Everything in Overwatch 2 Season 4: Release time, new Hero, Battle Pass & map changes

❘ Updated: 2023-04-11T06:05:00

Blizzard Entertainment

Overwatch 2 Season 4 goes live today, and there will be some notable additions in this season including the new Hero, Lifeweaver, and changes to the map pool.

The nature of seasonal Overwatch 2 updates has officially changed as the age-old model of adding a new Hero with every season is gone, as proven by Season 3, and Blizzard will instead be focusing on a certain aspect with each new Overwatch 2 season.

Antarctic Peninsula was the focal point of Season 3, and with Season 4, Blizzard is scrapping rotational maps, meaning the entire map pool will be available.

So let’s waste no time and get straight into it.

Overwatch 2 Season 4: Release date
Overwatch 2 Season 4: New Hero
Overwatch 2 Season 4: Map changes
Overwatch 2 Season 4: Buffs, nerfs & Competitive changes
Overwatch 2 Season 4: New Battle Pass

Overwatch 2 Season 4: Release date

Overwatch 2 Season 4 will commence on April 11, 2023. Each season of Overwatch 2 has lasted 9 weeks, or 64 days to be more precise, and the in-game countdown timer lines up with this information.

The new season goes live at 15:00 PM ET, meaning UK players will be able to play Season 4 at 7PM.

Overwatch 2 Season 4: New Hero, Lifeweaver

With the new push towards alternating a new map and a new Hero, Overwatch 2 Season 4 will be welcoming a new character into the fold.

Lifeweaver, Overwatch 2’s latest support hero, promises to shake up the meta with an exciting kit and crazy potential in teamfights.

His Petal Platform adds new verticality to combat, and Life Grip in particular stands out as giving support players more tools to intervene in what other teammates are planning on doing. For a full rundown of all his abilities, as well as the top tips to do well with him on release, check out our in-depth Lifeweaver guide.

Overwatch 2 Game Director Aaron Keller also confirmed that the next Hero after Lifeweaver will also be a Support.

“We’re really focusing on Supports right now – the next two Heroes we’re going to be released are Support Heroes,” said Keller, who acknowledged that there are much fewer Support characters compared to other roles.

overhead view of antarctic peninsula in overwatch 2

Overwatch 2 Season 4: Map changes

A new Hero means no new maps in Overwatch 2 Season 4, on the other hand, there will be a significant change arriving in the season as the game is doing away with map pools moving forward.

Keller confirmed that map pools will no longer feature in Season 4, saying: “Map Pools are going away starting in Season 4.

“We aimed to provide a bit of freshness each season and concentrate the number of maps that people were playing, however player sentiment around map pools was pretty low, the map roster doesn’t have enough maps where we truly need them, and the impact they had on seasonal identity was fairly low.”

New in Season 4 is also the ability to swap spawn rooms if your spawn changes due to an objective capture or payload progression. This will be especially handy on points like Gibraltar, which often leave late spawners exposed.

The lighting on the following maps has also been updated:

Push

New Queen Street – Dawn (New)
Colosseo – Morning
Esperança – Morning

Hybrid

Blizzard World – Morning
Eichenwalde – Morning
Hollywood – Night (New)
King’s Row – Evening
Midtown – Morning
Numbani – Morning
Paraíso – Morning

Escort

Dorado – Night
Havana – Night
Watchpoint: Gibraltar – Evening
Junkertown – Morning
Circuit royal – Morning
Rialto – Morning
Route 66 – Morning
Shambali Monastery – Night

Control

Antarctic Peninsula – Night
Busan – Morning
Ilios – Morning
Lijiang Tower – Night
Nepal – Morning
Oasis – Evening

Talantis, a fan-made map, will be playable for a limited time in Arcade Mode from April 25th through May 1st.

Overwatch 2 Season 4: Buffs, nerfs & Competitive changes

Every seasonal Overwatch 2 update comes equipped with various buffs and nerfs that tinker with the state of the game’s Heroes.

First off, skill rating Tier updates will be altered to reflect your ranking based on more recent performances.

They’ve also scapped decay between seasons, and losses and ties are now visible in your competitive progress screens.

The Competitive points reward system has also been updated, meaning you’ll now benefit from the following:

Ending in Bronze will now earn 300 Competitive Points (previously 65)
Ending in Silver will now earn 450 Competitive Points (previously 125)
Ending in Gold will now earn 600 Competitive Points (previously 250)
Ending in Platinum will now earn 800 Competitive Points (previously 500)
Ending in Diamond will now earn 1000 Competitive Points (previously 750)
Ending in Masters will now earn 1200 Competitive Points (previously 1250)
Ending in Grand Masters will now earn 1500 Competitive Points (previously 1750)

One of the most controversial changes is the Brigitte ultimate rework, which now increases her armor by 100, increases her shield size, and gives her back the stun on shield bash, which can now hit multiple people at once.

Reinhardt

Armor health reduced from 300 to 250
Base health increased from 175 to 200

Sigma

Accretion

Impact damage reduced from 60 to 40 (80 damage total with explosion)
Knockdown duration increased from 0.8 to 1.1 seconds

Brigitte

Rally

Brigitte now gains 100 restorable armor health pool for the duration of Rally
Brigitte no longer gradually builds temporary health like her nearby allies
Rally now upgrades her Barrier Shield, increasing both its size and health
Barrier health increased from 300 to 750 during the ultimate
During Rally, Shield Bash now impacts multiple enemies and briefly stuns them
Bonus movement speed reduced from 30 to 15%

Repair Pack

Range reduced from 30 to 25 meters

Ana

Sleep Dart

Maximum duration on Tank heroes reduced 30%, from 5 to 3.5 seconds

Cassidy

Base health reduced from 225 to 200

Magnetic Grenade

Damage reduced from 131 to 120

Sombra

EMP can now disable Blizzard

Mercy

Caduceus Staff

Healing-per-second increased from 45 to 55
Healing is no longer increased for allies under half health

Guardian Angel

Cooldown reduced from 2.5 to 1.5 seconds
Jump and Crouch cancel active ability state duration increased from 1.0 to 1.5 seconds
The Jump and Crouch cancel active ability state can no longer be manually interrupted to begin the cooldown early

Valkyrie

Support role passive healing is now active for the duration of Valkyrie

Moira

Fade

Can now be activated during Coalescence

Coalescence

Bonus movement speed reduced from 50 to 40%

Biotic Grasp

Lingering heal duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds

For a full list of all of these breakdowns, plus developers’ comments on each change, our guide is here to help.

Overwatch 2 Season 4: New Battle Pass

Sigma will recieve a new Mythic skin in Season 4

for those looking to get everything on offer, you’ll need to purchase the Premium Battle Pass instead. Priced at 1,000 Overwatch Coins, it comes in at roughly the equivalent of $10 USD.

The New Battle Pass, themed around “Starwatch”, contains a new mythic skin for Sigma.

Sigma’s Mythic skin can be unlocked at the very end of the Season 4 Battle Pass, meaning you need to reach Tier 80 to claim it for yourself.

The new hero Lifeweaver is also available in the battle pass at level 55.

Other Starwatch hero skins include Doomfist, Ashe, and Mercy. For a full breakdown of everything in the Season 4 battle pass, check out our guide here.

That wraps up everything we know about Overwatch 2 Season 4, and if you want even more Overwatch 2 guides and content, we have plenty of other stuff for you to check out below: