Director’s Take – Juno, Clash, and a Look Ahead to Midseason

Hey y’all, Alec here. This week’s Director’s Take will be a small reflection on the first half of Season 12 with the release of Juno and Clash, as well as a brief look at some tweaks coming in the Midseason Patch and beyond.

Let’s start with Juno! Honestly, it’s been such a joy seeing the community fall in love with our favorite Martian. We started on her prototype early last year and went through many iterations to get to the Juno you see today. Heck, we were still a little worried about a lock-on damage ability but y’all have seemed to acclimate well to combating her Pulsar Torpedoes.  Since that first round of buffs shortly after her launch, Juno has remained in that “safe side of strong” zone we aim for. While Juno finds success in most modes, she does particularly well on Payload and Hybrid maps such as Circuit Royal, King’s Row, and Blizzard World. This is quite different than a hero like Lúcio, whose best modes are typically Flashpoint and Control.  It’s still early, but there’s some indication that her speed may be more useful in tighter corridors and less open spaces. Things are still settling as far as composition goes, but if OWCS Korea is setting the trend, expect to see Juno getting paired with Ana or Brigitte more in the weeks ahead.

Overall, we are very happy with Juno’s introduction to Overwatch 2. Your feedback during the trial led to plenty of changes going into Season 12, and the team has loved seeing all the fan art, gameplay clips, and genuine excitement for Juno over the last few weeks. As we progress further into the season, we’re going to let Juno sit in her current state for a bit and observe how some elements of her kit mature over time to see if additional changes are needed (for example, how allies play with her Ultimate). Thanks for the warm reception here.

One of the other big additions in Season 12 was our new mode Clash. When we set out to make Clash, we wanted it to contain more constant action than other modes, where you wouldn’t feel