counterpickHealth, armor and shields
What a hero’s health is made of, what armor does and how regeneration works.
Health pools
A hero’s health can have three parts: plain health, armor and shields.
Source: Patch notes 13 Feb 2024In our hero values 13 heroes carry armor and 9 have shields.
With armor
With shields
Source: Overwatch fan wikiSeason 9 raised every hero’s total health: heroes with 150 to 175 got 25 more, those with 200 to 300 got 50 more, tanks 75 to 100 more.
Source: Patch notes 13 Feb 2024Tanks have more health in Role Queue than in modes without it (see roles).
Source: Patch notes 7 Feb 2023 · Patch notes 9 Feb 2026
What armor does
Armor takes 7 damage off every hit, but never more than half of that hit.
Source: Patch notes 26 Aug 2025Armor and other damage reduction together stop at 50%, unless an ability goes further (Blizzard names Ramattra’s and Hazard’s Block). If damage reduction is already above 50%, armor adds nothing.
Source: Patch notes 26 Aug 2025Because the reduction applies per projectile, armor works best against rapid fire and shotguns.
Source: Patch notes 14 May 2024
Armor rule changes
| Date | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Reduction per hit 5 → 3, still at most half. | Patch notes 24 Jan 2019 | |
| Reduction per hit 3 → 5. | Patch notes 10 Dec 2019 | |
| Armor now adds up with other damage reduction; cap 50%. | Patch notes 10 Aug 2023 | |
| Back to a flat 5 per projectile, at most 50%. | Patch notes 14 May 2024 | |
| 5 → 10 per projectile. | Patch notes 5 Jul 2024 | |
| 10 → 7 per hit. | Patch notes 17 Sept 2024 | |
| Rules restated after a bug: 7 per hit, at most 50%. | Patch notes 26 Aug 2025 |
Regeneration
Since Season 9 every hero regains health on their own after a few seconds without taking damage.
Source: Patch notes 13 Feb 2024It heals 10 health per second plus 5% of maximum health; at first it was a flat 20 per second.
Source: Patch notes 14 May 2024The wait went from 5 to 6 seconds. The support passive that halved it is gone, so 6 seconds apply to everyone.
Source: Patch notes 24 Jun 2025 · Patch notes 9 Feb 2026The Survivor subrole starts regeneration at once when a movement ability is used (see subroles).
Source: Patch notes 9 Feb 2026
Shields and overhealth
- General rules for shields and overhealth, for example when shields refill: not described in the sources we read.
Sources
- Patch notes
- Blizzard’s patch notes of the days linked at each statement. 24 Jan 2019 · 10 Dec 2019 · 7 Feb 2023 · 10 Aug 2023 · 13 Feb 2024 · 14 May 2024 · 5 Jul 2024 · 17 Sept 2024 · 24 Jun 2025 · 26 Aug 2025 · 9 Feb 2026
- Hero values
- Overwatch fan wiki , CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 , as of 24 Sept 2026
- Texts
- Our own words. Every statement links the source it is based on; what no source describes stays open.