Overwatch 2 has been a strong second iteration of the first-person shooter and with Season 5 fast approaching, there’s a lot to look forward to.

It’s not been without bumps on the road, including server problems at launch and the recently scrapped PvE mode.

Blizzard Entertainment has tried to keep spirits high by outlining its next three seasons.

So what can we expect next? Here’s what we know about Season 5 of Overwatch 2?

Release Date

Season 5 of Overwatch 2 will likely launch on the 13th of June 2023.

Each Season has lasted 9 weeks so far, with Season 4 likely to be similar.

This is provided there are no delays or obstacles to prevent that.

Patch Notes

Hero Changes

As detailed by the recent Director’s Take:

• Junker Queen
  • Will get her health bonus from Commanding Shout reduced from 200 to 150
  • Increased the cost of her ult slightly
• Lifeweaver
  • Increases to his healing
  • Increases in damage output
  • Heal on Life Grip
  • Slightly reduced hitbox
  • Quality-of-life changes to Petal Platform
•  Widowmaker
  • Damage falloff will change from 70-100 meters to 40-60 meters
  • The damage fall off scalar will also increase from 30%-50%
• Hanzo
  • Will receive a slight nerf to his damage so that he is no longer able to one-shot 250 health heroes
  • His Sonic Arrow will also be more recognizable by the enemy team
• Mei
  • Mei’s Endothermic Blaster’s primary fire will slow targets and also build up to an effect that will apply a much larger slow for 1.5 seconds
  • Primary fire damage is being reduced from 100-55dps
• Cassidy
  • Cassidy’s magnetic Grenade will deal less damage, as well as applying an effect that slows and blocks movement abilities

Season 5’s New Hero

Unfortunately, there will be no new Hero in Season 5 of Overwatch 2.

Unlike the previous four seasons, where a new hero has been added to the expansive roster, they will now arrive in alternate seasons.

So we will not get a new Hero until Season 6 of Overwatch 2; which will feature a Support Hero.

Season 5 Roadmap

Mischief And Magic Theme

The theme is ‘Mischief & Magic’ based on the recent roadmap posted by Overwatch social accounts.

This will likely feature a fantasy element to the world of Overwatch 2.

Interestingly, this same picture is seen in the picture above it (on the roadmap). So it’s likely that Questwatch and this theme are linked heavily.

Battle Pass

We can expect a new Battle Pass, which will again cost 1000 Overwatch Coins for the Premium Battle Pass or £29.99 for the Ultimate Battle Pass Bundle.

Again, a free Battle Pass will be available for those that don’t wish to purchase the Battle Pass.

With the Mischief & Magic theme, we can expect a lot of related skins to be introduced in the Battle Pass.

One of the skins includes ‘Mythic Adventurer Tracer’, with a skin that evolves as you level up through the Battle Pass.

Overwatch is introducing a fun new story with progression to some of your favourite heroes. Tracer, Emily, Orisa, and many of their friends have gathered together for a night of fun and games, enjoying a new role-playing campaign, Questwatch.

Tracer, alongside her trusted companion GR-iffon Orisa, has set out to explore the magical kingdom of Overland to become a knight. They will meet both friends and foes, as they look to save Queen Emily and her kingdom from the terror of Demon Lord Reinhardt. As you unlock tiers in the Season 5 Battle Pass, you will also unlock new chapters in their role-playing adventure.

Starting this season, those who progress with the Premium Battle Pass will also be able to unlock the new base Mythic Adventurer skin for Tracer at tier 45, but Tracer won’t be a full knight quite yet. As the campaign progresses, Tracer will become the knight that saves the kingdom, and you’ll unlock new customizations for the Mythic Adventurer skin along the way on tiers 65 and 80. This allows you to equip and show off Tracer’s Mythic skin in your matches throughout the season. You’ll also collect new Epic and Legendary skins, including Slime Queen Echo, Royal Guard Genji, and Demon Lord Reinhardt, just to name a few!

Challenges

In celebration of this new theme, we have partnered with Overwatch Workshop Creator, CactusPuppy, to bring the first-ever creator-made game mode to Overwatch 2. Called Defeat the Demon Lord, this mode has a team of four intrepid heroes standing up against the powerful Demon Lord Reinhardt in a 1v4 Team Deathmatch brawl. Do you have what it takes to save the kingdom, or will you conquer it as the Demon Lord instead?

As you set off on your adventure into Season 5, you’ll have a variety of new event challenges called Key Quests to complete, which involve playing either your favorite modes or the new Defeat the Demon Lord game mode. Complete five of the Key Quests and you’ll unlock a treasure chest of 1,500 Currency, which can then be used to unlock your favorite past skins from the Hero Gallery. Plus you’ll earn as much as 20,000 XP in the Battle Pass!

Another big change this season will be in how you complete weekly challenges. One of the biggest concerns we have seen from players is having progress erased from weekly challenges, along with sometimes taking too long to win games to complete some of those challenges. Having your progress be undone each week doesn’t feel very good, so starting in Season 5, any weekly challenges that are not completed by the time the reset hits will simply roll its progress over to your next week for you to complete.

We are also changing challenges that require only wins to complete to now allow all games completed in total, with wins counting as two games played. We’ll be adjusting the total number of games required to be higher, but players will likely spend the same average amount of time to complete the challenge as before. This should encourage players to play out matches regardless of outcome to gain progress to their weekly challenges and reduce occurrences of players leaving match early.

New Content And Events

The Summer Games makes its debut in Overwatch 2. Bringing fun new challenges to players, bringing back the fan-favourite Lúcioball, and introducing a whole new game mode, Winston’s Beach Volleyball. Be sure to check out the in-game shop for Summer-themed skins, including a fresh skin for Mercy that is sure to make a splash. You can also take part in fun event challenges to earn a new tropical-themed skin for Doomfist and up to 50,000 Battle Pass XP.

Lúcioball, a fun 3v3 sports game where teams featuring Lúcio work to score a gigantic soccer ball into the opponent’s goal, is back! The first to three goals wins. Try to outplay your opponents on three challenging maps with obstacles and jump pads throughout the arena!

However, the fun doesn’t stop there! Winston invites you to the beach for a whole new way to serve up your favourite Overwatch heroes, in Winston’s Beach Volleyball. You’ll run, jump, and spike a giant volleyball toward your opponents, scoring when the ball hits the sand on! Can you beat the heat in this new game mode? Find out when Summer Games launches on July 11.

Later this season, we’re bringing our take on the popular FPS gameplay of prop hunt to Overwatch 2 with Mischief and Magic. The royal guard will need to seek out a band of rogues hiding as everyday objects.

Will you be able to spot the sneaky thieves? This 5v5 elimination game mode will be available for a limited time starting July 25. You’ll also be able to complete challenges to earn rewards including an Epic skin for Ana and 50,000 Battle Pass XP.

Competitive Updates

Mystery Heroes Returns

We received a lot of praise for Competitive Mystery Heroes in Season 3, so starting today, we’re bringing back Competitive Mystery Heroes! This mode tests your skills to unpredictable situations and your overall skill using the entire roster of heroes. Can you flex your way to the top of the leaderboards?

Getting friends together for Competitive

We’ve heard your feedback that it’s hard for friends to play together competitively. In our main Competitive Play modes, we restrict the range in skill rating players can have when grouping up. Grand Master players are capped to only grouping up with just one other player. Playing together with friends is the best way to enjoy Overwatch and we are exploring new ways to get friends together for a fun competitive experience.

So for this season’s mid-season Competitive mode, we are introducing Team Queue, which only allows groups of five, regardless of skill rating, to play in Overwatch 2’s standard role lock ruleset. Here it will take more than just raw mechanical skill to help score a victory—good team coordination and communication will be more important than ever. In this mode, there are no skill restrictions for your team either, allowing friends to compete and climb the rank ladder together!