Yesterday, the new Overwatch Archives event was revealed. It was safe to assume that previous Archive PVE modes were returning, but there were hardly any details surrounding the new content. Well, don’t worry, we’ve got the deets. Now that the Archives event is launching today, here’s everything you need to know.
What’s New?
The Reward System
Weekly challenges have returned, but instead of winning nine games like you might be used to doing during past events, you’ll earn stars as you play instead. Don’t worry: you won’t need to beat the story mission to earn stars. However, playing at higher difficulties will net you more stars than normal. Instead of the three tiers for wins, you’ll have to earn 10/20/30 stars in Archives missions to unlock exclusive rewards.
And now, onto the challenges that you’ll be tasked with completing:
Weekly Challenges
Week 1
- Earn double credit for “Uprising” Missions
- Molten Cores – Enemies drop Lava on death
- Glass Cannon – Players have 50% less health and increased damage
- (NEW) Bulletproof Barriers – Enemy barriers are invulnerable
- Earn 10 stars to unlock player icon, 20 stars to unlock spray
- Earn 30 stars to unlock Corredor Lucio (Epic)
Week 2
- Earn double credit for “Retribution” Missions
- Surgical Strike – Only critical hits do damage to enemies
- Close Quarters – Enemies can only be damaged if a player is nearby
- (NEW) Sympathy Gains – Damaging enemies heals other enemies
- Earn 10 stars to unlock player icon, 20 stars to unlock spray
- Earn 30 stars to unlock Subaquatic Zenyatta (Epic)
Week 3
- Earn double credit for “Storm Rising” Missions
- Blood Moon – No Support heroes and healing is reduced; heal yourself by doing damage
- Storm Raging – Some heroes are enraged; killing them spreads the rage
- (NEW) Thunderstorm – Enemies damage all nearby players
- Earn 10 stars to unlock player icon, 20 stars to unlock spray
- Earn 30 stars to unlock Camouflage Mercy (Epic)
And now, the one thing you’ve all been waiting for:
Cosmetics
There are five legendary skins and three epic skins (these were mentioned in the weekly challenges) in addition to new player icons and sprays. You can check out the new hero skins in the video above.