Overwatch's Archives event returned on March 12th, with the inclusion of brand new challenge missions for the previous PvE campaigns from last years' Archive events.
Two challenge missions will be released for each week of the event with the first two available from the start being Challenge Missions for Overwatch Uprising. These missions have been added instead of a brand new PvE campaign featuring new lore for the world of Overwatch, but that doesn't mean that these new missions don't provide engaging and challenging content.
The two available Challenge Missions for Uprising are Molten Core and Glass Cannon. Both are automatically set to Expert difficulty and cannot be changed, so these provide even more of a challenge than what was previously the most difficult setting for Uprising. However, all of the Challenge Missions are open to all Overwatch characters, allowing for more strategy and more opportunities for players to show off their new skins for the event.
Both Challenge Missions are extremely difficult, so players shouldn't be discouraged if the first couple attempts result in failure. Important things that players should keep in mind for both missions are staying on the point, making sure everyone is at full health, and keeping everyone together. The Challenge Missions both have elements where it becomes very easy for players to go from full health to dying in seconds, so teammates should keep eyes on each other to prevent everyone from going down in the fight.
Molten Core
The basis of the Molten Core challenge is that enemies will drop pools of lava after death, turning the mission into an intense game of "the floor is lava." These pools of lava can easily block pathways and will start to shrink the available floor space during the more intense waves of the mission. These pools will go away after a few seconds, similar to Torbjorn's own Ultimate Ability Molten Core, but this may not be as noticeable as more and more omnics are destroyed at once.
The best heroes to pick for this Challenge Mission are ones with the ability to stay off the ground as often as possible, such as Pharah, D.Va, and Lucio, as the pools of lava can quickly become overwhelming. Moira is also a good pick, as her Fade ability allows her to move through the lava quickly and without being damaged.
The first part of the mission where the goal is to capture three points, players should play around the perimeter of the capture point instead of the center, as letting the lava fall onto the point will quickly result in the player team having less room to work with, as the enemies are unaffected by their own dropped lava.
During the sections where players must protect the payload from harm, it is extremely important to know that the lava does not damage the payload and that standing on the payload while it is above lava will protect players from the lava. During these sections, it is best to stay off the ground and stick with the payload at all costs. The sheer amount of enemies will result in a very overwhelming pool of lava that can quickly take down roaming heroes.
The final section will also prove to be difficult, as the flood of lava from the enemies will make it very difficult to get access behind the OR14-NS's barriers. Flying heroes such as Pharah will make this much less difficult, but the Bastions should be taken care of first to prevent a quick death. There is no limit to the enemies, so players should deal with the OR14-NS units as quickly as possible to win.
Glass Cannon
The Glass Cannon challenge adds no new features, unlike the Molten Core challenge, but it instead decreases the health of all heroes and greatly increases their damage output. Playing will function normally, but with much higher risks.
Tanks with range are good picks for this mode, but having a healer is essential. Mercy is recommended, as players will be put in the dying state a lot more due to their low health, and Mercy's revive ability will help prevent full team wipes. Having heroes with ultimates that are capable of eliminating multiple targets are also a must, such as D.Va's Self Destruct, as this will help give the team a break from the constant attacks.
While these challenges are difficult and many players wished for more lore to be revealed in this Archives Event similar to the previous years, more lore and PvE content will be available in the release of Overwatch 2, satiating those who want more from the world of Overwatch.
Overwatch is out now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
