Overwatch Season 4 is bringing back old battle passes.
Overwatch Season 4: Heroes of Busan has officially been revealed with an official trailer, detailing the upcoming season’s map reworks, new hero D.Mon, Cyber-themed cosmetics, MEKA event, Le Sserafim collab, and a revamp to the entire battle pass system. This season, players will be able to pick and choose the cosmetics they want to chase in the battle pass first, and even pick up legacy battle passes from older seasons.
Here’s the new season trailer:
Overwatch Season 4 battle pass changes
Overwatch Season 4 is revamping its battle pass, allowing players to have a lot more agency in picking and choosing which parts of the pass they want to redeem first. Previously, players simply progressed through a linear track of rewards, which they could only unlock one at a time. If a cosmetic they favoured lay at the end of the battle pass, they would have no choice but to grind (or pay up) to unlock it.
In Season 4, the battle pass’ 80 tiers of rewards is getting broken up into five separate shorter tracks. Each track will include a Legendary or Epic skin as its final reward, and players can complete tracks in any order they want. They simply have to choose which track they want to apply their battle pass XP on first.
The battle pass itself is not adding additional tiers or time to complete, which means that players won’t have to grind any harder to unlock all of its cosmetics. There’s even a way for players to switch out battle pass rewards for something completely different, via the “Tier Hack” system.
Anyone who picks up the Premium version of a seasonal battle pass will get a singular charge of Tier Hack. This allows players to change the skin at the end of a track to a different Legendary skin from a list of old Overwatch Shop and loot box skins.
12 Legendary skins will be included in this Tier Hack pool, but do note that you’ll have to pay extra for the Premium battle pass to access them. These skins include Raijin Ashe, Mob Boss Junker Queen, Cardboard Reinhardt, Sakura Lifeweaver, and Crustacean Wrecking Ball.
The new battle pass system is also getting some fresh UI/UX updates in line with the recent menu changes that launched earlier this year. These include new visual effects, updated graphics, and animated backgrounds.
Additionally, Season 4 will soon un-vault older seasonal battle passes, allowing players to grind through old and new battle passes simultaneously. More details on returning battle passes will be released later in the season, but do note that unvaulted battle passes will not include the originally included premium currency, Mythic Prisms, Prestige Titles, or Mythic Hero and Weapon Skins.
Overwatch Season 4 Shooting Star My MEKA Mania! event explained
Overwatch Season 4 is also getting a new event themed after its titular MEKA squad, focusing on D.Va’s former colleagues: the new tank hero D.Mon, Casino, King, and Overlord. This fan event will let players vote for their favourite MEKA squad member and push them up the popularity rankings, via a series of “pilot passes.”
This can also be considered a lore event, as finishing a pass will unlock additional story content for the mech pilot in question. You’ll be able to finish multiple passes in a row if you grind hard enough, and finishing them all will unlock a Prestige track with even more rewards. Meka Mania runs from 11–31 August, 2026.
What is new in Overwatch Season 4?
Overwatch Season 4 is also adding a new tank hero in D.Mon, along with more map reworks for classic in-game maps. Team Drives are also coming from 4–6 September as a three-day competitive run. From 1–14 September, a World Cup Cheer Rally event will also allow players to earn items through in-game challenges and by watching OWWC broadcasts.
Additionally, In Combat Feedback updates are also coming to help players glean more information during battles more easily. For example, multi-kill icons for killstreaks, damage contribution in the Activity Feed, and better healing recognition are all coming in Season 4.
Genji is getting a Mythic Koi of Duality skin with four levels of customisation, while Sojourn gets an Eternal Crystal Mythic Weapon Skin.
A series of Young Gods cosmetics is also coming to the in-game shop for Kiriko, Jetpack Cat, Wuyang, Freja, and Doomfist, themed after cultural mythologies. A Fleece and Fangs skin collection is also in the works with some rather fluffy skins for Juno, Mei, and Hanzo, and sharper skins for Reaper, Vendetta and Mercy. These skins will be in the shop from 11–30 August, 2026.
The Season 4 trailer also teased an all-new Le Sserafim collab, which marks the third time Blizzard has partnered up with the K-pop group for a series of Overwatch cosmetics. The contents of this collab have not been revealed yet, however.
Overwatch Season 4 launches on 12 August, 2026.
