Overwatch 2's been on a huge winning streak lately, and that's not looking to stop with Season 18. The highlights of the soon-to-arrive update include the debut of a new support hero, Wuyang, and big changes to the already incredible Stadium mode.
Of course, we'll also be getting the usual bells and whistles that come with a new season, including a new battle pass, a mythic skin for one lucky hero, several events, and a batch of shop bundles. Below, I'll cover everything we know so far about Overwatch Season 18 so you're up to speed.
Overwatch 2 Season 18 release date
Overwatch 2 Season 18 releases on Tuesday, August 26th at 11 am PT / 7 pm BST, which coincides with the end of Season 17, so make sure you finish your battle pass before it expires.
Thankfully, you don't have to wait that long until you can try out Season 18's biggest addition: Wuyang. Thanks to a hero trial for the upcoming support, you'll be able to demo Wuyang between Thursday, August 14, and Monday, August 18, almost a week ahead of the full season's launch.
Overwatch 2 Season 18 mythic skin
As always, only one lucky hero gets picked to have a fancy, customisable mythic skin, and the Season 18 mythic skin goes to Sojourn, with her Ultraviolet Sentinel skin. You'll have different styles and colour palettes to choose from, and the skin also alters the sound effects and visuals of some of Sojourn's abilities, which hasn't always been the case with mythics.
It will be available from the Mythic Shop as soon as Season 18 starts, but you’ll need mythic prisms to be able to buy it. These can be earned from the battle pass, so you might even have some left over from previous seasons to unlock it right away.
The biggest changes in Overwatch 2 Season 18
While Blizzard is yet to officially unveil many of the changes coming in Season 18, we do know a few things so far regarding the standard modes and Stadium specifically.
Core game:
- Sojourn is getting new perks:
- Deceleration Field replaces the Extended Mag minor perk: Enemies hit by disruptor shot are slowed by 25%.
- Friction Generators replaces the Adhesive Siphon major perk: While sliding, generate up to 50 energy.
- A new hero, Wuyang, who will undoubtedly have a big impact on the meta
- Competitive rank reset
- Improved hero information, including public hero pick and win rates
Stadium:
With its unique power and item-based gameplay, Stadium is also seeing some significant, targeted updates in Season 18, from new heroes to a bunch of quality-of-life tweaks.
- New heroes:
- Winston
- Pharah
- Brigitte
- Tracer (midseason)
- New Payload Race game mode with two maps:
- Thames District
- Powder Key Mine
- New All-Star ranked rewards
- Draft mode, in which teams go one by one, picking their heroes for each role
- Unranked Stadium, which also has crossplay and backfill enabled
- Endorsement functionality extended to Stadium
As you can see, there's plenty to look forward to in Season 18 in both the standard and Stadium modes. Beyond this, Blizzard has given us a look at future Stadium updates, which include multiple new heroes each season, a new China map, consumables, and active items coming in Season 19 and beyond.
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