Blizzard Entertainment has released news about the new season for Overwatch 2. Season 8: Call of the Hunt has begun and it will bring the new Tank hero Mauga alongside festival events, new Hero Mastery courses, and new beast-themed rewards.
Mauga is Here and Ready to Party
Players got to see and play Mauga in action during BlizzCon 2023, but now he’s here for good as the newest Tank hero you can unlock in Overwatch 2. Armed with dual chainguns that will burn and burst down your enemies, Mauga is a fierce tactician that you will want to watch out for. He can charge through enemies and come crashing down on them with Overrun, reinforce his team with his Cardiac Overdrive, and even brawl in close-quarter combat with his powerful Cage Fight ultimate. The Overwatch team have seen how he performed, listened to your feedback, and made some adjustments to make him stand out even more. He is getting some extra power to his chainguns, along with adding Armor HP to enable him to last longer in the fight. Be sure to read the patch notes for more details.
Kick Off the Season with the Battle of Beasts
Overwatch 2 – Season 8: Call of the Hunt is an epic Beast Hunter-themed season. Fight in a powerful brawl with epic and powerful Grand Beasts in a fun 4v4 PvPvE game mode: The Battle of the Beasts. In a clash of Grand Beasts, protect yours while coordinating with your team to defeat the enemy beast. You’ll be able to play Mauga for free as the only tank to play in this mode, or try your hand as one of many other hunter-themed heroes and tear through the Grand Beast’s health while trying to avoid powerful abilities. May the best hunters win.
Play Battle of the Beasts, along with your favourite game modes, to complete new challenges in a limited-time event now through 19 December. You’ll earn new cosmetics, including a highlight intro for Mauga and a new name card, plus earn up to 25,000 Battle Pass XP to get a head start on the Season 8 Battle Pass and work your way to unlock new rewards including the Mythic Grand Beast Orisa skin available in the Premium Battle Pass.
Introducing Hard Light Weapon Skins
Introducing Weapon Skins – a new way to customize your heroes. It will start with the Hard Light theme for Rein, Reaper, and Mercy. These sleek designs with custom visual and sound effects can be equipped with any of these heroes’ skins. Look out for other Weapon Skins coming in future seasons.
The Overwatch team is excited about weapon customization, and this is just the first step. As they create more Weapon Skins, they want to hear about what you love about the skins. Your feedback is key as we evolve Weapon Skins and introduce new looks and more ways to customize your heroes.
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Winter Wonderland
Ring in the holidays with the Winter Wonderland event. Check out heroes celebrating in style with all-new Holiday skins. Beat challenges and unlock one free legendary skin of your choice – choose from the stylish Formalwear skins for Cassidy or Baptiste, or the cozy Winter Jammies Illari skin. Dive into the action with returning fan-favourite event modes like Mei’s Snowball Offensive and Yeti Hunt, with new challenges and rewards. Winter Wonderland launches on Tuesday, 20 December.
Master Your Skills with Echo, Genji, Mei, D.Va, and Lucio
The next wave of Hero Mastery courses is coming starting next year on 3 January in a five-week event featuring a new course for a new hero each week, plus new challenges and cosmetic rewards to earn as well.
Starting in Season 8, a new feature for Hero Mastery replays: Bookmarks. That’s right, you’ll be able to mark specific places in the replay time bar for quick viewing. Also, due to improvements that were made to the mode since its initial launch, the leaderboards for all current Hero Mastery courses have been reset. Don’t worry if you already hold a spot in the current Top 500; there will be old leaderboards brought back to view in a future update.
Celebrate the Year of the Dragon with the Return of Prop Hunt
Finally, Season 8 closes out with the return of our Lunar New Year event. After listening to your feedback, the fan-favourite Mischief and Magic prop hunt game mode will be on the Lijiang Night Market map, with all new props for Rogue Kiriko to transform into that will make you look in every direction imaginable. Also, look out for new Legendary skins in the in-game shop, along with playing returning modes like Capture the Flag and Bounty Hunter Deathmatch. The fireworks and festivities for the Year of the Dragon begin on 31 January.
Overwatch 2 is available to play for free on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC via Blizzard App or Steam.
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