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We all knew that Blizzard was preparing a lot of things for its four games in 2026, and today was the turn of Overwatch to shine, and it did in a spectacular way. For those who missed the spotlight, Overwatch announced Reign of Talon, which is a multi-seasonal arc that brings 10 brand-new heroes, with five of them right around the corner, a storyline that will span six seasons, and so many quality-of-life updates, changes to roles, and more adjustments that will make this hero shooter feel like an entirely new game.
Overwatch: The Reign of Talon Kicks Off on February 10
In case you missed it, we’ve attached the whole showcase for Overwatch: The Reign of Talon, and it is one you won’t want to miss, unless you’re a Doomfist main, but I won’t spoil what happens in the cinematic.
In all seriousness, the team behind Overwatch has prepared a lot of surprises for us, with the first one being that this new arc begins on February 10, 2026, so start marking your calendars because we’re less than a week away from one of the most promising updates for the hero shooter.
Now, onto what is coming to the game throughout the year. For starters: heroes. The developers have announced that we will receive 10 new heroes, five of which have already been revealed and are launching next week. These five are Domina (Tank), Emre (Damage), Mizuki (Support), Anran (Damage), and Jetpack Cat (Support). By the looks of it, each of these new character bring several interesting abilities, such as Jetpack Cat being able to tow allies to buff them or Emre having life-stealing rounds. If you’d like to look at their full kit, here’s the post with all their abilities.
The other big piece of news is that Overwatch is returning to its storytelling roots. For the first time ever, Reign of the Talon will introduce a multi-seasonal storyline that will span from Season 1 all the way to Season 6. This is extremely exciting, as many of us miss the old days when character lore and stories were front and center, so this is certainly a move in the right direction.
Sub-Roles Are Coming to the Game
Last but certainly not least, there are several updates coming to some core game systems, such as the UI, competitive mode, Stadium Mode, and more. Yet, the biggest surprise was the inclusion of Sub-roles, which will not split the three known roles into different categories. These are the ones we’ll see in the next update:
- TANK
- Bruiser: Reduces critical damage received. While at critical health, gain movement speed.
- Mauga / Orisa / Roadhog / Zarya
- Initiator: Staying airborne lightly heals you.
- D.Va / Doomfist / Winston / Wrecking Ball
- Stalwart: Reduces knockbacks and slows received.
- Domina / Hazard / Junker Queen / Ramattra / Reinhardt / Sigma
- DAMAGE
- Sharpshooter: Critical hits reduce your movement ability cooldowns.
- Ashe / Cassidy / Hanzo / Sojourn / Widowmaker
- Flanker: Health packs restore more health.
- Anran / Genji / Reaper / Tracer / Vendetta / Venture
- Specialist: Eliminating an enemy briefly increases your reload speed.
- Bastion / Emre / Junkrat / Mei / Soldier: 76 / Symmetra / Torbjorn
- Recon: You detect enemies below half health through walls after damaging them.
- Echo / Freja / Pharah / Sombra
- SUPPORT
- Tactician: You can gain excess ultimate charge, which carries over after using your ultimate ability.
- Ana / Baptiste / Jetpack Cat / Lucio / Zenyatta
- Medic: Healing allies with your weapon also heals you.
- Kiriko / Lifeweaver / Mercy / Moira
- Survivor: Using a movement ability activates passive health regeneration.
- Brigitte / Illari / Juno / Mizuki / Wuyang
It is too early to tell how these sub-roles will perform, as we imagine some will alter the meta, but it is exciting to see more character identity within their roles.
As you can see, Overwatch: The Reign of Talon is packed with amazing things, and we really can’t wait to try them out once the update goes live on February 10. And, if you’ve been away from this hero shooter, now’s the perfect time to return, as 2026 is changing things for good and making the game even more accessible and enjoyable to all.
