Blizzard has officially launched the first seasonal event for Overwatch of 2017; Lunar New Year.
In celebration of the Year of the Rooster, players can take part in an all new Brawl, earn and collect over 100 new seasonal cosmetics, check out the fireworks on Lijiang Tower and collect some awesome new skins.
From now until February 13, 2017, Loot Boxes players unlock will be the special Lunar Loot Box and will guarantee at least one Lunar New Year cosmetic. As usual, you can also spend your Overwatch gold to buy any of the cosmetics you want via the Hero Gallery.
Capture the Flag
The brand new Brawl for Lunar New Year is one that fans have been asking for since Overwatch launched; Capture the Flag.
Taking place on Lijiang Tower, teams will face off to collect and capture the flag all the while the enemy team is attempting to do the same. It’s a classic game mode and one that will bring an all new playstyle to Overwatch.
Blizzard is suggesting that players and teams will need to “re-evaluate their understanding of Overwatch’s team compositions, as they attempt to construct a line-up that is simultaneously built for offensive speed and defensive stability.”
Unlike previous seasonal Brawls, Capture the Flag is a mode that works within Overwatch’s existing format and so will fundamentally change how the game is played.
Skins
There are 13 new skins to unlock as part of Lunar New Year which you can see in the gallery below.
There are quite a few Legendary skins this time around and most are based on Wu Cheng’en’s classic novel Journey to the West, more well known to western audiences as Monkey or Monkey Magic.
There are 7 Legendary skins which are;
- Wukon – Winston: Based on Sun Wukong who was born from a magical stone on a mountain top. He’s also known as Monkey
- Sanzang – Zenyatta: Based on Tang Sanzang who travelled with Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing
- Chang’e – Mei: Based on the Chinese Goddess of the Moon who also appears in Journey to the West
- Wujing – Reinhardt: Based on Sha Wujing, one of the disciples of Tang Sanzang who also travels with Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie
- Bajie – Roadhog: Based on Zhu Bajie, another of Tang Sanzang’s disciples, he is also known as Pigsy.
- Luna – Mei
- Palanquin – D.VA
The remaining 6 skins are simple colour swaps and are;
- Rose – Tracer
- Qipao – Symmetra
- Golden – Mercy
- Firework – Junkrat
- Rooster – Bastion. With this skin Ganymede is a chicken.
- Tal – Ana
Overwatch’s Lunar New Year event is live now and will run until February 13 in Australia.
