Here's When Shion and the New Overwatch Season Release in Your Region

Why bring guns when you can throw motorbikes? Overwatch's Season 3 plans to answer that important question with the new hero Shion. She brings both, so guns and weaponised motorbikes must fill different, invaluable niches, I suppose.

If you're eager to get your hands on Shion and the new Overwatch season, you’ll want to know exactly when it drops in your region. Below, I’ll explain the release date and what to expect from the new season, including a breakdown of Shion's abilities and perks.

When Does Overwatch Season 3 Start?

Overwatch Season 3: Into the Tiger's Den begins on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, at 12 am PT / 3 pm ET / 7 pm GMT. It will run until mid-August. You can preload the update on PC and console (including the Switch 2) to save time and dive into the new content as soon as it drops.

This date coincides with the end of the current season, so you still have a little time left to complete your battle pass. Plus, you can earn Drives before the new season rolls out.

What's Coming in Overwatch Season 3?

Here's everything we know is arriving in Season 3 so far:

  • DPS hero Shion: A new hitscan DPS hero with a unique set of abilities.
  • Neon Junction (Hybrid) map: Set in Tokyo, this map will offer new gameplay dynamics.
  • Additional Stadium heroes: More heroes will be added to the Stadium mode.
  • Yoasobi collab: A special collaboration with the Japanese music duo Yoasobi.

As usual, the season will also include events, a new battle pass, store bundles, a new mythic weapon, and two mythic skins—one of which will arrive in the mid-season update.

Overwatch Shion Abilities and Perks

Releasing alongside Season 3 is Shion, the newest hitscan DPS hero to join the roster. She is the leader of the Hashimoto and is similar to Tracer in that she dual-wields semi-automatic pistols and has a dash. However, Shion also has a motorbike, allowing her to drive around and launch her ride at enemies.

She is expected to be a very strong flanker due to having two mobility tools and an execute in her base kit, which is something Anran, another recent flanker, has been lacking. You'll have to wait and see where Shion lands on our Overwatch tier list once she's settled in.

Here are Shion's abilities:

  • Kira Pistols (Primary weapon): Rapid-fire anima pistols, best suited to close range.
  • Execution (Ability): Fire an X-shaped volley. You can hold the ability to tighten its spread.
  • Evade (Ability): Dash and briefly gain overhealth.
  • Joyride (Ability): Activate to start riding a motorbike. Reactivate to dismount and launch your bike forward.
  • Satsuriku Spree (Ultimate): Rush forward three times in a storm of gunfire. This is omnidirectional.

Subrole: Flanker (Passive): Health packs restore more health.

And here are Shion's perks:

  • Minor:
    • Rapid Reload: Evade reloads nine ammo.
    • X Machina: Execution does 20% more damage to enemies below half health.
  • Major:
    • Refuel: Joyride instantly restores 50 health and regenerates 20 health per second while active.
    • Faces of Death: Gain all other Damage subrole passives (Recon, Specialist, and Sharpshooter).

The Faces of Death perk has the potential to be incredibly powerful. However, if you're not familiar with all the subroles, here's a quick breakdown:

  • Recon: Detect enemies below half health through walls after damaging them.
  • Specialist: Eliminating an enemy briefly increases your reload speed.
  • Sharpshooter: Critical hits reduce your movement ability cooldowns.

These come in addition to her default Flanker passive. The end result is a DPS that will be blazingly quick, so long as you're hitting headshots and scoring kills. With two mobility skills and an execute, that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

I'll probably be picking X Machina as the minor perk to gank low-health enemies before they inevitably get healed up, and Faces of Death as the major perk to become supercharged. However, I'm interested in testing Refuel. Depending on how quickly you can get on your bike and fling it at the enemy, that burst of healing could be very handy.