Overwatch August 11 Patch Notes: Every Major Season 4 Change

Season 4 changes more than the roster

Overwatch's August 11 update is the full launch patch for Reign of Talon - Season 4: Heroes of Busan. D.Mon is the headline addition, but the patch reaches far beyond one new Tank. Competitive gets a new rank and distribution pass, the HUD exposes more information during fights, three maps receive structural updates, and a broad perk refresh changes choices across all three roles.

The practical result is a patch that players will feel before they ever select D.Mon. Team fights now show how many allies and enemies remain alive, supports get clearer healing and status feedback, and high-impact defensive plays can register through a new Protects stat.

D.Mon enters as a Stalwart Tank

Yuna Lee and her mech Beast join the Tank roster under the Stalwart subrole. Her kit pairs close-range Plasma Saber pressure with Power Barrier, Propulsors and the longer reach of Fusion Repeater, giving teams another front-line option built around moving together.

The update also adjusts the Flanker subrole passive. Additional health gained from Health Packs falls from 75 to 50, trimming the sustain available to heroes that can repeatedly rotate through pack locations.

Emerald rank redraws the Competitive ladder

Emerald is now positioned between Platinum and Diamond. Blizzard says the redistribution is focused primarily on moving portions of the old Platinum and Diamond populations into Emerald, while also making the highest Champion divisions more exclusive. Emerald titles and weapon charms are included.

The Competitive overview now includes a rank-distribution indicator that shows where a player's rank sits against the rest of a queue. Challenger Score rewards also rise sharply at the top end: Grandmaster 2 wins now award 200, Grandmaster 1 awards 250, and Champion wins scale from 350 at Champion 5 to 900 at Champion 1.

Team Drives begin September 4

The first experimental Team Drive runs from September 4 at 11:00 AM Pacific through September 7 at 11:00 AM Pacific. Winning automatically groups the winners when the social setting is enabled, and consecutive team wins build an increasing Fame bonus toward Gladiator Ranks.

Finishing the track requires clearing The Trial by winning three of the last four matches. Team Drives award Player Card Frames rather than ordinary Drive Signatures, and the first 10,000 finishers receive a temporary dynamic title showing their completion order after the event closes.

The HUD now explains more of each fight

A new Team Status Indicator above the Kill Feed displays the number of living players on each side and tracks allied respawns. An experimental Dynamic walkback option can estimate how long an ally will take to return to the fight.

Protects joins the scoreboard language as a stat for mitigating meaningful damage near allies. Saves now recognize more overhealth abilities and Jetpack Cat's last-second tether, multi-kills receive expanded callouts, and the Activity Feed once again shows the percentage of damage contributed to an elimination. Blizzard also says its ping-system refactor is about 1.5 times more efficient on average and substantially faster in certain edge cases.

The biggest core hero changes

Doomfist's Seismic Slam rises from 50 to 60 damage, Domina's Panopticon barrier gains 50 health, Winston's ultimate costs 6% less and Tracer's Recall cooldown drops from 13 seconds to 12. Pharah moves the other direction, with Concussive Blast increasing from seven seconds to eight.

Lifeweaver's Life Grip can now be cancelled by the target with Jump after 0.6 seconds, and the pull begins more slowly. Juno's minimum Pulsar Torpedoes lock-on time falls from 0.5 seconds to 0.35, while Mizuki receives tighter Binding Chain projectile size, a 12-second Katashiro Return cooldown and a smaller Quickstep speed bonus.

• Hazard and Jetpack Cat ultimate costs increased by 7%; Emre, Genji and Winston costs reduced by 6%; Venture reduced by 8%.
• Mauga's Overrun cooldown increased from five to six seconds in 5v5.
• Shion's Joyride ground-launch detection radius reduced from 1.5 meters to one meter.
• Vendetta's Soaring Slice spawn cooldown reduced from seven seconds to three.
• Wuyang's Guardian Wave maximum spread increased from 10 degrees to 15.

Perks rotate across every role

Several low-use perks leave the pool. Orisa trades Charged Javelin for Heavy Javelin, which adds knockback and wall-impact damage. Cassidy receives Giddy Up, granting a decaying movement-speed boost after Combat Roll, while Echo gains infinite ammunition during Flight through Aerial Munitions.

Tracer replaces Chronal Dash with Temporal Regen, Jetpack Cat replaces Headbutt with a three-wave Purr perk, and Venture receives stronger Drill Dash distance and shield totals from existing perk choices. These are meaningful build changes rather than minor text cleanups, so returning players should check perk selections before queueing.

Role-by-role balance ledger

The launch patch touches more heroes than the headline changes suggest. The following list collects the remaining core-mode adjustments so players can quickly check whether a regular pick changed. Stadium values are covered separately because they do not replace the standard Quick Play and Competitive numbers.

• Tank: Hazard needs 12 Bonespur hits for Explosive Impalements instead of 14; Mauga's Combat Fuel grants four overhealth per shot; Orisa's new Heavy Javelin adds 25% knockback and 15 wall-impact damage; Winston's Revitalizing Barrier healing rises from 30 to 35.
• Damage: Echo's Focused Rush becomes a Major perk with eight meters of added beam range and 25% movement speed; Emre's Suppressive Security slow lasts 1.5 seconds; Venture's Deep Burrow distance rises to 75% and Covered in Dirt shields rise to 40.
• Support: Jetpack Cat's base movement and air acceleration increase while Lifeline's movement bonus falls to 30%; Wuyang's Guardian Wave widens; Zenyatta's Discordant Repair lifesteal rises from 10% to 15%.

Maps, Stadium and bug fixes

Busan, Eichenwalde and Paraiso all receive map updates. Busan reflects the attack on MEKA Base, Eichenwalde adds routes intended to keep its classic fights moving, and Paraiso advances its Season 4 story state while adjusting play spaces across all three points.

Stadium receives another large item-and-power pass, led by a broad D.Va build refresh and additional tuning for Orisa, Ramattra, Zarya, Ashe, Junkrat, Jetpack Cat, Kiriko and Wuyang. The general bug list fixes Brigitte's Inspiring Strike healing, Mizuki's payload-adjacent return point, Doomfist's Survival of the Fittest overhealth and several perk or Custom Game problems.