The Overwatch Winter Wonderland 2018 holiday event is now on! We’ve got the full Patch Notes, along with all the new skins and events available.<\/b>
\nOverwatch stays popular by holding regular events to keep fans excited, and with the holiday season rolling around it\u2019s time for the Overwatch Winter Wonderland 2018 holiday event to begin. The event\u2019s return for this year was announced last week, and since then Blizzard has been teasing us with new skins and features coming to the event.
The update for the Winter Wonderland event is now live, so let the game patch itself and you\u2019ll have full access to the big Overwatch holiday event, along with all the exclusive skins, matches, emotes, and more. But when does the event run to? What\u2019s included in it? What special game modes will be included, and are they new? We\u2019ve got all the answers below.
Just like the Winter Wonderland event from last year, Blizzard has revealed that this year\u2019s event will run from December 11 to January 2,2019. That\u2019s just over three weeks of Overwatch holiday mayhem. And what time does it start? Right now! Yes, Overwatch Winter Wonderland 2018 is now live. Get earning those skins.
Yule have an amazing time!
Overwatch Winter Wonderland begins NOW.
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\u2014 Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) December 11,2018
Unfortunately, there are no new event game types in Overwatch Winter Wonderland 2018. Instead, there are currently two special game modes running, albeit ones players will have seen before. \u201cYeti Hunter\u201d returns from last year\u2019s Winter Wonderland, which pits five players as Mei against a special Yeti player, who\u2019s basically a re-skinned Winston. The major difference is that the Yeti player must gather meat, which unlocks his powerful Primal Rage ability, which renders Mei\u2019s freezing powers ineffective and gives him other boosts too. The Mei players get a Yeti Trap which can snare the Yeti in one spot.
The other game mode is \u201cMei\u2019s Snowball Offensive,\u201d another Mei-based mode, except this time all players play Mei. It takes place on the Versus map Ecopoint: Antartica, and players can only fire snowballs which can are one-hit kills. The Meis have to find snow piles to reload, and the Ultimate is an automatic snowball launcher which allows you to fire continuously. Last Mei standing.
Blizzard has been teasing the new skins constantly. The special Overwatch Winter Wonderland 2018 skins are a mix of brand new holiday-themed costumes for various characters, and returning favorites from previous years. The new skins are made up of Legendary and Epic skins, and include:
All the previous Winter Wonderland skins will also be available, including notably \u201cMei-rry\u201d Mei and \u201cYeti\u201d Winston, who obviously make up all of the special game modes available in the event (see section above). Other skins include \u201cRudolph\u201d Roadhog, \u201cNutcracker\u201d Zenyatta, and \u201cJingle\u201d Tracer. All older Winter Wonderland skins will be available at a discounted price.
For starters, various Overwatch maps have got a holiday-themed makeover. Maps getting the treatment include Black Forest, which is all white and wintry, King\u2019s Row, where all the London holiday lights are up, a gloriously pink and snowy Hanamura, and a highly-decorated version of the ever-popular Blizzard World.
There are four new special Highlight Intros. Wrecking Ball gets a cute hamster-themed nibbling through Christmas Lights intro. Reinhardt throws a massive snowball. Symmetra makes lovely energy snowflakes. Finally, the ever-angry Widowmaker offers a kiss under the mistletoe, before revealing it as a punch to the face instead.
There are seven special Winter Wonderland-themed emotes for characters, with five returning from previous years and two brand new ones for this year. The first new one, called \u201cMy Babies,\u201d is for Torbjorn, in his Santa Claus-themed \u201cSantaclad\u201d skin, and he\u2019s surprised by the gift of three cute little baby turrets. The second new emote, called \u201cPaper Stars,\u201d features the ninja assasin Genji getting into the holiday spirit by using his sword skills to carve up a bunch of neat paper decorations.
There will additionally be new Winter Loot Boxes, which contain new skins, emotes, highlights, player icons, sprays, voice lines, and more for the event. You can check out videos and pictures from the Winter Wonderland event, as well as anything we haven\u2019t covered, on the official Overwatch page.<\/p>\n