New hero Doctrine joins Sombra and Roadhog reworks for Stage 3

Blizzard have released the patch notes for Reign of Talon – Season 5: A Grim Doctrine, bringing full reworks for Roadhog and Sombra, support hero Doctrine, and a bunch of changes to heroes central to the professional meta. The patch arrives just OWCS is set to begin in EMEA and NA within days, and as Korea enters its second matchweek.

Blizzard have carried out a sweeping hit volume pass across 36 heroes, adjusting head, torso, waist, and leg volumes to bring each closer in size to comparable heroes of the same type. Most hit volumes have increased, but not all. The developer comment says the goal is to make aiming more consistent on average.

To offset that, hitscan projectile sizes have been cut roughly in half. Large hitscan projectiles drop from 0.07 to 0.04 metres and small ones from 0.04 to 0.02. The change applies only to hitscan, not to projectiles with travel time, which Blizzard say they will continue monitoring.

Sombra's rework moves her into the support role, and the headline change is the removal of Hack as an ability entirely. She now has Cyberspace, which applies a new status effect in a 5m radius that halves an enemy's own damage and healing output. She also gains Hotfix, a healing ability on secondary fire, while Virus is also removed outright. Alongside Doctrine, the support pool now has plenty of new options for teams to consider.

Roadhog’s rework reduces Chain Hook's lethality. To compensate, Roadhog now has a more traditional defensive option with Trash Compactor, a new secondary fire that absorbs incoming projectiles for two seconds before firing them back as an explosive projectile dealing up to 200 damage. Chain Hook's cooldown also drops from seven to six seconds in 5v5.

Among heroes already seeing regular competitive play, D.Va's Micro Missiles now fire at 14 shots per second, up from 11, compressing the full volley into a shorter window and raising her burst potential.

Cassidy can no longer attach to Jetpack Cat's Lifeline while using High Noon, with Blizzard noting they will evaluate other Lifeline interactions case by case. Bastion's Reconfigure duration falls from six to five seconds, which compounds that change for the Cat/Bastion compositions that have defined much of the year.

That said, with no changes to Lifeline's interactions with tanks or to both Jetpack Cat and D.Mon, we expect to keep seeing the D.Mon/Cat combo in full effect.

Genji's Swift Strike damage rises from 50 to 60, strengthening his core combo, while Dragonblade drops from 110 to 100 damage with a 15% faster swing speed. Against the broader hit-volume increases, there is a reasonable argument that a hero long absent from the meta can become viable again.

Ana's Groggy minor perk has been replaced by Local Anesthetic, which causes Sleep Dart to explode on impact, slowing enemies and dealing 45 damage over three seconds. Ana saw extensive play during the opening matchweek in Korea and was the most banned hero across the weekend, with Speed Serum the only realistic perk choice. An area slow could give her a genuine alternative.

Lucio's Sound Barrier returns to its original six-second duration, though the reduced overhealth remains.

There are further balance changes beyond these, which you can read in full here.

With OWCS resuming in a matter of days, the question is the same as it was in September’s update: who adapts fastest. A reworked Sombra on support, a reworked tank, a brand new support hero, and a roster-wide hit-volume pass and hitscan projectile size leave far more to solve than a handful of numbers.