11 January 2026

Overwatch 2’s Mid-Season 20 Update Doesn’t Hit One Target Hard Enough

By newsgame

Overwatch 2 Season 20 heralded the arrival of the game’s first official melee damage hero after nearly a decade since the franshise began. Vendetta is a deadly combatant who can annihilate squishy targets with Palatine Fang, her vicious hardlight greatsword. Featuring high damage output, decent defensive options, and excellent mobility, Vendetta brings a playstyle reminiscent of DPS Doomfist from before he was made a tank in Overwatch 2: a high-commitment dive hero that can quickly delete an entire team if given the chance.

In the month since her release, Vendetta has been terrorizing Overwatch 2, albeit to different degrees based on skill level. Despite this, Vendetta still managed to score a buff shortly after her launch. Though she caught a small nerf shortly after, and a much larger one in the Overwatch 2 mid-Season 20 update, it may not be enough to tame the She-Wolf of Retribution.

New Shooter Looks Like a Wild Blend of Concord, Overwatch, and Paladins, and It’s Being Made by Ex-Titanfall and Apex Legends Devs

A brand-new shooter game revealed at The Game Awards 2025 is giving off serious Overwatch and Concord vibes.

Vendetta is Absolutely Dominating Overwatch 2 Right Now

The First Melee Damage Hero in Overwatch 2 Might Need More Nerfs

During Vendetta’s trial weekend from November 26 through December 1 last year, the melee damage hero was extremely strong. However, the hero found herself floundering in high Competitive Play tiers, prompting Overwatch 2 to give her some significant buffs for her launch with Season 20 on December 9. A few days later, on December 11, she got even more buffs in a hotfix, meaning nearly every part of her kit had been empowered since players first saw her.

overwatch 2 vendetta gameplay full ability kit perks

Weapon
- Palatine Fang: Hard-light greatsword. Combo swings to end with a destructive overhead slash.
- Warding Stance: Block with your sword, reducing frontal damage and deflecting melee attacks. Blocking damage depletes energy.
Abilities
- Soaring Slice: Hurl your sword in the direction you are facing and then fly to it.
- Whirlwind Dash: Rush forward into a circular slash.
- Projected Edge: Available while Warding Stance is active. Consume energy to fire a wide projectile.
Passive
- Onslaught: Strike enemies to increase movement and attack speed.
Ultimate
- Sundering Blade: Cleave through most defenses, dealing severe damage to enemies in front of you.
Perks
- Minor
  - Siphoning Strike: Overhead strike gains 40% Lifesteal.
  - Relentless: Onslaught can stack 3 more times, increasing attack speed by 5% and movement speed by 5% per stack.
- Major
  - Swift Vengeance: Last player to land a killing blow on you becomes a target. Eliminate the target to gain 150 overhealth and reset cooldowns.
  - Raging Storm: Whirlwind Dash continues to spin, hitting 3 more times for 35 damage in a wide area.

The powerful hero rampaged unchecked for a week until December 18, when Overwatch 2 gave Vendetta a small nerf in the form of five less damage on her horizontal slash. She was then left to dominate during the holidays, until the midseason update on January 8, which finally hit her with some pretty big nerfs to nearly all of Vendetta’s abilities in Overwatch 2.

All Vendetta Buffs and Nerfs Since Her Overwatch 2 Debut

overwatch 2 vendetta hero 45 la lupa stretching

December 9 (Season 20 release)
- General
  - Reduced recovery times of Palatine Fang overhead, Whirlwind Dash, and Projected Edge by about 15%
- Projected Edge
  - Projectile speed increased from 33 to 37 meters per second
- Soaring Slice
  - Max throw distance reduced from 16 to 14 meters
- Siphoning Strike – Perk
  - Lifesteal increased from 30% to 40%
- Swift Vengeance – Perk
  - Overhealth increased from 125 to 150
December 11
- Palatine Fang
  - Overhead swing recovery can now be interrupted by Warding Stance
  - Fixed a bug with launching enemies downward with the overhead not working consistently against flying targets
- Whirlwind Dash
  - Raging Storm perk recovery time reduced from 0.4 to 0.25 seconds
- Projected Edge
  - Recovery time for Whirlwind Dash and Soaring Slice reduced from 0.35 to 0.2 seconds
- Soaring Slice
  - Recovery time reduced from 0.25 to 0.1 seconds
  - Weapon throw range increased from 14 to 15 meters
December 18
- Palatine Fang
  - Horizontal swing damage reduced from 50 to 45
January 8 (Mid-Season 20 update)
- Projected Edge
  - Damage reduced from 80 to 70
- Soaring Slice
  - Soaring Slice now starts on cooldown when respawning (does not apply when Resurrected or in Death Match)
- Whirlwind Dash
  - Damage reduced from 80 to 70
- Raging Storm perk
  - Damage reduced from 40 to 35 per spin

Even so, these nerfs may not be enough. Vendetta is still a terrifying combatant to face – especially as a squishy backline support character immediately after their Overwatch 2 tank like Doomfist, Reinhardt, or Winston dive in. It is too early to say if these adjustments will be enough to bring her in line with other characters, but right now, it seems like Vendetta might need some more nerfs in the near future.

Balancing Vendetta in Overwatch 2 Is a Nightmare

The Melee Damage Hero’s Win Rate Is Inconsistent Across Skill Levels, Regions, and Inputs

Unfortunately, Vendetta’s particular playstyle in Overwatch 2 makes it difficult to balance her across all inputs and skill levels. Rather than being a high-skill character like Freja, mastering Vendetta is all about positioning. This means high-skill players, who have better situational awareness and tighter formations, will have an easier time countering Vendetta than casual or low-tier ones, who she can easily dominate.

This is especially evident when looking at Vendetta’s win rates across the board, available provided by Overwatch 2‘s Hero Statistics tracker. In mouse and keyboard inputs for Competitve Play, her win rates tend to be much higher at Bronze, Silver, and Gold rank across most regions before starting to even out around Platinum. However, low-tier controller players in Overwatch 2 generally have lower win rates at lower and higher tiers of play, while peaking around the Gold and Platinum ranks at the point where user skill surpasses their foes’ ability to counterplay.

overwatch 2 vendetta la lupa likely role damage dps

Different regions, skill levels, and methods of input cause wild win rate variance, which makes it hard to tell exactly where Vendetta sits – indeed, there is a 20% variance between the win rate of Asian Overwatch 2 players versus those in the EU for Bronze Tier Competitive mouse and keyboard players alone. However, Vendetta’s global average win rate is 54.6% on mouse and keyboard, 50.9% for controller players, and 52.8% overall, pre-nerf, so fans will have to see if these changes can make her more consistent, and bring her win rate down closer to the 50% mark that Overwatch 2 shoots for.

Vendetta Win Rates by Mode, Region, Skill Level, and Input (as of January 10, 2026)

overwatch 2 hero statistics vendetta win rate mouse & keyboard competive americas region

Game Mode	Mouse & Keyboard (Americas)	Mouse & Keyboard (EU)	Mouse & Keyboard (Asia)	Controller (Americas)	Controller (EU)	Controller (Asia)
Quick Play	54.6%	53.7%	54.8%	51.4%	50.6%	46.1%
Competitive (Bronze)	64.4%	49.1%	70.9%	47.8%	39.5%	N/A
Competitive (Silver)	58.2%	56.5%	53.7%	52.8%	46%	57.4%
Competitive (Gold)	57.6%	53.2%	61.4%	52.5%	50.7%	65.7%
Competitive (Platinum)	54%	53.5%	54%	53.6%	47.8%	46.5%
Competitive (Diamond)	53.5%	56.5%	54.6%	49.8%	44.7%	44.2%
Competitive (Master)	55%	52.9%	38.7%	52.4%	43.1%	83.4%
Competitive (Grandmaster/Champion)	54.6%	59.1%	35.4%	52%	40.6%	47.9%
Competitive (All Tiers)	56.1%	54.4%	55%	52.3%	47.3%	52.9%

Luckily, Overwatch 2 clearly still has Vendetta in their crosshairs. During a recent livestream Q&A with Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller, the idea of adding a sound effect to Vendetta while she is airborne after using Soaring Slice was brought up to make her less stealthy while infiltrating the backline. This potential change is something that might take longer to implement for logistical reasons, but could have a greater impact than simple numerical adjustments for obvious reasons.

Regardless, fans probably won’t see anything else too drastic done to Vendetta for a little while. Though she could receive some small nerfs during some hotfix over the next few weeks, further substantial changes likely won’t be made until Overwatch 2 Season 21 arrives on February 10. This also gives some more time for Overwatch 2 to see how her January 8 nerfs affect her win rate across various tiers of play. At the end of the day, one thing is for sure: Vendetta has made an impact on the game, and her presence in a match force players to keep an eye on their backline or suffer the consequences.