Blizzard just dropped a massive mid-season patch for Overwatch 2's Season 17 "Powered Up" that fundamentally changes how two of the game's most controversial maps play. The July 22nd update completely reworks New Junk City and Suravasa while delivering targeted hero buffs and nerfs across both core gameplay and Stadium mode.
Flashpoint Gets a Complete Makeover
The biggest news here is what Blizzard's done to Flashpoint. New Junk City and Suravasa have been torn down and rebuilt from the ground up using lessons learned from Aatlis, the mode's newest map.
The dev team focused on three main problems: players getting lost, areas that all looked the same, and chokepoints that were impossible to push through. Every single capture point on both maps has been changed.
Suravasa's Major Changes
Suravasa's Market area now has boxes placed along the walls so players can actually climb up instead of being stuck on the ground level. The signage around the entrance has been cleaned up to make it obvious where you're supposed to go.
Temple and Ruins got hit even harder. The entrances have been rotated 45 degrees and made bigger to feel less claustrophobic. That weird pavilion near spawn is gone, replaced with an open wall and garden that gives much better sightlines.
A new back path now connects Temple and Ruins for flanking routes. The long staircase into Ruins opens onto a balcony overlooking the point instead of dumping you right into the fight. Water features have been added to make the Ruins actually look like ruins.
The starting spawn area got the same treatment as Temple and Ruins - enclosed structures replaced with open walls and gardens for better visibility.
New Junk City's Point-by-Point Overhaul
Every single point on New Junk City has been reworked to some degree.
Arena's Hammer Mill entrance is bigger with a thinner column inside and expanded side door. A new hallway connects both lower sides through grating that lets you see the point without getting shot at.
Bomb Flats had its two main chokepoints widened and moved to the side with overhangs removed entirely. The cover and theming around the point has been completely redone with new bomb props. The main entrance street got simplified by removing that awkward lowered path.
Junkyard added new crane props at the front entrance to sell the setting better. Those massive trash piles in the choke have been scaled down with new ramps added to the center route for easier rotations.
Refinery's main doors are bigger for cleaner sightlines and smoother movement. The props outside the entrance have been repositioned to improve flow. Small cylinder props on the point now have extended cover along their sides.
The Ducts received what the dev team calls "a total flow fix." The exterior and pathing into the point have been completely redesigned. Entrances now connect and flow together properly. A new interior flank route goes through the side chokes.
Forward Spawn gets slightly reduced runback times through new upper paths and overhangs. Building heights across the exterior streets have been reduced to better frame points of interest.
Hero Balance Targets Meta Staleness
Blizzard says Season 17's meta has been too stable, so this patch addresses underperforming perks and responds to hero ban trends. The stronger Damage Role Passive from Season 17 also influenced these changes.
Tank Adjustments
D.Va's Heavy Rockets perk got a major rework. Rocket count drops from 8 to 7 and impact damage falls from 7 to 5, but explosion damage jumps from 14 to 22. The explosion radius grew from 2.75 to 3 meters with increased projectile gravity.
Orisa faced nerfs to address her improved performance since Hero Bans launched. Her armor health dropped from 325 to 300, and Energy Javelin cooldown increased from 6 to 7 seconds.
Reinhardt's Crushing Victory perk got a massive buff - overhealth gain doubled from 50% to 100% of Charge damage.
Sigma's Experimental Barrier deploys twice as fast now with cooldown reduced from 2 to 1 second. His Massive Impact perk reaches maximum knockdown duration at 30 meters instead of 40.
Winston's Short Circuit perk now deals double damage to buildables, jumping from 50% to 100% bonus damage.
Damage Role Changes
Ashe got buffs to two perks. Rapid Fire's damage penalty dropped from 15% to 10%, while Sidewinder's knockback reduction fell from 20% to 12%.
Bastion's Artillery ultimate costs 7% less to charge up.
Freja took a damage hit with her primary fire, dropping from 30 to 25 damage, though max ammo increased from 12 to 15 shots.
Hanzo received multiple buffs, including larger projectile size for his primary fire, 8% cheaper Dragonstrike ultimate, and damage per second increased from 300 to 400. His Dragon Fury perk lasts twice as long, and Yamagami Technique cooldown speed jumped from 250% to 300%.
Junkrat's Aluminum Frame perk now prevents healing on trapped enemies instead of revealing them. Tick Tock got a significant buff with Concussion Mine arming time cut in half from 0.5 to 0.25 seconds.
Reaper's Death Blossom ultimate costs 9% more to balance his high impact.
Tracer's accuracy took a hit with Pulse Pistol spread increased from 3.0 to 3.5 degrees.
Widowmaker's Infra-Sight ultimate costs 10% less, making her team-wide vision more frequent.
Support Updates
Juno's Mediblaster minimum falloff range increased from 20 to 25 meters. Her Glide Boost movement acceleration was reduced when changing directions after the initial burst.
Lucio's Sound Barrier ultimate costs 9% more to reduce how often he can drop that massive shield.
Zenyatta got healing buffs to deal with the stronger Damage Role Passive. Harmony Orb healing increased from 30 to 35 per second, while Transcendence jumped from 300 to 400 healing per second.
Stadium Mode Gets Focused Improvements
Stadium's update includes permanent ability tooltips in the Armory UI and better third-person camera behavior. Ana and Ashe's aim-down-sights now fade over time when scoping, and the camera smoothly fades when colliding with allies.
Stadium Tank Updates
D.Va received major attention with TOKKI Slam, now scaling damage from both armor and shield combined. Facetanking's healing scalar jumped from 30% to 50%. She also got a new Refraction Armor item for 2000 currency that provides +25 Armor and 15% beam damage reduction while armored.
Orisa's javelin build got reliability fixes. Advanced Throwbotics now shoots the javelin after 0.5 seconds and requires Javelin Spin to be active. Lassoed pulls enemies to the hit target's position instead of where the javelin landed, and barrier hits prevent the pull entirely.
Stadium Damage and Support Changes
Mei's Slowball perk now applies slow on normal Secondary Fire hits for better consistency.
Ana got a new Epic weapon item called Unscoped Resources that adds 15% Weapon Power to help her late-game impact with unscoped builds.
Juno's Stellar Focus duration increased from 35% to 50% to make it more competitive with other power options.
Kiriko's clone got reworked from a killing machine into a utility tool. Clone damage and healing now contribute to Stadium Cash earnings, but there's a delay before it starts working after spawning. Clone health was reduced but scales with Ability Power. Fleet Foot now penalizes Swift Step usage without targets by increasing cooldown 30%.
The Ironclad Exhaust Ports item was nerfed so each Overhealth stack expires individually instead of refreshing all stacks.
Three Limited-Time Events Launch
Better Together runs July 29 to August 25, rewarding players who complete 2, 4, and 6 games in a group with up to three Loot Boxes. Wins and Stadium matches count double.
Junkrat's Loot Hunt returns August 1-3 with daily challenges offering 3 Loot Boxes per day for up to 9 total. Players need to complete 2, 5, and 10 matches each day with progress resetting at 11AM PT.
Competitive Drives return August 21-26 with a new challenge curve and Season 17 Signature rewards. Squad wins provide bonus Drive Score, and previous Drive completers get Prestige upgrades. Drive progress now works in both Competitive Play and Stadium Ranked modes.
Technical Fixes and Bug Squashing
The patch addresses audio-video sync issues with top 5 highlights, D.Va's Defense Matrix visual glitches in third person, Echo's Sunstruck explosion timing problems, and Soldier: 76's animation bugs with the Stim Pack perk.
Map fixes include Aatlis availability in 6v6 mode. Stadium fixes cover Career Profile data accuracy and animation continuation after death. Multiple hero-specific bugs were resolved, including Ana's Dreamy Power damage calculation, Junker Queen's Let's Go Win cooldown reduction, and Sigma's challenge progression issues.
This mid-season update represents one of the most significant Flashpoint overhauls since the mode launched, addressing longstanding community complaints about map design while fine-tuning hero balance for the second half of Season 17.
