BlizzardOverwatch’s highly anticipated 15th season is finally here on PC, Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo Switch, introducing Hero Perks for one of the biggest gameplay swings in Overwatch’s history.
Hero Perks are here, a dramatically new way to play Overwatch that unlocks new abilities for heroes throughout a match. There are some insane perks introduced in Season 15, such as the return of Orisa’s Protective Barrier or Echo’s ability to reset her flight on a takedown.
In addition to Hero Perks, players can enjoy the return of loot boxes to earn some cosmetics for free, while competitive players will need to grind the ladder as another rank reset levels the playing field once again.
Biggest changes in Overwatch 2 February 18 patch
Hero Perks will allow players to upgrade their heroes mid-match, allowing you to choose new abilities for your characters as you gain experience throughout a match. Perks can be obtained by getting eliminations, healing allies, and dealing damage.
BlizzardObtaining hero perks will initially take some time, but progress towards new Perks will gradually increase as the game progresses. Swapping heroes will reset your Perks, but progress for Perks will carry over for heroes you already played. (In other words, if you got Mercy to Level 3 but swapped to Kiriko, Mercy will still be Level 3 if you swap back to her.)
As a result of Hero Perks being added, there are no hero balance updates in this patch. The devs plan to adjust heroes and perks in the weeks following launch in the event that anything is too over or underpowered.
Related
Players can also earn up to 10 loot boxes and a free legendary Mercy skin by participating in Perk-related challenges. Read up on all of the Perks here for detailed information about each hero.
Full Overwatch 2 February 18 patch notes
New Mythic Skin – Pixiu Zenyatta
Inspired by the golden dragon Pixiu, the Mythic Pixiu Zenyatta skin combines godly beauty with unique customizations. This skin evolves as you do, featuring four progression levels, thematic sound effects, and an optional Gilded Aspect.
Loot Boxes Are Back
Loot Boxes have returned to Overwatch 2 as something that can only be earned in-game or via events, with over 100 of them being offered up in this Season alone.
- Starting in Season 15, you can earn up to three Loot Boxes every week by completing up to 27 games each week with wins counting as double.
- Starting in Season 15, you can earn a free Legendary Loot Box in the free track of the Battle Pass and an additional two Legendary Loot Boxes in the Premium Track of the Battle Pass.
Loot Box
- Every Loot Box draws from a curated collection of Overwatch and Overwatch 2 cosmetic items.
- Each box will drop four items when opened. The items you get are now randomly selected at the time of box opening.
- Loot Boxes will prioritize giving you items you don’t already own.
- If a Loot Box can’t avoid giving you any items you already own, the loot box will instead grant progress towards a bonus Loot Box.
- At the start of each season, any unopened boxes from previous seasons will be automatically opened and all items dropped from them are added to your collection.
Drop Rates
On average, each rarity has the following chances of dropping per one Loot Box opened.
- Legendary: 5.1%
- Epic: 21.93%
- Rare: 96.26%
- Common: 97.97%
Guaranteed Drops
- A Legendary item is guaranteed to drop within 20 consecutive box openings.
- An Epic item is guaranteed to drop within five consecutive box openings.
- At least one Rare item or better is guaranteed to drop in every box.
Legendary Loot Box
Each Legendary Loot Box is guaranteed to contain at least one Legendary item.
Drops Rates
On average, each rarity has the following chances of dropping per one Legendary Box opened.
- Legendary: 100%
- Epic: 21.93%
- Rare: 96.26%
- Common: 97.97%
Competitive Play Updates
Skill Rank Reset
- The highest Ranks (Master, Grandmaster, and Champion) have been tuned to include a higher percentage of the player population once players are well calibrated.
- Given the addition of Perks and the tuning of higher Tiers, this reset is designed to put players on an even playing field and give them a chance to climb even higher than ever before.
- All ranks in Role Queue and Open Queue in Competitive Play have been reset to Unranked and all players will need to complete their respective 10 placement matches for each role.
Competitive Rewards
- Galactic Weapon Variants can now be unlocked with Competitive Points, allowing you to reach for the stars while you rank up.
- Jade Weapon Variants join Gold Weapon Variants as Legacy Rewards.
- Legacy Rewards can be purchased with Legacy Competitive Points.
- Competitive Weapon Charms will be awarded to players in Platinum and above in Season 16 based on your performance in Season 15.
- End-of-season titles for Competitive Role Queue now include the role the rank was achieved in. Examples include Champion Tank, Champion Support, Champion Damage, and Open Queue Champion.
Competitive Point Conversion
- All Competitive Points earned in the 2024 Competitive Year have been converted into Legacy Competitive Points.
- Competitive Points can now be manually converted into Legacy Competitive Points when purchasing Weapon Variants.
Ranks on Portraits
- Competitive Hero Portraits return to Competitive Play with Overwatch 2’s Rank icons, giving players that share their gameplay new opportunities to show off their skill.
Map Pool
- Clash Maps Hanaoka and Throne of Anubis are removed from the Competitive Play pool.
- All players can still play on all Escort, Hybrid, Control, Push, and Flashpoint maps.
General Updates
Voice Lines
- Refactored ultimate voice lines to allow custom player-specific voice lines instead also being heard by opponents.
- Mode-specific ultimate lines are now enabled to play game-wide for players with relevant skins equipped (ex. Warlock Ashe, Greek Gods skins, etc).
- Custom ultimate lines are now enabled for several Mythic skins, with more to come in future patches.
- Previously unused custom ultimate lines are now available for several other skins.
Emotes
- Emotes can now be cancelled mid-animation shortly after they are activated.
Bug Fixes
General
- Fixed a bug where players were unable to rename highlights when saving them.
- Fixes a bug where Voice Line Icons would sometimes appear over prestige tiers in the battle pass.
- Fixed a bug where the Drives Signature VFX would sometimes extend off the nametag.
- Fixed a bug where the final score would sometimes not appear in ranked games.
Heroes
- Fixed a bug where Hazard’s Jagged Wall projectiles would not respect barrier.