Overwatch 2 Season 4 Guide: Lifeweaver, Starwatch, and Balance Changes

Monitor 2 just launched its fourth season, which brings a new supporting hero to the shooter’s growing roster. The newest addition to Blizzard’s online multiplayer game is Lifeweaver, Overwatch’s first Thai hero and canonically pansexual hero. The game also introduces a new sci-fi themed battle pass and event, while bringing back a recent event mode, in addition to balance changes and updates to the game’s competitive mode.

Here’s what you need to know about Season 4.

Season 4 Battle Pass and Starwatch Event

In addition to a new support hero, the upcoming battle pass introduces a new set of space opera-themed cosmetics featuring an evil empire and opposing forces. This extra sci-fi version of Overwatch is called Starwatch, and players will be able to take part in a Starwatch 4v4 event in May, pitting the Infinite Empire against the Watchers, with different heroes from different factions. The event runs from May 9-22.

Balance Changes

A new season means a new balance patch, and support hero Brigitte is front and center. Brig’s ultimate ability gets a makeover, giving him an enlarged shield and the ability to stun with his shield slam. The developers said the goal was to help the hero “be more engaging and powerful when using the ultimate.”

Mercy’s recent changes are reverted, meaning she will regain some mobility while losing her healing boost for targets below half health. Sigma and Reinhardt tanks got nerfs alongside damage hero Cassidy – all aimed at slightly nerfing their lethality. Ashe also got a “bugfix” that prevents her from creating an ultimate charge while BOB is on the battlefield, which is a significant nerf.

Competition and matchmaking

Competitive players rejoice: leaderboards no longer reset at the end of the season. And now you will be able to see the average lobby skill rating when competitive matches start. After the match, players will see their win/loss record and get an indication of how close they are to the next skill level split. The latter is a particularly welcome change, as it will finally let us know if we’re close to leveling up or if we still have a ways to go.

Find out how our new Support Hero came to be 🌸
The team behind Lifeweaver explores his beautiful design, his botanical experience in Thailand, his time at Vishkar Architech Academy where he met Symmetra, and how he came to develop biolight! pic.twitter.com/W9fpVgFI1H

– Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) April 4, 2023

Lifeweaver launch date and capabilities

Lifeweaver is part of the Season 4 Battle Pass, which kicked off on April 11. This is a utility-focused support that focuses on keeping teammates alive and providing additional mobility options to allies. Here’s what his kit looks like:

Primary Weapon: Healing Flower. Hold primary fire to charge a burst of healing and release to send the burst to your targeted ally.

Secondary weapon: Thorn Volley. Unload a series of projectiles at a rapid rate of fire. Note that Lifeweaver has to swap between weapons like Mercy with her staff and blaster.

Petal platform. Place a platform on the ground that lifts as soon as a hero (from either team) steps on it. Jump to the top of the elevator for an extra aerial boost. The petal can be destroyed by Lifeweaver or damage, and it can be hacked.

Rejuvenating Dash. Take a small jump in the direction you are moving and gain a small self-heal.

Taking life. Yoink a targeted teammate at your location. Think of it as a Roadhog hook that targets and protects allies.

Passive: Farewell gift. When Lifeweaver dies, he drops a gift that restores a large amount of health to an ally or a small amount to an enemy – whoever catches it first.

Ultimate: Tree of Life. Build a tree that heals immediately after casting and periodically while the tree is standing. The tree blocks line of sight and can be damaged by fire and destroyed by Sombra’s EMP.

Overwatch 2 has been working on building its support roster, which has had relatively few options compared to tank and damage roles. The added game Kiriko at launch in October, Lifeweaver joined the roster in April, and a recent developer blog post confirmed that Season 6’s newest hero (ca. August) will also have a supporting role. Simply put: Overwatch 2 will add as many support heroes in its first year as the game did in the previous five years. These additions will give support players more variety in the heroes they can play and the ways they can contribute to a team’s composition.

CNET had the chance to hear directly from the Overwatch developers in media interviews ahead of the hero announcement. They answered many questions about the potential for abuse of Lifeweaver’s teammate movement abilities, as too many of us started a match being locked in our own spawn room by a lagging Mei. They said the game had detections in place to prevent, for example, your team’s Lifeweaver from deliberately removing you from the map. Mobility abilities such as Tracer’s Blink will also negate the effect of Life Grip, giving players additional control. And the Petal Platform and the Tree of Life can be canceled if accidentally used at an inappropriate time.

Lifeweaver’s kit seems to reward creative uses, like using Life Grip on an ally during their ultimate to change the angle of attack or dropping a platform of petals to hide allies in strategic and unexpected places. But the charged nature of its healing also means you have to anticipate when your team will need it. The devs have also confirmed that Lifeweaver’s primary heal doesn’t scale as it charges – it’s either fully charged or discharged, which is very different from how the ability looks in the first place. screen (which gains digital support as it loads).

Lifeweaver used Vishkar technology to develop the bio light.

Snow storm

Lifeweaver history and more

Lifeweaver was roommates with Symmetra at Vishkar Academy, where she learned to master hard light constructs. But this technology proved to be a little too rigid for him, and he eventually created his own technology, biolight. As Vishkar wanted to control the technology, Lifeweaver wanted to use it to better the world, so conflict ensued, and he went on the run, eventually ending up in the Atlantic Arcology – a location independent of the nation mentioned on the map. of Esperanca. The developers wouldn’t say much more about the Atlantic Arcology, other than the fact that the hero Torbjörn spends time there.

In terms of personality, Lifeweaver is confident, warm and interested. The devs said to look for various flirt lines because Lifeweaver lets most Overwatch actors know how awesome it thinks they are. (Sounds like the perfect setup for a real Overwatch dating simulator.) It will be interesting to see who in the list returns this interest.

In terms of gameplay, the developers said their goal was to design an easily accessible hero, especially for new players. They cited Mercy as inspiration, wanting a hero that was less mechanically demanding than Zenyatta’s aim or Lucio’s move. This ethos seems to align with Lifeweaver’s utility-centric design, but we’ll find out exactly how things play out now that the new season is live.