Highlights

  • Overwatch 2's Season 9 update will bring a significant Competitive overhaul and a new Hero Mastery mission called Gauntlet.
  • Players can look forward to an Eldritch Horror-themed battle pass with strange yet stylish Lovecraft-themed skins.
  • Although Season 9 won't introduce new maps or heroes, Blizzard has announced that two new heroes will be added later in 2024.

Overwatch 2 has revealed some major changes coming with its Season 9 update, which will arrive on February 13. Overwatch 2's Season 9: Champions will introduce a significant overhaul to Competitive, a new Hero Mastery, and much more.

Following the demise of the Overwatch League, Blizzard has pushed to revive Overwatch 2's esports scene by announcing a new league in partnership with ESL FACEIT Group. The Overwatch Champions Series will launch this year and will introduce an entirely new format that's more focused on openness, rather than the Overwatch League's closed-off franchise format. Ahead of the OWCS's launch, it seems that Blizzard is looking to revamp Overwatch 2's regular Competitive mode as well.

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Overwatch 2 released a trailer that revealed many of the features coming with February 13's Season 9 update. Most notably, all Competitive players will have their rank reset in the new Competitive system, which will also allow players to view their progress after every match. Competitive players will have a new max rank to work towards called Champion. In Season 9, users can also earn new Jade weapon skins, as well as play in a new co-op event known as Cosmic Crisis where users will battle against a Lovecraftian monster. Season 9's theme is Eldritch Horror and its battle pass features a handful of strange but stylish Lovecraft-themed skins. Overwatch 2's new Season 9 trailer is packed with additional reveals.

Overwatch 2 Season 9: Champions Trailer

  • Season 9 will include a Competitive overhaul
  • Eldritch Horror-themed battle pass
  • New Hero Mastery
  • New Jade weapon skins

Overwatch 2's Season 9 will also introduce a new Hero Mastery mission, called Gauntlet, that sees players defend towers against computer-controlled enemies. Interestingly, the end of the trailer also seems to hint towards a crossover with the popular anime Cowboy Bebop by playing its intro music. Some fans expressed their disappointment that the trailer made no mention of a new map, but others pointed out that Overwatch 2 developers previously announced they were working on a new game mode, which may release next season alongside a new map or two.

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At BlizzCon 2023, Overwatch 2 revealed that the new mode Clash will release sometime in 2024 alongside the new map Hanaoka, a redesigned version of Hanamura. Clash will see teams fight over five points arranged in a line between both spawns. Teams must capture the middle point first, after which they will have to capture each successive point until they capture the final point closest to the enemy team's spawn. Teams can also win by reaching a round's score limit.

Although Season 9 will not introduce the new Clash mode, a new map, or new heroes, Blizzard previously announced that two new heroes will be added to Overwatch 2's hero pool later in 2024. In Season 10, the new Damage hero Venture will be added, and in Season 12, the new Support hero Space Ranger will be added.