Overwatch 2 season 5 starts on June 13, and players who pay for the game’s premium battle pass have a new Mythic skin to look forward to: Adventurer Tracer, who not only looks sharp and stylish, but introduces a new tier-unlocking scheme for the game’s Mythic skins.
Mythic Adventurer Tracer gives the series’ cover star hero a fantasy elf appearance, with an optional cowl and fancy armor that offers a rogue-like look. Mythic skins in Overwatch 2 let players customize skins to a degree, with a variety of colors, armor pieces, and accessories.
Blizzard Entertainment revealed Wednesday that Tracer’s Mythic Adventurer skin will unlock across three tiers: level 45 (base), level 65 (intermediate), and level 80 complete. Players would typically unlock a complete Mythic skin at level 80. Level 45 of the premium battle pass is normally where Overwatch 2 players would unlock a new hero, but season 5 won’t introduce a new character to the game’s roster.
Journey through the #Overwatch2 Season 5 Battle Pass on June 13 to unlock all three stages of Mythic Adventurer Tracer:
Tier 45 ➡️ Base
Tier 65 ➡️ Intermediate
Tier 80 ➡️ Complete pic.twitter.com/A7jGMgNkUA— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) June 7, 2023
Season 5 will instead bring the following new and returning features to Overwatch 2, according to Blizzard’s seasonal roadmap:
- Questwatch, a new limited time event mode
- A Mischief & Magic theme
- A cinematic reveal for an unspecified hero
- The return of Summer Games
- 5v5 mini competitive season
- “On fire” returns
- Creator Workshop mode
Overwatch 2 season 5 will also bring some big balance changes — some of them light reversions — to existing heroes, including Junker Queen, Lifeweaver, Mei, and Cassidy. Game director Aaron Keller previewed some of those upcoming changes in a blog post on Tuesday, detailing how Junker Queen will be nerfed slightly, as she’s come to dominate the tank role, especially at higher ranks.
“One of the big changes that we made was to increase the healing received from her passive,” Keller said. “We like this addition to her playstyle, but it makes Queen too survivable, so we’ll be reducing the health she receives from Commanding Shout from 200 to 150 to compensate. We’ll also be increasing the cost of her ult by a small amount since she is getting it at a faster rate than before the midseason changes.”
Keller noted that newcomer Lifeweaver is “not powerful enough to be a solid pick for most players,” and that upcoming buffs will offer “increases to his healing and damage output, a heal on Life Grip, a slightly reduced hitbox, and some quality-of-life changes to Petal Platform.”
As for the two heroes who lost crucial crowd control abilities with the transition from Overwatch to Overwatch 2, Keller noted that Mei’s Endothermic Blaster will be updated to “apply a much larger slow [effect]” that “will feel familiar to the way her old weapon worked,” and that Cassidy’s magnetic grenade will be updated to deal less damage but also apply an effect that slows and blocks movement abilities.
Finally, Overwatch 2 players should expect to be one-shotted less often starting in season 5. That means nerfs to Widowmaker and Hanzo. Keller explains:
Widow’s damage falloff will change from 70-100 meters to 40-60 meters. The damage falloff scalar will also increase from 30%-50%. She will still have the ability to one-shot 200 health heroes at 50 meters or less, but further than that, it will no longer be a killing blow. 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—the intent here is to reduce his kills that feel like they come out of nowhere.
Overwatch 2 season 4, which introduced Lifeweaver, included the limited-time Starwatch mode, and buffed Moira and Brigitte, runs through June 13.