Blizzard has laid out massive changes laid out for Overwatch 2 Season 3, many of which fans have been calling for since the sequel’s release.
We have a new theme, map, events, and skins, which have mostly been made attainable for no extra cost. While there are certainly still some areas of unrest for Overwatch 2, mainly its shop, these small changes will hopefully go a long way in rewarding players for hard work, instead of asking them to pay up.
There’s a lot to dive into this Season to get ready for some expected and unexpected updates as we lay out everything there is to know in our Overwatch 2 Season 3 guide.
Season 3 Theme: Asian Mythology
The theme for Overwatch 2 Season 3 is Asian Mythology, with several characters already hailing from the many cultures that encapsulate the region; players can expect a variety of skins and cosmetics to enjoy.
This season, the mythic skin is the Amaterasu Kiriko, inspired by various deities in Japanese mythology. You will also be able to customize Kiriko’s skin with different themes for the moon, the sea, and storms. This skin will be obtainable at tier 80 of the Battle Pass.
Other season-themed skins that you can find in the Battle Pass include Reaper, Moria, and Junkrat. However, the D.Va, Zenyatta, Genji, Ashe, and Mei Asian Mythology-themed skins will only be purchasable in the shop.
Season 3 New Map: Antarctica Peninsula
Season 3 will be the first season of Overwatch 2, not to give us a new hero to play. But thankfully, Blizzard put all that time into working on an expansive map for players to enjoy and explore.
While we’ve been able to play Antarctica: Ecopoint map in custom games and the Arcade mode, the new Antarctica: Peninsula control mode looks to expand our understanding of what happened in this frozen tundra.
The new game mode gives us three maps to enjoy. As a Control mode, it will be a best-of-three fight on the maps: Ice Breaker, Ice Cave, and Lab. These locations have different pros and cons, supporting various hero picks. The adventure also explores Mei’s tragic backstory.
Season 3 Events: Loverwatch, One-Punch Man, and more
Blizzard has taken a long, hard look at the feedback concerning the events in Overwatch 2 Season 2 and has made some promises to help make future events more enjoyable.
One of the events airing in Season 3 will feature a new legendary skin as the end prize
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In a blog post (opens in new tab), Blizzard admitted that it “did not expect players would pursue all hero titles during” the Battle for Olympus limited-time event. This unexpected dedication saw players having to play hours of the event every day for two weeks to secure all the name tags and other prizes.
To help combat this strenuous prize hunting, Blizzard plans to make a team deathmatch version also available in custom maps, along with prizes that reward players for completing tasks outside of the specific event.
There are also plans in Overwatch 2 Season 3 to offer new rewards for all players, not just those who are fresh-faced to the game. Thankfully this means that one of the events airing in Season 3 will feature a new legendary skin as the end prize. This addition will make returning events more engaging to veteran players who already own the skins featured as event prizes.
Loverwatch Dating Sim and Valentine's Event
For the first time in Overwatch, Overwatch 2 will be celebrating Valentine’s Day.
The Loverwatch Dating Sim will be active between 13-28 February, and the Ultimate Valentine’s Event between 14-28 February will include a Hanzo 4v4 Limited Time Mode match and Support-themed challenges that can get you two earnable epic skins and other cosmetics.
In a blog post (opens in new tab), Blizzard said, “Loverwatch is a non-canon text-based dating sim where players will choose between two potential dating paths: Mercy or Genji. Players will be presented with dialogue options to interact with that hero and will be assisted by Cupid (who looks suspiciously like Hanzo). Unlock the secret ending, and you’ll be rewarded with a themed Player of the Game Highlight!”
One-Punch Man Collaboration
Arriving on 7 March until 6 April, the One-Punch Man collab is Overwatch’s biggest IP collaboration to date and opens the doors for similar team-ups in the future. By working with the team behind the Japanese Anime, there will be skins and cosmetics added in this season, with one being a legendary skin that is earnable via themed challenges.
PachiMarchi Returns
The old event is back with a new limited-time Kill Confirmed game mode. Between 21 March and 4 April, this event will provide fans with tons of rewards, including an epic Roadhog skin, six PachiMarchi player icons, a weapon charm, and a name card.
Season 3 Hero updates: balances and nerfs
Tank Heroes
Before the start of Overwatch 2 Season 3, all the tank heroes received significant changes in patches. While Winston, Orisa, Wrecking Ball, and Junker Queen have more or less stayed the same, some big changes are coming for the other powerful characters.
Reinhardt has had a serious helping hand to make his character more viable
Ramattra has had a much-needed nerf to his ultimate, meaning it has been made weaker. Before, his Annihilation move would continue to work as long as he damaged an enemy hero. However, now the time is capped at 20 seconds with damaging enemies slowing the clock down instead of pausing it.
On the other hand, Reinhardt has had a serious helping hand to make his character more viable. His Charge cooldown is down from 8 to 7 seconds, and his Fire Strike damage is up from 90 to 100. Reinhardt’s ultimate, Earthshatter, has had its damage for a direct hit reduced from 250 to 170, but the knockback duration increased from 2.5 to 2.75 seconds.
DPS Heroes
Widowmaker, Torbjorn, and Junkrat have all been weakened in this patch
There have been a few changes made to the DPS heroes in Overwatch 2. However, the split is 50/50 for those who have been made better and made worse. The heroes who have been buffed and strengthened include Cassidy, Soldier 76, and Sombra.
Blizzard updated Cassidy’s Combat Roll so it can pass through enemy players, and the falloff range for his Peacekeeper pistol was increased from 20 to 25 meters. Soldier 76 has had a massive reduction (12%) to his recoil, making it much harder for players to handle his Pulse Rifle. The number of shots to reach full recoil has also been increased from 4 to 6 meaning you have more stable shots. Sombra has also had her damage increased from 7 to 7.5, and her health pack hacked duration increased from 30 to 45 seconds.
However, not everyone has gotten better. Widowmaker, Torbjorn, and Junkrat have all been weakened in this patch. Widowmaker has had her total health reduced from 200 to 175, Torbjorn has had his Turret base health reduced from 250 to 225, and Junkrat has had his maximum damage decreased from 120 to 100.
Support Heroes
For the support heroes, Ana, Zenyatta, and Brigitte have all received small balances. But the star of the show in this category is Mercy.
As some players grew frustrated with the unbeatable strength of this hero, it became apparent to Blizzard that this winged healer needed to be reworked. Her Guardian Angel ability that allows Mercy to fly towards an ally has had its cooldown increased from 1.5 to 1.5 seconds and now moves 20% slower. Mercy’s healing decreased from 55 to 45, and her Regeneration Passive ability that lets her automatically heal over time is gone.
Update to the On Fire system
Blizzard has been exploring ways to update and implement the ‘On Fire’ system into Overwatch 2. In a blog post (opens in new tab), Blizzard said it “wants to add or improve systems that better celebrate players match to match as well as across seasons”.
In the first Overwatch, when players were doing exceptionally well for a long time, their character would say a voice line indicating they were on fire. At the same time, their hero border was engulfed in blue flames that were visible to both teams.
However, in Overwatch 2, while all the voice lines remain, the blue flames no longer engulf your hero border. Luckily this is currently being looked at for a return as well as “a hero-based progression system that would showcase the energy players put into playing each hero and mastering their different capabilities,” Blizzard said.
Season 3 General updates: ranked and credit changes
Since I started playing Overwatch 2, there has been a greater skill disparity between teams, with the law of the lands tending to be either you crush the enemy team or get crushed. There have been fewer narrowly won or lost matches.
Blizzard is working on ensuring that players fight against enemies that have similar MMR in each role
“Based on community feedback, we’re implementing some updates to the matchmaker,” Blizzard said in a blog post (opens in new tab). These changes that we can see in Overwatch 2 Season 3 cover a wide array of problems.
Firstly, Blizzard is working on ensuring that players fight against enemies that have similar MMR in each role. MMR stands for matchmaking rating and is an invisible rating tied to your account and changes with each win and loss. This secret rating helps Overwatch generate team composition and fair matchmaking in quickplay and competitive games.
Until now, Blizzard has simply tried to match the MMR of players regardless of role. For example, there could be one highly skilled DPS and four mediocre teammates on one team pitted against one highly skilled tank and four mediocre teammates on the other. Since the highly skilled players were in different roles, it wouldn’t feel like a fair matchup for the opposite mediocre tank or DPS.
In Overwatch 2 Season 3, you will get an update to your competitive rank every five wins and 15 losses
“The goal with this change is to make the average MMR between each role more evenly matched to each other instead of looking more broadly across the entire team to balance things out,” Blizzard said.
The ranking for competitive play is changing. Initially, players would have their competitive rank re-evaluated after seven wins or 20 losses. Blizzard said these high numbers have “been discouraging for players” because it took too long to complete a single ranking. So starting in Overwatch 2 Season 3, you will get an update to your competitive rank every five wins and 15 losses. The mid-season patch will show your progress towards the next competitive level.
Credits and Hero Gallery update
After a less-than-favorable start to skins, credits, and the shop in Overwatch 2, Blizzard has finally promised that changes are on the way. “We’re bringing back Overwatch Credits, which had been previously shown as Legacy Credits and been unearnable in Overwatch 2”, Blizzard said in a blog post (opens in new tab).
Blizzard has now lowered the prices of all legendary skins to 1500 credits.
Simultaneously, all players can earn up to 1500 credits as free rewards and an additional 500 credits as premium rewards throughout the Season 3 Battle Pass. While this is a step in the right direction, you shouldn’t be content with this, as these credits will only allow you to obtain one legendary skin per season.
Luckily this shouldn’t be the end of more rewards to look forward to. “These changes aren’t the end of our journey to make Overwatch 2 a more rewarding game to play; they’re just the beginning”, Blizzard said. “We have more updates coming in future seasons”.
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