Overwatch 2 Season 17 Introduces Hero Balance Changes Including 10% Size Reduction for Bastion

Overwatch 2 is all set to roll out its 17th season on June 24, and with it comes a bunch of hero balance changes that fans have been waiting for. One of the biggest (and funniest) updates?

Bastion is getting a 10% size reduction—yes, the robot is getting smaller, making it harder to hit and easier to survive battles.

The arcade-themed Season 17 is titled “Powered Up!”, and Blizzard has announced that a full trailer will drop on June 17, a week ahead of launch, to build excitement.

What’s Changing in Season 17?

According to the Weekly Recall blog, Overwatch 2’s associate hero designer Scott “Custa” Kennedy shared how the team uses game data and player feedback to tweak the game’s balance.

Here’s a quick look at the confirmed balance changes:

• Damage role passive healing penalty increased to 30% (up from 25%)
• Global health regeneration now takes 6 seconds (previously 5 seconds)
• Bastion’s size reduced by 10%
• Junker Queen’s Commanding Shout now prioritizes Overhealth for allies
• Pharah’s Helix Shields and Lifeweaver’s Cleansing Grasp perks get quality-of-life upgrades

While Bastion’s shrinking may sound funny, it’s meant to help him last longer in fights by making him tougher to hit.

Bigger Changes for Other Heroes

Blizzard is also improving Junker Queen by changing how her Commanding Shout works, making her more powerful as an offensive tank. Pharah and Lifeweaver are also getting smaller gameplay tweaks to improve their performance.

But it’s not just the individual heroes. Blizzard is also tweaking passive abilities. The damage role healing reduction is getting bumped up to 30%, and global healing regen delay is now 6 seconds instead of 5.

These changes are meant to balance out the high healing output from support heroes and give damage heroes more impact in battles.

What About Sombra?

There’s been a lot of talk about Sombra, especially with her high ban rate in competitive play.

Kennedy admitted she’s a “complex case” and won’t be getting any big nerfs just yet. But don’t be surprised if she gets a rework or major update sometime soon.