Overwatch 2 season 3 kicks off on Tuesday, Feb. 7, bringing with it a new map, a new way to earn credits through the game’s seasonal battle pass, and a series of special events, including a new Valentine’s Day-themed event and the return of PachiMarchi, the celebration of all things Pachimari. Overwatch 2’s third season of content will also welcome the game’s first crossover, with One Punch Man-themed skins coming to the game.
Naturally, a new season also means new skins. Season 3’s bulk of skins are inspired by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean mythology, headlined by the new Amaterasu Mythic skin for Kiriko available through the game’s premium battle pass. Themed skins for Moira, Reaper, and Junkrat will also be available to unlock through the battle pass, with skins for D.Va, Zenyatta, Genji, Mei, and Ashe (and BOB) available through the in-game shop.
Check out those skins in the gallery below:
As seen in the season 3 launch trailer above, players can also expect new skins for Wrecking Ball, Sigma, Mercy, Cassidy, Junker Queen, and other Overwatch heroes.
Overwatch 2 is also getting its first dating sim, Loverwatch, which will be playable in a browser outside of the game. Completing the dating sim will unlock a new highlight intro for Hanzo. Hanzo will also be the star of a new 4v4 Valentine’s Day-themed event.
Loverwatch will be available to play from Feb. 13-28, and the Hanzo 4v4 mode will be available in-game Feb. 14-28. PachiMarchi launches March 21, and will include a new limited-time Kill Confirmed game mode, plus some cosmetic rewards: an epic skin, six PachiMarchi player icons, a weapon charm, and name card. Players can claim a PachiMarchi Roadhog player icon by logging in during the event, and complete themed challenges to earn the Epic-tier Pachimari Roadhog skin before the event ends on April 4.
Blizzard is also launching a series of balance changes and quality of life updates for Overwatch 2 with season 3. The developer plans to reveal more about balance and competitive changes ahead of the season’s launch on Tuesday, but here’s a taste of what’s changing, from Blizzard:
- The health totals for all tanks will be lower when playing any game mode that does not have a role queue to address the relative power of those heroes in game modes where there can be multiple of the same hero on the same team. Health totals will remain the same for tanks when playing any Role Queue enabled game.
- Maximum ultimate charge retained when swapping heroes is reduced from 30 to 25%.
- Mercy is receiving nerfs, and most supports have received minor balance changes.
- Damaging enemies with Rammatra’s ultimate now slows the duration timer down instead of pausing it entirely.