Doomfist’s hand to incorrectly indicate full ammo when his Hello emote was activated

- Fixed a bug that prevented the area-of-effect circle for Doomfist’s Meteor Strike from being visible to all players

- Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Meteor Strike from reaching certain high-altitude locations
Fixed a bug that was preventing Doomfist’s Rocket Punch from connecting with enemy players that were moving up an incline

- Fixed a bug preventing Orisa’s “Overclocked” achievement from being granted, even after the criteria was met

- Fixed a bug causing Sombra’s teeth to be visible while her Stealth ability was active when her Los Muertos skin was equipped

- Fixed a bug causing Sombra’s reload animation to play even when interrupted

▶ Maps

- Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Ecopoint: Antarctica

- Fixed a bug that allowed players to see past the map’s background on Black Forest

- Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Black Forest

- Fixed a bug that caused the announcer to say “Travelling to Dorado” when joining Castillo

- Fixed a bug that prevented some equipment (vents, pipes, etc.) from properly connecting to the walls of the power plant on Dorado

- Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Hanamura

- Fixed a bug that caused some projectiles to go through the ground on the last point of Horizon Lunar Colony

- Fixed an issue that caused sprays to display incorrectly on the crane on the Horizon Lunar Colony

- Fixed a bug that caused pink lighting to appear in some areas of Ilios

- Fixed a bug that could cause A.I. heroes to get themselves stuck while traveling to the Well Capture Point on Ilios

- Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Ilios

- Fixed an issue that caused the lighting to appear dark in Genji’s room on Nepal

- Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Oasis

- Fixed a bug that prevented Pharah’s Jump Jet from recharging while perched on door frames in Oasis

- Fixed a bug that prevented door frames from being visible and lacking collision on the Practice Range

- Fixed a bug that caused some players to get stuck behind a plant near the second point on Route 66

- Fixed a bug that allowed Doomfist to reach unintended locations on Volskaya Industries

▶User Interface

- Fixed a bug in the Options > Controls menu that prevented the asterisk (which normally indicates that changes have been made) from being removed from the hero’s dropdown after controls have been set to default

- Fixed a bug causing the Back button to disappear when scrolling through the list of available games in the Game Browser