Although Overwatch 2 has had an incredibly rocky launch, Blizzard Entertainment has brought a few positive changes to the franchise. One of these changes is the introduction of a new hero unlock system.
It’s safe to say that Overwatch 2 has transitioned from a more traditional buy-to-play to a free-to-play system. Simply put, instead of only receiving the option of purchasing new heroes, the game will now allow players to unlock heroes by completing specific objectives as well.
More precisely, in this newly introduced unlocking system, players can open the locks on their favorite heroes by following any of the three given methods:
- Unlock via special challenges
- Unlock via battle pass
- Unlock via the in-game store
To unlock heroes via the unlock special challenge method in Overwatch 2, you need to complete a given number of matches. The number of matches you need to complete depends purely on the hero you aim to unlock. Moreover, you can only unlock a fixed set of heroes through this approach, not all of them.
Here’s more about the unlock via special challenge feature in Overwatch 2.
How to the unlock via special challenge feature works in Overwatch 2?
As mentioned above, the unlock via special challenge feature only lets you unlock a few heroes in Overwatch 2. The term “special challenge” means completing a given number of matches. You can play these matches in any mode except the ‘Custom Games’ and ‘Practice Vs. AI’ modes.
This criterion can be irritating if unlocking your favorite hero requires you to complete hundreds of games. Nonetheless, you might be relieved to know that winning a game is counted as completing two games.
Consequently, if you’re skilled enough at destroying your enemies, you might be able to unlock your favorite hero by playing half the number of matches mentioned. For instance, Overwatch 2 requires you to complete 150 matches to unlock Echo via special challenges, but if you deliver your A-game, you might unlock her in 75 matches.
Quite interestingly, the heroes you can unlock through this method are battle-pass heroes. But since they’re also the reward for completing tasks outside every season, there’s no time limit when you unlock them via special challenges.
List of Heroes You Can Unlock Via Special Challenges in Overwatch 2
Below is a list of heroes you can unlock via special challenges in Overwatch 2, along with the number of matches you must complete to make it happen.
- Genji – Complete 1 game
- DVA – Complete 2 games
- Cassidy – Compete 3 games
- ANA – Complete 4 games
- Hanzo – Complete 9 games
- Junkrat – Complete 12 games
- Roadhog – Complete 15 games
- Symmetra – Complete 20 games
- Zenyatta – Complete 25 games
- Bastion – Complete 30 games
- Sigma – Complete 40 games
- Ashe – Complete 50 games
- Brigitte – Complete 60 games
- Mei – Complete 70 games
- Doomfist – Complete 85 games
- Baptiste – Complete 100 games
- Sombra – Complete 115 games
- Wrecking Ball – Complete 130 games
- Echo – Complete 150 games
How to unlock other heroes in Overwatch 2?
Before you get to heroes that you can unlock via special challenges, you must unlock the initial heroes.
To unlock such heroes in Overwatch 2, all you need to do is launch a PvP match. As a result, heroes like Winston and Zarya will get unlocked automatically. Furthermore, this fact is also true for new Season One heroes, namely Junker Queen and Sojourn.
Below is a list of heroes you can unlock simply by launching a PvP match in Overwatch 2.
- Junker Queen
- Sojourn
- Lucio
- Mercy
- Moira
- Orisa
- Pharah
- Reaper
- Reinhardt
- Soldier 76
- Torbjorn
- Tracer
- Widowmaker
- Winston
- Zarya
Heroes Tab Issue in Overwatch 2
Once players unlock heroes via special challenges and other methods in Overwatch 2, the Heroes tab in the Challenge menu exhibits the same. However, players worldwide are reporting an issue in the Heroes tab of the game. In this issue, the heroes don’t appear even after they’ve been unlocked.
Blizzard Entertainment has apologized for the inconvenience caused to Overwatch 2 players globally. Additionally, they’ve acknowledged it as a server-side issue and deemed it unfixable as of now.
However, fortunately, developers have stated that although the Heroes tab is empty, the progress made by players is being thoroughly recorded and saved.
About Overwatch 2
Overwatch 2 is an upcoming first-person shooter developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. The sequel to the 2016 hero shooter Overwatch, the game is intended to have a shared environment for player-versus-player (PvP) modes with the first game while introducing persistent cooperative modes. A major change in PvP was to reduce team sizes from six to five, which required several characters to be reworked.
Overwatch 2 was launched as free-to-play on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in early access on October 4, 2022.
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