What is Hero Mastery in Overwatch 2?

Slowly but surely, Blizzard has finally been releasing additional content for Overwatch 2, the second installment of the groundbreaking FPS title.

A new addition to Overwatch 2’s growing arsenal of modes is Hero Mastery, a collection of challenges geared towards perfecting movement and other tactics on one specific character. With a roster of nearly 40 heroes to choose from, this mode is geared towards helping players isolate and perfect one hero of their choice.

Hero Mastery launched in the fall of 2023, and is free and accessible to all Overwatch 2 players.

What is Hero Mastery?

The Hero Mastery mode consists of various challenges dedicated to helping players learn the ins and outs of specific heroes, according to Blizzard’s release. Each mode functions mostly like an obstacle course, full of training bots, platforms, and even jump pads, with each landscape designed specifically for one hero’s ability kit.

If you’ve ever played a custom workshop mode of a specially-designed parkour course for your favorite hero, Hero Mastery is similar to that, but this time in an official capacity.

Depending on which Overwatch 2 hero you play for Hero Mastery missions, the types of bots and platforms will change. Some courses feature “beefy machines” known as tank bots, while others have smaller targets like normal training bots and even snipers.

How to rank up in Hero Mastery

Each hero has three different course levels to unlock, starting from Recruit and moving to Agent and finally Expert. To unlock the next level, you will first have to pass the previous course with a high enough star ranking. Agent levels need a three-star Recruit rating to unlock, while Expert levels require a four-star ranking on Agent levels. You’ll earn rewards for completing all levels for any one hero, and you’ll get bonus Battle Pass XP too.

Your score in a Hero Mastery mission will depend on two factors: your speed through the course and how many Emblems you can collect. Having a faster time will boost your score, though collecting as many Emblems as possible will determine your final star ranking. There is a Top 500 leaderboard for each hero, so players can compete for the best score.

Blizzard has also introduced several limited-time challenges within Hero Mastery to celebrate the game mode’s release. You can work towards these challenges to earn several exclusive cosmetics as a reward.

Who can you play as in Hero Mastery?

Hero Mastery was released in September 2023 with only three of Overwatch 2’s classic heroes available. The mode started out simple with courses for Mercy, Reinhardt, and Tracer. As of January 2024, more courses are now also available, including ones for Sojourn, Winston, Lucio, Mei, D.Va, Echo, and Genji.