The latest season of Overwatch 2, Season 9: Champions is here and brings a pretty huge overhaul to the beloved team FPS. While many of its changes are hotly debated, there are some pretty great quality-of-life improvements and rewards to earn this Season.
So today, we’re diving deep into the latest Season 9: Champions of Overwatch 2 and breaking down all the latest changes, additions, and more!
And if you’re looking to grind through the new season but are missing some collectibles, skins, and ranks, check out U7BUY to cop an Overwatch 2 account to get you up to speed!
Updates to Ranked Mode
One of the most major changes to Overwatch 2 Season 9 comes to Competitive Play, Overwatch’s ranked mode. With the new season, devs are committed to being ‘transparent’ with a new Competitive Overview system.
Competitive Overview clearly highlights how your Competitive Play rank changes along with how skill modifiers affect your progress.
This new system tracks how much a rank will increase or decrease after a match and includes win & loss streaks, rank instability, and match favorability into the equation. In short, a much easier way to track your Competitive Progress since the overview will display after every match.
Competitive Play is also receiving a ‘soft’ reset and will start players off fresh for the new season. They’re also bringing back placement matches which will determine your initial rank for the season.
But one of the biggest changes to Competitive Play is the new rank. Grand Master is no longer the pinnacle of rank and now is usurped by the ‘Champion’ rank.
The new season also brings in new Competitive rewards: Jade Weapon Variants.
These Jade Weapon skins will be available throughout the 2024 Competitive Year and can be unlocked with Competitive Points. But don’t miss out, these variants will be available only this year so you’ll have to start grinding before the next Competitive Year starts in 2025!
The New Cosmic Crisis Game Mode
Season 9: Champions also brings a new PvE game mode to dive into, Cosmic Crisis! The new co-op event will have players completing challenges and objectives with a new branching non-canon story to play through!
Season 9 Battle Pass Rewards
The new Season 9: Champions Battle Pass includes 80 tiers of rewards to earn throughout the season with some eye-catching skins up for grabs. Among the new skins included in the Premium Battle Pass are:
- Survivor Soldier: 76
- Horror Hog Roadhog
- Tentacle Horror Torbjörn
- And more!
Additionally, completing all 80 tiers of the Battle Pass will reward players with the Ancient Caller Mythic Moira skin to add to their collection! There’s also a new Ultimate Battle Pass bundle which skips 20 tiers of the Battle Pass and awards the Harbinger Lifeweaver and Beholder Sigma Legendary skins, and 2000 Overwatch Coins.
The shop will also receive some new skins to cop the entire season including Valentine’s-themed skins, new Legendary skins like Fiend Orisa, Dark Fawn Lucio, Los Muertos gang-style weapon skins, and a new upcoming collaboration event that will be revealed later in the season.
Hero Mastery: Gauntlet
Hero Mastery is getting a new mode, Hero Master: Gauntlet where teams will have to battle and survive against an onslaught of enemy waves while defending their towers and upgrading their defenses.
Gauntlet allows you to jump in with any of your favorite heroes and each Gauntlet match will have variations in objectives, upgrades, and enemy waves to spruce things up.
Pharah Reworks
Pharah is receiving a pretty substantial rework that will change the way players can utilize and strategize with her in the game. Pharah is now becoming a more independent type of character that doesn’t rely solely on Mercy and other support heroes to be effective.
The main changes are catered toward moving Pharah from a high-above-the-sky jet bomber to a supersonic jet that can zip through the map with ease. Pharah’s Hover Jets passive now has a shorter limit in the air and fuel only recharges when she’s touching the ground.
To compensate for the shorter air time, Hover Jets now have a 40% speed boost so it’s easier and faster to get around when you are in the air. Her Jump Jets skill also has a 50% bonus fuel that will overfill once it reaches 100%. This means you have more time and space to move around when you activate the skill, even with the shorter overall air time.
Pharah also has a new Jet Dash skill which is her new Secondary Fire. Jet Dash will quickly dash to the direction that she’s facing, so you’ve got a great way to quickly dart around the battlefield, especially when paired with the new Hover Jets rework and her Concussive Blast skill.
Gameplay Updates (Passive Heals & Projectile Sizes)
The most controversial update to Overwatch 2 in Season 9 is the new ‘balance’ changes. Most notable is the new passive which will allow heroes to passively regenerate health when out of combat.
This is changing the dynamic in Overwatch 2 greatly since damage and tank heroes can more reliably sustain themselves even if their support hero isn’t in the fray. But whether this is a welcome change remains to be seen.
Additionally, projectile sizes and hero max health bars have also increased. This keeps damage dealt more consistent while retaining a similar time to kill for all heroes in the game.
Junkertown Map Revamped
Lastly, the Junkertown map is getting a fresh makeover with nighttime lighting, a new building to provide cover and block line of sight, and reworked chokepoints so attacking teams have an easier time pushing through.
In short, the Junkertown map is now easier for attacking teams and nerfing some of the aspects of the map that defending teams could take advantage of.
Overall, Overwatch 2 Season 9: Champions is a pretty big rework with some great (or not-so-great) changes. And remember, if you’re looking for a snazzy new account or Overwatch 2 boosting and coaching, check out U7BUY!
