Overwatch relaunch update time, date and all new heroes explained

It's set to be a huge week for the Overwatch community as Blizzard is set to release one of the biggest updates we've seen in years, soft-relaunching the competitive online shooter and flushing it with new heroes for the game's 10th anniversary.

Dropping the 2 from the title, Overwatch is getting a fresh start, partly denoted by returning to Season 1 for its competitive mode as of tomorrow. With a renewed focus on telling a story through its live service offering, there's a lot to be excited about in tomorrow's update - especially for those who haven't returned to the game in a good while.

If you're considering coming back to Overwatch, here's what you need to know about the Season 1 update and what time it's due to release.

What time does Overwatch Season 1 (2026) start?

Season 1 of Overwatch is set to launch at 7pm GMT on February 10, 2026.

There's currently no word on how large the update will be, but we're expecting it to be pretty hefty given how much Blizzard is adding and changing this season.

The good news is that Blizzard usually lets players preload upcoming patches, but only if they're playing on Battle.net. Gamers playing Overwatch on PlayStation, Xbox or Steam will need to wait until the update releases at 7pm tomorrow to start downloading.

It's worth factoring in that additional download time into your evening play sessions.

What's new in the Overwatch Season 1 update?

There's a lot to be excited about with this latest Overwatch update, not least of which are the five new heroes getting added to the game.

Here are all of their names and roles:

Domina - Tank
Emre - Damage
Mizuki - Support
Anran - Damage
Jetpack Cat - Support

It'll be interesting to see how well the Overwatch Team has managed to keep the game balanced while adding five new heroes at once. From testing out Anran in the week leading up to the new update, it appears that there's a significant skill curve to master before players can achieve the full potential of these heroes.

Now that there's about to be 50 individual heroes in Overwatch, each role is now getting divided up into subroles. Here's the full list:

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

Blizzard is adding a new 'meta-event' to the game, too. This lets players choose whether they want to fight for Overwatch or Talon with weekly challenges tied into the factions and yielding exciting rewards.

All of this is wrapped up in a new UI that's been completely overhauled. This should hopefully make finding cosmetics and tracking challenges much easier than it was in the past.

Will you be jumping back into Overwatch when the new Season 1 update drops on February 10?