Today’s the day! Overwatch Season 2: Summit is about to begin, and there are some big changes coming this season. From the launch of a new hero with Sierra to gameplay changes and hero tweaks, along with an all new battle pass and store refresh, there’s a lot to look forward to later today. There’s even a new platform, as Nintendo Switch 2 players join the fun.
We don’t want you to miss out on any of it, so we’ve put together this comprehensive launch guide to start the latest season of Overwatch on the right foot. Read ahead and get yourself entirely caught up before the massive update releases later tonight!
Overwatch Season 2: Summit Start Time and End Date
So firstly, when can you even play Overwatch Season 2? The latest chapter of the hero shooter starts later today, that’s April 14, at 11AM PT, 2PM ET, 7PM GMT or 8PM CEST. You can convert those timezones to your own if it’s not listed!
As for when the season ends, Overwatch Season 2 will be wrapping up in June. We don’t know the exact date yet, but you’ll have two months to max out your Battle Pass and enjoy the seasonal events before it’s over.
Sierra Introduction: Overwatch’s Latest Hero
As with every new season of Overwatch in 2026, we’ve got a new hero joining the line-up! Sierra is the 51st hero, and she comes with a strong kit that is sure to shake up the meta in the Summit season. With an assault rifle that can track enemies once tagged along with a carpet bombing Ultimate ability, Sierra looks like a force to be reckoned with.
Her full name being Sierra Woods, she’s an American hero voiced by Khaya Fraites. Sierra is the head of security for Helix Security International, a group founded by the United Nations and one of Overwatch‘s most powerful corporations. They’re known for safeguarding the Temple of Anubis, one of the oldest Overwatch maps.
Overwatch Season 2: Summit Battle Pass Options
A new Season means a new Battle Pass, and we’re in for a themed one this time around. The theme that most character skins stick to is spring, the real-world season that also just started! These characters getting Spring Fairy skins include Ashe, Echo, Lifeweaver, Moira and Wuyang. There’s also the usual 80 Mythic Prisms available to earn to purchase Mythic skins, along with loot boxes, currencies and more.
If you’re looking to spend a little money, the Season 2 Starter Pack includes a new Panda skin for Jetpack Cat and 1,000 Overwatch Coins to buy the Battle Pass. For extra money and extra rewards, you can also invest in the Ultimate Battle Pass for maximum cosmetics. This includes the standard paid Battle Pass along with 20 Tier Skips, 2,000 Overwatch Coins, the Spring Fairy Illari skin and the Painter Sierra skin for the latest hero.
New Item Shop Skins, Mythics And Collabs
There’s more to unlock for those with the cash to spend, as the item shop is also getting some major additions with the release of Overwatch Season 2. Starting with the Sakura collection, the spring theme continues in this selection of pink Sakura-inspired cosmetics for a range of heroes, including Genji, Freja, Emre, Junker Queen, Juno and Hanzo.
There will also be the returning Rainy Day collection coming sometime this season, with added variants and new heroes like Roadhog and Anran added to the lineup of character fashions.
Every new season comes with a new mythic skin, and Overwatch Season 2 doesn’t disappoint! The Volted Overdrive skin for Soldier-76 kicks his character design to an electrifying new level. With 4 tiers of progression to change his hair, color scheme, ability VFX and constant ambient effects, the real cherry on the top comes with his new ultimate line – “I’ll shock you with my sights!”
For those looking for something different, Genji will also be getting a Mythic Weapon skin, called Sumi-ichimonji! This weapon fuses Genji’s traditional dragon influence with ink-calligraphy effects to create a striking new blade. Again, this one includes four levels of unlockables, which once maxed out makes your blade flow with ink splatter effects, flourishing animations to show off to your friends, and even new kill VFX that shows the ink destroying your enemies.
Finally, no new Overwatch season is complete without collaborations! We’ve got two confirmed so far, with one being a hugely demanded return of a former crossover and the other giving love to a severely overlooked character. The returning collection is the LE SSERAFIM K-pop set, which gives idol outfits and dance emotes to a bunch of heroes. These will be available to purchase individually or in bundles.
The new collaboration we had our first tease of is a crossover with Blizzard’s own Diablo. Who’s leading the collaboration you might ask? Ramattra! The Overwatch team is finally giving some love to the Omnic tank hero, with what’s surely his best skin to date. We don’t have word just yet on what other heroes will be included in the rest of the Diablo collection, if any – but we’ll be sure to let you know when we do!
Major Overwatch Updates: New Systems, Reworks and More
That’s enough playing dress up. What about the new gameplay update? Overwatch Season 2 is delivering some big additions and even bringing back a feature from the original 2016 release of the game. We’ll start with the throwback, as post-match accolades are making a comeback! After the Play of the Game is displayed, you’ll now be able to vote on either allies or opponents that put on a show and deserve the shout out. Along with this, there will be an optional voice chat room that allows you to speak with the entire game lobby before wrapping up the match.
Next we’ll cover the hero changes. Whilst the full patch notes aren’t out quite yet, we do know that some former Perks are being integrated into the base kits of heroes starting today. These include Mercy’s Flash Heal ability that pumps a strong heal before going on cooldown, Reaper’s Dire Triggers which give him a long-range combat option and Pharah’s Drift Thrusters, allowing her to move whilst using her Ultimate. As for new Perks, there will be additional options this season for Ramattra, Pharah, Reaper, Soldier-76 and Mercy.
The Antarctic Peninsula map has been reworked and will be making a return, with overhauled map design to allow for better fights in choke points along with more flanking options too. For those who play the Stadium mode, Ramattra is being added, Juno has been reworked and Jetpack Cat will also be flying into battle during the midseason update next month.
Additionally, Anran’s redesigned model will be going live today too! This follows outcry from the community with her initial design when Season 1 launched.
Story and Events following Season 1’s Conquest
We’ve got two major events coming up this season, with Operation: Grand Mesa and Anniversary. The Operation: Grand Mesa event takes place after the animated short that sees Sierra facing off against Talon agents Emre and Freja, as she tracks down whatever it was the duo escaped with. Completed curated challenges will unlock new lore, along with new Voice Lines, Tier Skips, a new Icon, Name Card, Title and of course loot boxes!
As for Anniversary, we’ve no word just yet on how that’s going to play out, but it will be celebrating an entire decade of Overwatch. We’ve had the hero shooter on our screens for almost 10 years now, and Blizzard are promising a celebrating next month with the midseason update.
As for a little extra lore, Sierra’s comic New Heights has a fully voiced and animated video available to watch in-game. There’s also new comics available through Webtoon, with the latest series Overwatch: Unvidivded seeing Sojourn leading a fractured team of heroes with Tracer, Juno and Lucio all standing against Talon’s latest global attacks under the reign of Vendetta. Episodes release weekly, with four already available now.
And that’s pretty much everything there is to look forwards to in Overwatch Season 2: Summit! The update drops later today, and there’s plenty of fun to be had. For the latest Overwatch updates delivered as soon as they drop, check back often to GameObserver.
