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📝 Blizzard releases balance update for the six new heroes

by Garbis 'Vanskus' Vizoian

Blizzard Entertainment released a small balance update for Overwatch late on Friday night, February 13, 2026. The update brings small adjustments to the newest heroes in the game, with potentially a big impact on the ongoing OWCS Pre-Season tournament in Korea.

The update dropped after the conclusion of the first day of the tournament, with two days still left to go. While the adjustments are small and broader updates are slated to arrive in the midseason patch (as is usually the case), they might still affect the tournament in unforeseen ways.

The biggest reason for that is that the tournament is being played with a different ruleset, where the first Control map of every series is a mirror matchup using the five new heroes released in the Season 1 update. With five of the six adjustments targeting the five new heroes, it will shake things up for the participating teams, especially on that first Control map. The sixth hotfix is aimed at Vendetta, who is also experiencing a high pick rate in the tournament due to her effectiveness in the current meta.

The balance update adjusts:

Domina

  • Barrier Array
    • Barrier Panel Health reduced from 250 to 225

Anran

  • Zhuque Fans
    • Impact damage increased from 20 to 22.
  • Fan the Flames
    • Impact damage now uses beam damage against armor mitigation (Only reduced by 30% when used on armor).
  • Inferno Rush
    • Can now be canceled with quick melee.
  • Ignition - Passive
    • Burning build up linger time increased from 3 to 4 seconds.

Emre

  • Synthetic Burst Rifle – Take Aim
    • Falloff range increased from 30-45 to 35-50 meters.
  • Cyber Frag
    • Explosion damage minimum radius increased from 1.25 to 2 meters.

Jetpack Cat

  • Frenetic Flight
    • Regeneration rate reduced from 30 to 25.

Mizuki

  • Spirit Glaive
    • Cast time reduced from 0.1 to 0.025 seconds.
    • Recovery time increased from 0.7 to 0.75 seconds.
  • Healing Kasa
    • Range increased from 25 to 30 meters.
    • Default soft targeting range increased from 8 to 10 degrees.
  • Ultimate
    • Ultimate cost increased by 7%.
    • Now heals for 100 instant healing on cast.

Vendetta

  • Siphoning Strike – Minor Perk
    • Lifesteal reduced from 40% to 30%.

The players attending the OWCS Pre-Season Bootcamp have been continuously scrimming since Monday, February 9, in preparation for the tournament. With the 2026 season’s first official prize pool on the line and the six now-adjusted heroes playing an inseparable part in the tournament, we will watch closely to see how exactly these last-minute changes might impact the trajectory of the tournament.