With the launch of Overwatch 2 season 2, players are busily diving into the new meta (especially if they’re Doomfist mains). However, alongside the launch of the latest hero for the multiplayer game comes a new method by which players can get their hands on the other new characters including Sojourn, Junker Queen, and Kiriko. There was plenty of concern about what this might entail, but as it turns out it’s so smart that I’d propose it becomes the default method.
Blizzard decided to lower the requirements to unlock Ramattra in Overwatch 2 from reaching level 55 in the season two battle pass, meaning you’ll now get access to the Omnic tank at level 45. That’s still a fair amount of grinding, though – enough that many players won’t have him ready by the time he becomes available in competitive play. Of course, you can also shell out the 1,000 Overwatch Coins if you’d rather have immediate access.
So if you don’t currently have the other Overwatch 2 newcomers yet, how do you unlock meta-defining railgun specialist Sojourn, Australian beefcake and fan artist favourite Junker Queen, and nimble support Kiriko (wait ‘till you see her on her bike)? If you head to the ‘challenges’ screen you can now navigate over to the ‘hero’ tab, where you’ll find a series of tasks that must be completed to unlock each hero.
The first of these is the most demanding – you’ll need to rack up a rather sizeable 35 wins queueing either as ‘all roles’ or as the matching role for that hero (DPS for Sojourn, tank for Junker Queen, and support for Kiriko). It’s the other challenges that put a smile on my face in particular, however, as they require you to try out all of the character’s abilities in the Overwatch 2 practice range.
None of them are too demanding – for example, you’re tasked with using Kiriko’s Swift Step to jump to an allied bot through a wall, while one of Junker Queen’s challenges asks you to hit an enemy bot with her Carnage axe after pulling it towards her with the Jagged Blade alternate fire. They’re simple, but they ensure that players have taken just a few moments to familiarise themselves with everything a character does and possible ways the abilities can be used.
This might sound like I’m just complaining about players in my games who seem not to know half the things their character can do (and perhaps I am). Nevertheless, as someone who already takes each new hero into the practice range just for a couple of minutes to get a quick feel for how they move and fire, it’s nice to see players encouraged to just take a brief moment to get to grips with newcomers before queueing up.
Ideally, this is just step one – I’d love to see Blizzard integrate slightly more of a ‘character tutorial’ for each hero going over the basics of how to play and some quick tricks you can pull off with their kit. If you’ve ever done the Overwatch tutorial (something I revisited when Overwatch 2 released) then you’ll have a decent idea of what I’m after, as that does a good job of laying out the basics of playing Soldier: 76. Similar concepts for the other characters would be a great way to encourage players to try out new characters and roles rather than sticking to their safety picks, which can often feel intimidating when facing up against human opponents.
Perhaps such a thing might be in the works for the Overwatch 2 PvE release date – although even if it isn’t, that might prove another nice area to get to grips with heroes outside your comfort zone. In the meantime, take a look at our Overwatch 2 tier list for an updated look at the best characters to play, and our guide to the best Overwatch 2 settings to ensure you’re getting the best performance out of your gaming PC rig.