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A whole new era in Overwatch begins soon.
Blizzard Entertainment revealed the future of the game in Overwatch Spotlight, highlighting a ton of new stuff coming to the game as part of its 2026 overhaul update, Reign of Talon. Throughout the year, 10 new heroes, new maps, and a slew of quality-of-life changes are coming, and it all begins with season one on Feb. 10.
Here’s everything that’s coming throughout 2026 as part of Overwatch: Reign of Talon.
Overwatch 2026 update Reign of Talon explained
5 new heroes
Five new heroes join the roster in season one, with five more added throughout seasonal drops in 2026, for a total of 10 heroes this year. Anran, Emre, Domina, Jetpack Cat, and Mizuki join on Feb. 10. For more info on all heroes including their roles and abilities, check out our guide here.
Bye bye 2
Overwatch 2 is now just Overwatch once more. Blizzard is dropping the “2” to turn Overwatch into its own all-encompassing thing for the future.
“Overwatch is more than just a digit: it’s a living universe that keeps growing, keeps surprising, and keeps bringing players together from around the world,” Blizzard explained. “This year marks a huge turning point in how the development team envisions the future of Overwatch, so we are officially dropping the ‘2’ and moving forward as Overwatch.”
A new narrative era
Image via Blizzard EntertainmentReign of Talon begins a new storyline in Overwatch, and a more active one, too. Vendetta has seized control of Talon, and Overwatch itself is struggling with the evil organization’s presence around the world.
The story beats will play out throughout the year with in-game events, cinematics and hero trailers, short stories and comics, and visual updates to the maps to reflect what’s changed and happened, along with a fully-integrated narrative view in-game to catch up at any time.
UI overhaul
Image via Blizzard EntertainmentOverwatch’s UI and UX has been redesigned and now includes a 3D hero in the lobby. Eventually, your whole squad will appear in the lobby when you group up (update coming in season 4), but it looks and feels like a whole new game.
New Role Sub-Roles and Passives
Image via Blizzard EntertainmentHero role passives now have separate possibilities per role, meaning more variety in each role. Here are some examples:
Tank
- Bruiser
- Reduces critical damage received. While at critical health, gain movement speed.
- Heroes: Magua, Orisa, Roadhoag, Zarya
- Reduces critical damage received. While at critical health, gain movement speed.
Damage
- Sharpshooter
- Critical hits reduce your movement ability cooldowns.
- Heroes: Ashe, Cassidy, Hanzo, Sojourn, Widowmaker
- Critical hits reduce your movement ability cooldowns.
Support
- Survivor
- Using a movement ability activates passive health regeneration.
- Heroes: Brigitte, Illari, Juno, Mizuki, Wuyang
- Using a movement ability activates passive health regeneration.
New events
Image via Blizzard EntertainmentThe first new event in Reign of Talon is a faction war where players must choose between Overwatch or Talon to then complete challenges and earn special rewards, like new cosmetics and over 90 lootboxes.
New Mythics
Image via Blizzard EntertainmentNew Mythic skins are in the works for Mercy and Juno’s weapon (season one), Mei (mid-season), and future updates will include Mythics for Soldier: 76, Ana, Illari, Mauga, and Genji.
Competitive updates
Image via Blizzard EntertainmentUpdates to the Competitive side of OW include rarity-based Competitive titles (in season 2), Challenger Tier integration with FaceIt tournaments, and new skins: a Diamond+ Doomfist Competitive skin, and the Crimson Wolf weapon skin.
Stadium updates
Image via Blizzard EntertainmentVendetta joins the lineup as a playable hero in Stadium, which is also getting overhaul to the icons in the Armory, and a new Hero Builder with smart recommendations based on global player data.
Hello Kitty & Friends collab
Image via Blizzard EntertainmentSanrio invades Overwatch with adorable skins for six heroes, available from Feb. 10 to 23:
- Juno – Hello Kitty
- Kiriko – Cinnamoroll
- Mercy – Pompompurin
- D.Va – My Melody
- Widowmaker – Kuromi
- Lucio – Keroppi
Overwatch 2026 roadmap
Image via Blizzard EntertainmentSeason one of Reign of Talon is just the beginning. Every two months, a new season begins, bringing with it a new hero and other updates, like Overwatch’s 10 year anniversary in May, new maps like Japan Night and one based in Iceland, and more.
For more on Overwatch: Reign of Talon, check out all of Destructoid’s coverage:
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