Doctrine — first post-launch tuning
Doctrine launched with Season 5 on 6 October and quickly established herself as a strong off-healer pick. One week later, Blizzard has pulled back on two of her core numbers:
- Eternal Scepter: Damage and healing reduced from 60 to 55. This is a flat reduction to her primary damage and sustain tool.
- Invigorating Drones: Duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds. Less healing uptime per activation.
These are moderate nerfs — she remains a viable pick but her burst healing ceiling is lower.
Roadhog — the biggest buff in the patch
Roadhog receives what amounts to a comprehensive survivability and damage upgrade:
| Stat | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Scrap Gun center projectile damage | 34 | 40 |
| Take a Breather cooldown | 2 seconds | 1.25 seconds |
| Take a Breather damage reduction | 35% | 40% |
| Take a Breather max duration | 2 seconds | 2.5 seconds |
The cooldown reduction on Take a Breather is the standout change. Being able to self-heal every 1.25 seconds instead of every 2 seconds makes Roadhog dramatically harder to burst down, especially when combined with the increased damage reduction.
Other hero changes
Sombra takes significant nerfs: Machine Pistol damage 7 → 6.5 reduces her time-to-kill, and Cyberspace explosion damage halved from 40 → 20 with a 1-second cooldown increase weakens her burst combo potential.
Kiriko gains 25 base health (225 → 250), improving her survivability against dive compositions.
D.Mon loses 25 base armour (275 → 250), reducing his effective HP pool as a tank.
People also ask
- Is Doctrine still viable after the nerf?
- Yes. The hotfix reduces her burst output slightly but she remains a strong off-healer with positional utility. Pair her with a main healer for best results.
- How significant is the Roadhog buff?
- Very significant. Scrap Gun center projectile damage up from 34 to 40 plus a dramatically faster Take a Breather (2s → 1.25s cooldown) makes him substantially harder to kill.
- Are replay codes from the October 6 patch still working?
- Yes. Blizzard confirmed this is a hotfix update and October 6 replay codes remain available.
Sources & version history
External claims on this page trace to the items below. Anything we could not confirm is written as a question, not a fact.
- Blizzard — Overwatch Retail Patch Notes October 13, 2026 · 2026-10-13
- Blizzard Forums — 10/13 balance changes · 2026-10-13
- Overwatch Japan — October 13 patch notes · 2026-10-13