Overwatch

Need to learn new skills for your favorite hero? Want to see what the highest ranks of Overwatch 2 look like? Love watching “Mystery Heroes Tuesdays” and all the chaos that comes with it? The best place for watching Overwatch 2 can be found with your favorite Twitch content creators. And starting tomorrow, you’ll have another reason to tune in, as we’ll have new drops available for everyone to earn!

Running from May 9 to May 22, when you watch two hours of any Overwatch 2 content on Twitch, you will earn the Tool Box spray for Wrecking Ball. Watch three more hours to earn the new Toolbox Souvenir to equip for your favorite hero.

Earning Twitch drops for Overwatch 2 is easy! Simply connect your Battle.net account with your Twitch account, then tune into any eligible channel in the Overwatch 2 category on Twitch. Remember, when you earn any drops, you must claim them at Twitch.tv/drops to receive them in Overwatch 2.


Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What are the dates of the Twitch Drops?

A. Our upcoming drops campaign runs from May 9 to May 22.


Q. How do I link my battle.net and Twitch account?

A. Sign into your Battle.net account at account.battle.net/connections and click the Connect link for Twitch, then follow the instructions to sign-in and link your Twitch account to Battle.net.


Q. What devices can I use to earn and claim drops?

A. You can earn and claim drops using your PC/Mac web browser or on the Twitch app for Android or iOS. Twitch apps on game consoles, smart TVs, and other TV apps do not support drops.


Q. Do I need to watch the same channel the entire time to earn my drops?

A. No, you can earn progress towards a drop on any channel in the Overwatch 2 category on Twitch. For example, you can watch half an hour on one channel and then switch to another channel without losing your progress. You cannot earn progress faster by watching more than one channel at a time.


Q. Will I receive my drop rewards in-game automatically?

A. No. You must claim the drop on the channel you’re watching or in the Drops Inventory menu on Twitch.


Q. Do I need to have heroes unlocked to receive the drops for that hero?

A. You do not need to have the hero unlocked to receive the drops, but you will not be able to access that cosmetic content until you unlock the applicable hero.


Q. Do Twitch Drop rewards expire?

A. Earned Twitch Drop rewards will expire seven days after they’ve been claimed if a Battle.net account has not been linked.


Q. As a streamer, how do I get Twitch Drops on my channel?

A. All you need to do is make sure your Twitch and Battle.net accounts are linked, and that you’re opted into Drops (see Drops Streamer Home).


Q. What regions are eligible for these Twitch Drops?

A. Participating regions include North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

]Season Four starts in just a few days! Over the past week, we've revealed a lot about what's coming next Tuesday and beyond. There's a lot to look forward to and I’m going to go a little more in depth on some of the pieces that we've already revealed.

Lifeweaver

One of the biggest releases of Season Four is our newest Support hero, Lifeweaver. If you'd like to see more about Lifeweaver, you can find his trailer here. I'll wait while you watch it…

This hero can do quite a few things that are totally new to the game: some, like his Petal Platform, we've been talking about since before the original game shipped! His wildest ability is Life Grip, where Lifeweaver can grab an ally and pull them to his location. It happens almost instantly, without any confirmation from that player, and it can have a huge impact in a fight. The first thing that many people question when they see this ability is whether it could be used to grief teammates. It can, but it can also be used to save them or to set up even bigger plays. Teamwork—including depending on and trusting your allies—is crucial to Overwatch combat. It's possible to use different abilities in ways that don't always have a positive outcome for your team: think of Mercy using her rez at just the wrong moment. We’re always looking for opportunities to evolve Overwatch, and to give players new ways of interacting with the game. When creating new heroes, we want to pursue abilities that make them feel powerful as well as let teams work together in ways that they never could before. Sometime this causes a little friction, but we think it's worth it. If you want to practice this ability, jump into the new B.O.B and Weave game mode, where you can use Life Grip to position your team’s B.O.B. It’s a whacky mode, but a total blast!

Lifeweaver is the fifth new hero for Overwatch 2. The following hero, slated for Season Six, will also be a Support. Before Lifeweaver, there were eight Support heroes in the game: three less than the Tank role and a lot less than our Damage role. We think that this gap is too large, and we'd like to start correcting it. However, we don't want to abandon either of the other two roles. We probably won't stick to an exact formula, but we'll be shooting to release roughly 2 Supports to every 1 Damage and Tank hero.

Starwatch

We're releasing a new game mode in Season Four called Starwatch. Players take the side of a Watcher or an agent of the Infinite Empire. It’s a lot of fun and takes a page out of Junkenstein’s book, in that it tells a story that is set outside of the Overwatch universe. Who knows… if players enjoy Starwatch, it would be great to be able to expand this story in the future. One of the things that I'm most excited about with Starwatch is that it introduces some PvE elements into a PvP match. Turrets are placed for the Infinite Empire and Doomfist will play alongside the Watchers. We've been talking about game modes like this lately and would like to explore them more. We've done experiments like this before. The Archives missions were design and technology testbeds to allow us to start creating the upcoming Story Missions for Overwatch 2. I'd love for us to think of Starwatch in the same way; the first step into something bigger and more ambitious that we could be doing for the future.

Pride

Pride is coming to Overwatch this year! I'm so excited about this, and I'd like to briefly touch on why.

This is an important subject for us. It's easy to get called out for talking about a fictional character's queerness without the proper setup, or to get accused of adding inclusivity for the wrong reasons. We've always thought of Overwatch as a game that portrays a bright, hopeful, and inspirational future. The world is a diverse place. We would not only like Overwatch to reflect that, but we want players to be able to see a part of themselves in our game. To have it showcase who they are. We’d like Pride to feel like it's being recognized and celebrated within our game world. Before June, we will share how we are celebrating Overwatch 2’s first Pride, and we will also share the values that drive this team every day to bring our game’s vision to life.

He’s witty, kind, and always looking to lift those in need—sometimes literally.

Hailing from Thailand, Lifeweaver is characterized by his love and respect for nature as well as his advanced biolight technology. This groundbreaking technology is woven throughout his abilities, and it plays a pivotal role in the healing and utility aspects of his kit.

Lifeweaver has a unique playstyle that introduces a few new mechanics into the game, so let’s take a walk through his kit and how he was developed. His final look is the result of a culmination of many different teams, including various concept art, hero design, and narrative. One of these pieces features an older physician who drew healing energy into his hands and blasted it into his allies, a bit like Moira’s Coalescence.


We ideated further based on these concepts and landed on something that offers an all-new playstyle to the game while also expanding our support class.

Healing Blossom

Healing Blossom is Lifeweaver’s first primary fire (more on that in a bit). With this weapon, he charges a luminescent flower and sends it to his allies. The longer he charges the blossom, the more healing it provides.

Healing Blossom was the starting point for this kit, and from there, we built out his other abilities. Our goal with Lifeweaver was to create an accessible support hero who is viable in many different scenarios and skill levels. Healing Blossom is soft target-based, like Brigitte’s Armor Packs, and we feel this ability enables players across the board to find value in his kit and playstyle.


Thorn Volley

His alternate primary fire is called Thorn Volley. With this weapon, he fires biolight thorns at enemies in a scattered pattern. While mainly intended as a form of defense, Lifeweaver can deal a decent amount of damage with Thorn Volley as well.

You’ll get the most value out of Lifeweaver by healing your team, but his weapon has relatively high damage for a support hero. Keep in mind, you will be unable to heal your allies while using Thorn Volley, so be aware of your surroundings and manage these two primary fires wisely!

For those playing against Lifeweaver, don’t underestimate Thorn Volley when rushing him. As Lifeweaver says: “Thorns in the face are an inconvenience.” He isn’t wrong.

Petal Platform and Rejuvenating Dash

Petal Platform is Lifeweaver’s secondary-fire ability. He throws a pod that blooms into a flower-like platform upon landing. Whether ally or enemy, anyone stepping on the platform causes it to elevate, and it will remain airborne for a certain amount of time.

Anyone using the platform can launch themselves high into the air by timing a jump right as the platform reaches maximum height. It won’t quite be as tall as Baptiste’s Exo Boots, but enemies and allies alike can use the platform for a well-timed super jump thrust into the air!

Petal Platform was the most challenging ability to lock down in development, and it was iterated many times. We landed on the platform mechanic because it adds something to the support lineup that we’ve only ever seen with Mei’s Ice Wall, adding a new verticality consideration for players beyond map design or heroes that can launch themselves into the air.


Use Petal Platform to get away from enemies, or to enable your allies. If you have a Bastion who wants to post up somewhere, Petal Platform can get him there quick! Or maybe you want to lift your ulting Cassidy with the hope of getting more Deadeye kills.

Lifeweaver is a team player who loves collaboration. There are so many ways to support and enable your team with this ability, and we’re excited to see how players use Petal Platform in creative ways!

Rejuvenating Dash lunges Lifeweaver in his traveling direction while lightly healing himself. This ability will look and feel like Hanzo’s dash, so we baked it into his kit to give him mobility and self-sustain.

A well-timed jump at the apex of his Petal Platform will launch you into the air. Pair this ability with Rejuvenating Dash to cover a fair amount of distance both horizontally and vertically.

Life Grip

Life Grip envelops an ally in protective biolight and pulls them to Lifeweaver’s position. While an ally is within Life Grip, they are invulnerable to all damage.

The inspiration for this mechanic came from many places, as we’re sure some of you have been on the unhappy end of an enemy Roadhog hook, but we wanted to ideate on a friendly pull between allies. Our challenge was to conceptualize what an ability like this would look like in Overwatch. We tried it out in our internal playtests, and the team had a lot of fun with it.

Before you ask, we’ll clear this up now: you can’t disrupt an utling ally with Life Grip!


This ability speaks to him as a protector and healer, but it also lends some insight into his personality and perspective. Lifeweaver is cool, confident, and he has the best intentions for anyone he encounters. Even though he’s doing the right thing in his mind, there can be consequences to pulling your teammate out of position. Use Life Grip (carefully!) to save teammates and enable them to stay in the fight.

Tree of Life

For his ultimate ability, Lifeweaver places a large biolight tree that pulses with healing energy. This tree provides cover for your team, meaning you can’t shoot, be shot, or pass through it. The developer responsible for the concept describes it as, “Healing Bob meets Mei’s Ice Wall.”

How a hero is developed can vary—sometimes their look and feel inspire their abilities, and sometimes it’s the other way around. In Lifeweaver’s case, his ability kit was built out before his personality, lore, and aesthetic. Tree of Life is what shaped his character into the nature-loving supporting hero you will meet in-game.

Lifeweaver’s ultimate filtered through a few iterations, including a healing Earthshatter-like ability— which was super cool, but not super useful. We also tried a healing totem, but it wasn’t quite right for him.



It was around Arbor Day when his ultimate started to come together. Trees were already on the team’s mind. The original Tree of Life gave its life to allies, withering over time. It was incredibly poetic but not very intuitive or clear on the battlefield. This ability, however, morphed into the final Tree of Life that’s currently in-game.


”Look at us. We’re amazing.”

Whether you’re playing as, against, or with Lifeweaver, he brings something new and exciting to the game through his mechanics, playstyles, and perspectives. Whether he’s raising his teammates up with his Petal Platform, pulling them to safety with Life Grip, or sustaining their health with Healing Blossom—Lifeweaver is a well-rounded support who adds massive sustainability and utility to his team.

We look forward to seeing how you combine his abilities with those of other heroes, and the ways he will save teammates from the brink of death.

________________________

Lifeweaver saunters into the support line up on April 11 at the beginning of Season 4. Grab your Premium Battle Pass to unlock him instantly or try him out in the training room, custom games, and the limited-time game mode, B.O.B. and Weave.