Overwatch 2 Teases Season 16 Perk Changes

Summary

New Perks are being added for Sombra, Mercy, and Juno in Overwatch 2 Season 16.
Tracer’s Flashback Major Perk will be nerfed for balance in the upcoming update.
Mei will receive a new Major Perk to freeze enemies.

Overwatch 2 recently teased some adjustments to the Perks system coming in Season 16, including new choices for Sombra, Mercy, Juno, and Mei, as well as nerfs to one of Tracer’s most powerful picks. These changes and more will be implemented as a part of the Overwatch 2 Season 16 update on April 22.

Perks, a new system introduced in Overwatch 2 during Season 15, give each hero exciting ways to evolve their kit during battle, such as Ana’s “Double Nano” Shrike and Bastion’s Lindholm Explosives. However, Overwatch 2 confirmed that Perks would be adjusted and replaced in the future based on popularity and performance to keep the feature fresh.

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Now, with Season 16 right around the corner, the first major batch of Perk adjustments is almost here. In a recent Director’s Take, Overwatch 2’s new associate director Alec Dawson revealed some of the new Perks that would replace less-picked choices in the next update. Sombra’s Stack Overflow Major Perk is being replaced with Viral Replication, which allows Virus to spread to additional enemies, while Mercy’s Angelic Recover Minor Perk is swapping out for Angelic Resurrection, an ability that grants 100 Overhealth when using Resurrect. Juno, on the other hand, is having several Perks changed, with the Re-Boots Major Perk replacing the Hyper Boost Minor Perk, and the new Locked On Major Perk providing a cooldown reduction for Pulsar Torpedoes for each enemy hit.

Perk Changes in Overwatch 2 Season 16

Sombra
- New Major Perk: Viral Replication – Virus spreads to nearby enemies.
- Replacing Stack Overflow (Double Hack duration, reduce distance)
Mercy
- New Minor Perk: Angelic Resurrection – Grants 100 Overhealth to Mercy when using Resurrect
- Replacing Angelic Recovery (Heal Mercy when beam is attached to a full-health target)
Juno
- New Major Perk: Locked On – Reduces Pulsar Torpedo cooldown for each enemy hit
- Replacing Re-Boots (Glide Duration increased and resets double jump)
- Re-Boots now a Minor Perk, replacing Hyper Boost (Glide Boosting through Hyper Ring pushes Juno forward)
Tracer
- Flashback Major Perk (restore Blink charges after Recall) nerfed
Mei
- New Major Perk that allows Mei to freeze enemies

Unfortunately, some heroes are having their existing Perks nerfed instead. While Dawson admitted the devs didn’t want to do so often, Tracer’s Flashback Major Perk – one of the best Perks in Overwatch 2 – is being tweaked to make its impact a bit less profound.

There are undoubtedly more Perk adjustments coming in this update as well. While Dawson didn’t reveal all the changes, he did hint that Mei would be receiving a new Major Perk in Overwatch 2 Season 16 that might allow her to freeze enemies as she could in the original game, similarly to how Hanzo and Orisa can replicate old abilities like Scatter Arrow and Orisa’s Protective Barrier respectively. Fans will have to wait until the patch releases on April 22 to see how else the Perks system changes.

Fans looking for an even greater twist on hero kits need look no further than Stadium, a new game mode also coming to Overwatch 2 in Season 16. The best-of-seven grudge match features a third-person camera mode, Powers and Items that completely change how each character plays between each round, and even brand-new maps specific to Stadium, promising a drastically different experience than what fans have ever experienced before.