In the spirit of “out with the old, in with the new,” Overwatch 2 is doing away with the previous game’s luck-based loot box system for cosmetics. Instead, players can now purchase cosmetics directly through the in-game shop and earn even more through the game’s new battle pass. Refreshed each season with new cosmetics and a different theme, the battle pass allows enterprising players to work their way up through 80 tiers of rewards as they play the game.
While season one’s battle pass includes all manner of rewards, from old favorites like highlight intros and sprays to newcomers like weapon charms and name cards, some of the most hotly-anticipated cosmetics are new hero skins. Because skins are generally the most desirable items in the franchise, they’re spaced out a little more on the battle pass, meaning you’ll only get one every several tiers.
Want to jump to the good rewards right away? Here’s how long it takes to unlock a skin on the season one battle pass.
Season one battle pass details
Assuming you’ve purchased the premium battle pass, which grants rewards on every tier, skins are available on every 10th tier. For example, the first skin, the epic-rarity Tactical Winston, is available on tier 10, followed by the legendary Hinotori Kiriko on tier 20, and so on.
To progress through the tiers, you either gain enough XP to level up your battle pass or purchase individual tiers. Each tier requires 10,000 battle pass XP to complete; doing so grants its reward. You can gain XP simply by playing the game and completing daily, weekly, and seasonal challenges. Because skins are 10 tiers apart, this means that to get from one skin to the next, you’ll need 100,000 XP.
Finishing these challenges is the best way to level up your battle pass quickly. Completing all of one day’s daily quests grants 9,000 XP, which is almost enough to increase one full tier on the battle pass. Each weekly challenge grants 5,000 XP, and 11 challenges are available each week. If you complete every weekly challenge and all of the daily challenges during a single week, you’ll earn 118,000 XP, which is more than enough to increase your battle pass level by 10 tiers and earn a skin. Even if you don’t complete every challenge, you gain a small amount of XP just for finishing a match, which also contributes toward your overall total.
Of course, challenges take time and deliberate action to complete, so if your goal is to earn all of the battle pass skins as quickly as possible, you’ll need to focus on completing them. If you’d rather not take the time to do so, you can also purchase battle pass tiers with Overwatch coins. Each tier costs 200 coins (roughly $2), and you can buy as many as you want each time. No matter which way you do it, you’ll need to give up something—either time or money—to earn all those precious skins.
