Overwatch 2 characters – new heroes, reworked roster

Updated on October 4, 2022 by Will Blears

Posted in Guides

Video Gamer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more

Contents show

Overwatch 2 is finally set to release soon on October 4. The sequel to Blizzard’s hero shooter will overhaul the original game, turning it into a free-to-play title with a battle pass system.

The game’s biggest change is removing one tank from gameplay, turning it into 5v5. This change drastically affects Overwatch 2’s characters, with most of the cast receiving tweaks, balancing, and even completely reworks. Additionally, there are also three new characters joining the roster on launch day; here’s everything you need to know about Overwatch 2’s characters:

New Overwatch 2 Characters on Release

The highly awaited sequel is starting strong by including three new characters to their roster. Blizzard will evenly distribute the upcoming Overwatch 2 characters between all three roles.

These multi-faceted heroes are built from the ground up to connect with Overwatch 2’s design philosophy which caters to faster and more engaging gameplay. From official trailers and videos to early gameplay, there’s a lot of available information about the new Overwatch 2 characters:

Junker Queen

Junker Queen is the first new tank joining Overwatch 2’s hero pool. She’s the scrappy leader of Junkertown, as shown through the excellent cinematic “The Wastelander.” Although long-time fans of the game already know of her presence through lore, environmental details, and even past cinematics.

In-game, she’s a hyper-aggressive brawler who fights up-close with a shotgun and a large axe. Junker Queen also comes with a magnetic serrated knife named Gracie, which she can recall to pull any enemy struck with it.

Compared to other tanks, Junker Queen doesn’t have active damage mitigation such as innate armor, shields, barriers, or movement abilities. As one of the front liners in Overwatch 2’s cast, she’s quite susceptible to focus fire from the enemy team.

She compensates with constant self-healing from her passive, Adrenaline Rush. This ability allows Junker Queen to regenerate her health based on how much bleed damage she has dealt with her abilities. Her ultimate, Rampage, is game-changing when she can tag as many opponents as possible since it applies massive bleed and prevents them from healing.

A good Junker Queen plays to her strengths and pressures the enemy team by forcing close engagements. Junker Queen is at her best when she’s in a deathball or brawl composition.

When she’s the tank, it’s best to pick Overwatch 2 characters that can capitalize on her aggression. Lucio and Brigitte are great supports that synergize well since they can quickly bring her to the enemy while keeping her alive. Meanwhile, Tracer, Genji, and Sojourn are mobile with lethal burst damage that can pick off key targets.

Sojourn

Sojourn is a Canadian Overwatch captain who has led the team through some of their most important missions. She’s fitted with several cybernetic enhancements, serving as her character’s theme and gameplay function.

As for her role in the Overwatch 2 roster, she’s a damage dealer who uses a Railgun. Her primary fire deals respectable damage, but it’s mainly used to charge her secondary fire.

This highly damaging attack can eliminate most of the characters in Overwatch 2 with a well-placed critical hit. Landing reliable charged shots are the core of Sojourn’s play style. This mantra reflects on her ultimate ability, which amps up the recharge rate of her Railgun.

Her other abilities create better opportunities to hit those crucial shots. Sojourn can launch an energy projectile called Disruptor Shot, which explodes in a wide area, slowing and damaging enemies caught in the radius. It’s a versatile ability used to challenge the opposition’s high ground or bunker, ruin their formation, and isolate key targets. Great Sojourn players should value the ability for its utility and area denial instead of its mediocre damage.

Power Slide is a movement ability that’s both a dash and a super jump. She can use this ability to take over high ground or gain height quickly to snipe the enemy’s backline. Furthermore, this versatile ability can also be used in conjunction with Disruptor Shot to find better angles for the ability.

While straightforward, Sojourn’s kit is always a valuable character because of her pick-off potential. She has a high-skill ceiling, and any insane DPS players can easily climb to higher tanks with her.

Kiriko

Kiriko is the last new Overwatch 2 character to release with the sequel. She’s immediately available for players who purchased the Watchpoint Pack for Overwatch.

She’s an upcoming Japanese support hero who trained both in the art of healing and the way of the blade. Furthermore, she seems to have story ties with Genji and Hanzo based on her origin story video.

Blizzard’s official blog post and gameplay footage about Kiriko suggest she’s a mobile support with decent burst damage and tons of utility. Her primary healing ability, Healing Ofuda, is a talisman that locks on her teammate to heal them on contact. Since the talisman travels slowly, she’s encouraged to play near her teammates.

One reason to pick Kiriko over other Overwatch 2 characters is for her great damage. Currently, a critical hit with her kunais deals three times its base damage. Her movement abilities—a wall climb and a teleport that jumps to an ally, even through walls— can put her in a better position to surprise the enemy.

Kiriko’s big utility ability is called Protection Suzu. She’ll throw a projectile that cleanses the negative effects of her allies in the area while also causing them to be vulnerable for a brief moment. Assuming this cleanses debuffs like Ana’s Biotic Grenade and Junker Queen’s bleed, this is a fantastic ability to counter those debilitating status effects.

For her ultimate, Kitsune Rush, she’ll summon a fox spirit that moves in a straight line. Allies in its path will receive bonus movement, attack speed, rate of fire, and cooldown reduction. Kitsune Rush is a great ability to push through choke points, especially if deployed toward an objective.

Kiriko’s first impressions all point towards an aggressive support who can effectively peel for her teammates while also following up on an elimination. Her fun kit will synergize well with Overwatch 2 characters who want to dive into the enemy’s backline and teams attempting to breach through a fortified position.

The team has officially stated that they would release new Overwatch 2 characters every alternate season, starting with seasons four and six.

Reworked Overwatch Characters

Blizzard is pushing for active and engaging gameplay in the upcoming sequel. Overwatch 2 characters will discourage passivity in-game— favoring brawls, team fights, and individual plays.

Three Overwatch characters didn’t fit the game’s intent, so the developers completely reworked them for the sequel. Here’s a quick update on those heroes:

Doomfist

Doomfist received a huge rework, moving him from the damage class to the tank roster. Even so, he’s still highly mobile, disruptive, and a fun hero to play.

Doomfist’s new kit is still centered around his signature power gauntlet. The leader of Talon is still capable of punching his opponents around the map, albeit for way less damage now. Although if left unchecked, Doomfist is more than capable of eliminating enemy supports and damage dealers, which is his main threat as a tank.

It’s much more important to land his abilities on multiple enemies at once since it builds up his shield, crucial for his survivability. Experienced Doomfist players also take advantage of his extreme mobility to either dive on a vulnerable target or run away from a bad situation.

Bastion

Bastion is synonymous with hunkering down and fortifying one position in the original game. However, the omnic’s rework encourages it to stay on the move and play with other Overwatch 2 characters.

The best change is that Bastion can now move in its sentry/turret form, now called Configuration: Assault. The trade-off is that it only lasts for a few seconds. This change lets players decide when to use its bursty damage window.

Furthermore, players should also become familiar with Bastion’s standard weapon. Reworked Bastion comes equipped with a powerful grenade in its standard form that they can use to secure eliminations.

Lastly, Bastion’s Tank Mode was replaced with Artillery mode. Its new ultimate causes grant Bastion an overhead view of the map, where it can call down three explosive artillery strikes. The damage of each strike is insanely dangerous for the enemy team when positioned correctly, but it comes with the drawback that Bastion becomes stationary during this period.

Orisa

Orisa received the most substantial rework of all Overwatch 2 characters. Except for her primary Fusion Cannon, everything was cut from her, even her sweet personality.

Orisa’s theme now revolves around her Energy Javelin, which she uses for all her abilities. As a tank, she deals tremendous damage and can easily eliminate the enemy team if left alone.

Players should aim to fight close to mid-range as Orisa since her abilities and weapons are most effective in that area. Additionally, fighting at that distance allows her to close the gap quickly when her disruptive ultimate is available.

Overwatch 2 Character List

These are all of the current characters that have been announced and released for Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2 Characters Balancing and Updates

While the previous three Overwatch 2 characters received overhauls to their kit, other Overwatch heroes also received minor tweaks and changes. Blizzard also wanted to move away from crowd control effects, so expect revisions there as well.

All tanks were buffed to stand on their own. Their effective health pools were increased to withstand more damage. Some of their abilities were also changed to assist their team better. For example, giving Zarya an additional charge for her bubble.
Brigitte’s Shield Bash no longer stuns enemies.
Cassidy’s Flashbang was removed and replaced with a magnetic grenade.
Junkrat’s Steel Trap doesn’t root the enemy in place but slows them for a short period.
Mei’s primary fire doesn’t completely freeze the enemy in place anymore. However, her ultimate still does.
Sombra received multiple tweaks to encourage players to play more actively. A huge change is that her hack only lasts for 1 second now.

That’s everything we know about Overwatch 2’s characters before the sequel’s release date. Every single character in the first game will appear in the second installment, whether they’ve been reworked, tweaked, or balanced.

Adding the three upcoming heroes means there will be a total of 35 Overwatch 2 heroes during its launch. While players are excited about the death of boring team compositions like double barrier, losing another tank is a big adjustment the player base must undergo to attain fast-paced gameplay.