Overwatch 2 Season 20: Winter Wonderland update, aim assist changes, Cassidy rework, and more

The Overwatch 2 Season 20 update is here, and it's brought forth a plethora of content for the community to experience. The fan-favorite Winter Wonderland event is back, and alongside it, we've also got some major changes to certain key elements within the game, like a hero rework, aim assist changes, and much more.

In this article, we will explore all the major highlights that have been incorporated with the Overwatch 2 Season 20 update. Read below to know more.

All changes and additions made with the Overwatch 2 Season 20 update

Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland will feature two unique playable events in OW2. The first event has gone on December 9, 2025, right after the Overwatch 2 Season 20 patch. Meanwhile, the second event is scheduled to go live on December 23, 2025. Both these game modes feature a unique twist to the Magic and Mischief event that we have previously experienced in the game, and we are sure that fans are going to have a hoot as soon as they hop in.

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You can play these game modes to collect a unique event-exclusive currency, 'Cookies', which can be later used to gift one of the three spirits, Tracer the Elf, Santa Torbjörn, or Junkrat Krampus. Each spirit has its own rewards to give you as a sign of gratitude for the cookies.

Also read: All hero changes in Overwatch 2 Season 20

Aim assist changes in Overwatch 2 Season 20

One of the biggest updates with this patch is the changes that have been implemented for controller aim assist. As per the official patch notes, players can expect the following aim assist changes currently live in Overwatch 2 Season 20:

Increased Aim Assist strength by 7%

New extra sensitivity options:

Extra Horizontal Sensitivity at Max Deadzone
Extra Vertical Sensitivity at Max Deadzone
Extra Sensitivity Ramp-up delay (0 - 1 second) - Amount of time right stick needs to be held for max sensitivity to kick in
Extra Sensitivity Ramp-up time (0 - 1 second) - Amount of time for the extra sensitivity to accelerate to full once the ramp-up delay is finished.
Disable Aim Assist at Max Deadzone

Friendly Aim Assist Changes:

Only affects Ana, Juno, and Illari
New option in the Hero/HUD option - Friendly Aim Assist Health threshold - Aim assist will only activate on allied targets below the set health % value of this field. The default is 99% so that full health allies are not targeted now.
Set the default friendly aim assist strength to 100% for Juno/Ana/Illari.
New Aim Assist Ease-in settings in All Heroes options:
Projectile heroes' aim assist ease in
Hitscan heroes aim assist ease in
Melee heroes aim assist ease in
Allows players to tweak the ease in value for the diff types of heroes through the all heroes menu. Players can still individually change a specific hero's ease in value through the per hero option in Overwatch 2 Season 20

Check out: All hero changes in Overwatch 2 Stadium (Season 20)

Competitive rank changes in Overwatch 2 Season 20

Top 500 has been upgraded to Challenger Tier in Overwatch 2 Season 20
The Challenger Leaderboard is now organized by Challenger Score.
Winning a match at or above Diamond 5 in Core Competitive play or All-Star 5 in Stadium now grants Challenger Score.
The exact Challenger Score players get for a win is based on the highest-ranked player in each match. A map of ranks to Challenger score payout is included at the end of this section.
Losing a match at or above Diamond 5 or All-Star 5 subtracts 33% of the Challenger Score a player would gain at their Rank, according to the table below.
The highest-ranked player in the match is not used to calculate Challenger Score for losses.
Challenger Score is recorded over the course of a season and reset to 0 when a season ends.
Challenger Score gains a Heat Bonus each consecutive week of the season of 5%. Example:
At the end of a 9-week season, a win would be worth 40% more Challenger Score.
Challenger Score can't be earned in Wide matches.
Challenger Score earned Role Queue is applied to both the Role-specific leaderboards and the Combined Leaderboard.
Challenger Score earned in Open Queue and Stadium is accumulated in separate leaderboards in Overwatch 2 Season 20.
Challenger Score has been added to the Career Profile.
Challenger Score has been added to the Competitive Progress screen.
Verified Challenger Tier players will now be able to link to their social channels directly from the Challenger leaderboards, allowing everyone to watch some of our highest-skilled players live on various platforms.
The first wave of players with this privilege will start small, and we'll expand this group over time.
The players who are currently live in the game client will have a red highlight on their streaming link.

Cassidy rework - Overwatch 2 Season 20 Stadium

Cassidy has gotten quite a major rework in the latest patch. However, the changes to his kit are exclusively for the Stadium game mode within the title.

Here's a detailed look at the changes that have been made to his kit with the latest patch:

Full House (New) - Power

Original functionality removed.
(New) Flashbang hits reduce Fan the Hammer's spread by 25% for 2s.

Bang Bang (New) - Power

Peacekeeper hits against enemies recently damaged by Flashbang (within 2s) reduce its cooldown by 0.5s.

Buck Wild (New) - Power

Peacekeeper hits grant 1% Move Speed for 5s, stacking up to 15 times. At Max Stacks, gain 10% Damage Reduction.

Dead Man Walkin' (New) - Power

Original functionality removed.
(New) Enemies below 30% HP have their heads marked. Marked heads are larger and Critical Hits against marked enemies have 50% Weapon Lifesteal.

Hot Potato (New) - Power

Original functionality removed.
(New) Flashbang becomes magnetic and has 50% increased throw distance.

Bullseye (New) - Power

Flashbang hits and Critical Hits reduce Combat Roll's cooldown by 2s.

It's 12 O'clock Somewhere (New) - Power

Deadeye eliminations grant 25% Ultimate Charge each. If you get no eliminations with Deadeye, refund 33% Ultimate Charge.

Sunset - Power

Removed and combined into It's 12 O'Clock Somewhere.

Easy Rider (New) - Power

Eliminating an enemy recently damaged by Flashbang grants 20% Ultimate Charge. While using Deadeye, gain 100 Overhealth and 25% Move Speed.

Flash in the Pan - Power

Removed and combined with Easy Rider.

Sunrise - Power

Removed and converted to a Hero Item (Snakebite).

Snakebite (New) - Item

+25 Health
+15% Ability Power
Using Deadeye slows all visible enemies by 20% for 2.5s

Duck and Roll (New) - Item

+25 Health
+5% Cooldown Reduction
+50% Combat Roll distance.

Frankie's Fixer - Item

+50 Health
(New) - Heal 2.5% of your Max Life for each Ammo loaded using Combat Roll.
Now heals a percentage of your Max Life per ammo instead of a flat number.

Competitive Analysis (New) - Item

+15% Weapon Power
Gain 20% Weapon Lifesteal against enemies in the Damage role.
Swapped the conditional stat and main stat.

That's everything that you need to know about the major changes and additions that have been made with the Overwatch 2 Season 20 patch.

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Edited by Jay Sarma