Blizzard hits Freja with a major nerf in Overwatch 2’s Stadium mode, cutting her cash gain and disabling Lille Faelde mid-match. More changes are coming next week.
Overwatch 2 Hotfix Nerfs Freja in Stadium Mode, Catches Some Players Off-Guard
Overwatch 2 just rolled out a hotfix that tones down Freja in Stadium mode—a change a lot of players were asking for, but it still surprised many fans, especially because of how it was pushed live.
Stadium mode is one of the newer additions that came with Overwatch 2’s Season 16, which launched in late April 2025. It’s a five-on-five format where teams face off in a best-of-seven series.
Unlike the regular game, Stadium lets players earn Stadium Cash to upgrade their heroes. Freja, who had a pretty strong cash-generation ability, got hit with a significant nerf on Friday, May 23.
Blizzard’s latest update cuts her cash earnings from both damage and healing by 25%. According to the official patch notes, the goal here was to rein in her ability to snowball in Stadium.
On top of that, her Lille Faelde ability—where she could fire a Bola Shot after using Updraft—has been completely removed from this mode.
Mid-Game Freja Nerfs Threw Some Players Off
Even though plenty of folks had called for a Freja nerf, the way this one landed threw some players for a loop.
That’s because Blizzard deployed the hotfix live, without restarting the servers. So, in the middle of a match, players suddenly found Freja’s abilities acting differently—or missing altogether.
One Reddit user, Abc0w, posted two replay codes showing the nerf kicking in between rounds four and five of their game. Dozens of others chimed in saying they had the same thing happen to them.
Blizzard removed Freja’s Bola power (Lille Faelde) in the middle of my Stadium match.
byu/Abc0w inOverwatch
More Freja Tweaks Are Coming Soon
This isn’t the last we’ll see of Blizzard rebalancing Freja in Stadium. In the same patch notes, the devs confirmed that more changes are on the way during the week of May 26.
These upcoming tweaks will focus on adjusting the uptime of her Bola build and fine-tuning her crowd control effects.
Blizzard also mentioned they plan to buff some of her weaker abilities, though they didn’t get into the details just yet.
Looking back on the hotfix, Blizzard admitted Freja could feel “extremely overpowered” when ahead in Stadium, thanks to her high damage potential.
While some players praised the change online, others weren’t as thrilled and felt that Blizzard should’ve just pulled her from the mode entirely until her rework was finished.
Patch Notes – May 23, 2025: Freja (Stadium Mode)
- Reduced Stadium Cash gain from damage and healing by 25%.
Developer Comments: “Freja is a hero with a very high damage ceiling, which can feel especially powerful in Stadium when ahead. We’re lowering her economy gain from damage to reduce the consistency and speed at which Freja can snowball in Stadium. We’ll be making a more targeted set of changes next week, including looking at the crowd control effectiveness and uptime of the Bola build and improving some of her weaker options.”
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