Season 10 of Overwatch 2 brings back the best part of Overwatch 1 (free heroes!), alongside the usual suite of seasonal goodies, plus a few extras. It’s a strong showing after the significant changes in season 9, which changed health pools for all heroes and added size changes for all damage projectiles. The new season launched on Tuesday, April 16, and while it’s a little light on balance changes, there’s plenty for new and returning players to like.
Here’s your guide to Overwatch 2 Season 10.
New Hero: Venture
The first new damage hero since Sojourn joined the roster at launch, Venture is a dynamic addition to the game. Their excavation drill quickly grinds down enemies at close range, and both of their abilities offer neat mobility options. Venture’s ultimate ability launches powerful shockwaves in a cone, knocking up any enemies who get hit.
I played Venture a few weeks ago during the trial weekend and had a blast. When playing the damage role, I typically prefer sniper heroes like Ashe and Widowmaker, but I really enjoyed how fluid and dynamic Venture’s kit was. Unlike previous hero releases, Overwatch 2 has made Venture immediately available in competitive mode.
Vengeance Mercy reimagines the angelic support as a member of villainous Talon.
New game mode trial: Clash
For the first two weeks of the season, you can try out an upcoming game mode called Clash. As Blizzard describes it in their Season 10 blog post: “This ultimate tug-of-war challenges teams to capture points along a linear path. With five capture points strategically placed on a mirrored map, teams must deftly maneuver to capture and defend points to clinch victory.”
Clash feels like a cross between the Flashpoint and Push game modes, where you’re fighting over capture points, but the areas you’re fighting over change location as you or your opponents successfully take control. My early experience is that it’s fast and frantic with less downtime than other game modes. Clash will be available until April 29 and will formally enter the map rotation in a future season.
Some of the Mirrorwatch skins have different voice lines for heroes, making the concept even more immersive.
Grouping changes in competitive
Overwatch is answering a long-requested change by allowing players to queue for competitive matches regardless of their ranks. No more getting left behind by your grandmaster friend while the rest of you languish in plat, or leaving your silver friends behind when you hit diamond. Now, competitive groups are classified as either narrow (players are close in ranks) or wide (players are uncommonly far apart in rank, or are queuing in the grandmaster or champion ranks regardless of rank disparity).
Wide groups will face longer queue times and lower rank gains the larger the gap between the ranks of your team members. If you’re in a wide group, the system will notify you before you queue up for a game. According to a developer blog post, the matchmaker will attempt to match wide groups against wide groups and narrow groups against narrow groups, which means wide groups of four players are not allowed (thus sparing solo players from being thrown into a game with a wide group of strangers). Good news, solo players: You’re now queuing exclusively against other solo players and narrow groups.
Overwatch 2 is free to play on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S.
