Overwatch 2 season 16 brings new hero Freja and the Stadium

Season 16 of Overwatch 2 begins today, April 22. In addition to the usual rollover of the Battle Pass and new cosmetics to earn — or purchase in the shop — plus a new DPS hero, Freja, who wields crossbows and has a good amount of movement capability.

The biggest addition to this season is a new game mode, Stadium, which intends to change the way Overwatch 2 is played forever.

Overwatch 2 Stadium releases

Stadium is intended to be a core gameplay experience for Overwatch 2 — a pillar of Overwatch 2 gameplay alongside Quick Play and Competitive. This is an incredibly lofty goal for a new mode, and one that it’s tough to see how Stadium could live up to, even though it does look like a lot of fun. And it is notably the first Overwatch mode ever to not use primarily an FPS perspective, opting to perch over your Hero’s shoulder instead (motion sick rejoice!).

Stadium is a best of seven format, with teams of five players facing off, playing a limited set of Heroes. Each Hero can choose a new Power before odd numbered rounds — to get all four new powers, you have to make it all the way to a nailbiting round seven. Each hero also starts the match with 3,500 Stadium Cash, which you can use to buy items of varying levels of effectiveness through the round. You get the same amount of cash back when you sell them, so you don’t need to hoard your money and save up for a really powerful item when you can get a small boost from a cheaper one earlier on. Each player gets a 1K bump every round, but players will also earn more cash during the rounds by playing well — healing or DPS stats make a difference, and eliminating your opponents will give you a reward in the form of a Bounty. Just like the addition of Perks, this changes how each Hero can play, and can play around their opponents.

Like the other pillar modes of Overwatch 2, there is also a separate, discrete leaderboard and currency associated with the Stadium. There are going to be cool new skins and other swag to earn, so it’s time to start climbing that ladder!

If all this sounds a little overwhelming — I’m a little overwhelmed just writing it — there’s a new version of the Practice Range which allows you to take Heroes and their various powers and items for a spin before you get into true gladiatorial combat.