Blizzard’s next season of Overwatch introduces a new anime collaboration.
Blizzard Entertainment’s launch trailer for Overwatch Season 5: A Grim Doctrine, has confirmed an unexpected crossover: the multiplayer shooter is officially crossing over with Solo Leveling with a series of new cosmetics for heroes like Genji and Anran. This season also introduces massive hero reworks for Sombra and Roadhog, along with the all-new hero Doctrine.
Watch the trailer below:
Who is in the Overwatch x Solo Leveling collaboration?
Overwatch is getting a Solo Leveling collaboration event, running from 6–19 October, 2026. The event is dubbed Shadow Monarch, and will launch with a new series of cosmetics which see familiar Overwatch characters cosplaying as the cast of the widely-popular supernatural anime and Webtoon series Solo Leveling. Here are all the skins included in this crossover:
- Sung Jinwoo (Genji)
- Igris (Reaper)
- Cha Hae-In (Anran)
- Iron (Reinhardt)
- Choi Jong-In (Lifeweaver)
Overwatch Season 5’s Sombra and Roadhog hero reworks explained
Overwatch Season 5 is shaking things up for the playable cast with two hero reworks and one entirely new addition to the playable roster. For starters, the game is getting a new Support named Doctrine, a vampire-like character who uses his Eternal Scepter to heal allies and damage enemies. He also has mechanical bat-like drones which can buff his team’s healing and movement.
Doctrine can also use his Infuse ability to empower the rest of his kit, or use his Ultimate Ability to give allies Overhealth. Doctrine comes with a new map; his old prison of Watchpoint: Grímsvötn. This Helix-controlled map is a vault of criminals and weapons, set in an Icelandic volcanic fissure. It also happens to be the game’s first new Escort map in a long time.
Additionally, Sombra and Roadhog are getting pretty major hero reworks. Sombra is moving to an entirely different role in the roster: Support Tactician, with the complete removal of her ability-disabling Hack. Her new kit allows her to target an ally for healing using Hotfix, which can be cast while being Invisible. She can also use her Cyberspace ability to heal allies or Weaken enemies.
Additionally, Roadhog is getting a rework for his Scrap Gun. His Scrap Gun now fires two bursts per volley with a stronger centre projectile, and his new Trash Compactor can consume incoming enemy projectiles to deliver an explosive shot back. Check out both Roadhog and Sombra’s all-new hero kits above.
Overwatch’s 2026 Halloween event Mystery Madness: Graveyard Games explained
Overwatch is celebrating Halloween 2026 with an all-new event called Graveyard Games. In this mode, you’ll enter as a random playable hero and return from death with random new powers. These powers can be stacked on top of each other with strange combinations. Think of it as a spooky twist on Mystery Heroes.
The event’s challenges can also be collected for Offerings, which can then be pledged to Ashe, Moira, or Winston. This voting-style event will then allow the hero with most offerings to be summoned into the mode next. By the final week of the event, all three heroes will have been resurrected. Eventually, the mode’s roster will expand to include 20 playable heroes.
Halloween also brings a new Event Pass every week, giving players rewards and a milestone to grind through for the spooky season. Players can either play through Mystery Madness to gather Offerings while progressing through the Event Pass, or play through the other game modes instead. Offerings will also earn battle pass XP for the player.
This mode will run from 6 October to 2 November, 2026.
How to get unvaulted battle passes in Overwatch Season 5
Overwatch Season 5 is also bringing back revised battle passes from Seasons 1–15, giving players another shot at grinding through these older cosmetic tracks. If players have already made progress in past battle passes, they’ll simply pick up where they left off, either on the free or premium track.
Players can also progress through both the current season’s battle pass and old “Unvaulted Passes” at the same time. Your active unvaulted battle pass XP will also roll into the next available one when completed, unless you choose another for yourself. These unvaulted battle passes will not expire.
However, there is one important condition to note here: unvaulted passes have been revised to not include Overwatch Coins, XP Boosts, Mythic Prisms, Prestige Titles, or Mythic Hero and Weapon Skins. That means you’ll be grinding for less rewards overall, though the older cosmetics remain untouched.
Season 5’s battle pass will include the usual five Legendary skins, three Epic skins, more cosmetics, and currencies. The battle pass is themed after the spooky season of Halloween, and includes Legendary Ghostly Belle Ashe, Jack O’ Ripper Soldier: 76, Ghost Bride Mei, Bat Empress Junker Queen, and Autumn Fox Zenyatta. Three Epic skins, Skelly Bastion, Witching Hour Brigitte, and Spectral Shroud Symmetra, will also be in the battle pass.
Overwatch Season 5’s new Dragon Shaoxia Wuyang and Treblemaker Lucio Weapon Mythics explained
This season’s launch Mythic hero skin is Dragon Shaoxia Wuyang, giving the aquatic-themed Support hero a four-tiered makeover. Here’s how you can customise his skin:
- Level 1: Begin your cultivation with the Dragon Shaoxia’s Mythic form, accompanied into battle by a dragon familiar.
- Level 2: Advance along the path with new customizations, including flowing hairstyles, ethereal dragon horns, and a mask.
- Level 3: Command the elements in your own colors with additional palettes that transform you and your dragon familiar together.
- Level 4: Ascend to immortality with transformative VFX that bring the full power of Dragon Shaoxia Wuyang to life.
Additionally, Lucio is getting an adorable Treblemaker weapon skin, which has already set the hero-booping fandom on fire. The weapon can heal and fire as usual with new special audio, with increasingly elaborate reactive UI, and graffiti-style frog effects accompanying eliminations. Most importantly, the Treblemaker Mythic weapon comes with a small frog inside, which dances to the beat of its own music.
Lucio ejects and inserts a new frog into the weapon every time he reloads. What happens to the ejected frog, you ask? Some things are better left a mystery.
This Mythic weapon comes with four levels of customisation:
- Level 1: Drop the beat with Treblemaker’s base Mythic look, featuring audio effects for healing and firing.
- Level 2: Make every elimination part of the show with custom kill effects rotating through graffiti-style frog poses.
- Level 3: Keep the set building as Treblemaker’s custom reactive UI gets more elaborate with your final blows.
- Level 4: Bring down the house with the full music-inspired flourish and reload experience, starring your very own amazing dancing frog.
Overwatch Season 5 Team Drives event date
Overwatch’s Competitive mode is bringing back Team Drives from 29 to 1 November, allowing players to find and form teams for consecutive matches automatically. Much like other Team Drives, you’ll be able to climb Gladiator Ranks to get unique cosmetics like Dynamic Titles, which will only be available for a limited time.
Overwatch Season 5: A Grim Doctrine launches on 6 October, 2026.
