If you’re a fan of bright colors and glittering metals, Overwatch’s Lunar New Year events were your best chance to unlock fancy new skins. Each year around early February, the game released several new skins to coincide with worldwide Lunar New Year celebrations. Many of them are based on prominent mythological beings, deities, and characters from a variety of East and Southeast Asian cultures.
While Overwatch is no longer receiving seasonal events, ongoing Anniversary Remix events are allowing players to purchase event-exclusive skins from past years, including Lunar New Year skins. All skins will transfer to Overwatch 2 when it launches on Oct. 4, so to get ready for its release, we’re highlighting the first game’s very best Lunar New Year skins.
Here are the best Overwatch Lunar New Year skins.
Zhuque Mercy
This colorful gilded skin is based on the mythological Zhuque from Chinese culture. Translated loosely as “Vermilion Bird,” the creature represents fire and is one of many constellations depicted in Chinese astronomy. It’s frequently depicted as a pheasant with several flaming tails, which is where this skin gets its inspiration. It gives Mercy a headpiece with a fire-like curved plume and a multicolored dress with the outline of the Zhuque at the bottom. It’s one of Mercy’s prettiest skins and a nod to the healing power of fire.
Black Lily Widowmaker
This legendary Widowmaker skin gives the sniper a more subdued look than her usual getup. Its floral purple dress is covered in a pattern of black lilies, which is where the skin gets its name from. It’s not a Widowmaker skin if it doesn’t have a pair of killer heels; these also feature a lily design. The highlight of this skin lies in the extra details, especially Widowmaker’s gun, which has been transformed into a delicately sculpted mass of purple and silver curves.
Luna Mei
It wouldn’t be fair to have a Lunar New Year list without Mei, the only character of Chinese descent in the Overwatch hero roster. This brightly-colored red and gold skin contains plenty of ribbons, sashes, and intricate flourishes, all of which are a common theme among Lunar New Year skins. The finishing touches are a pair of gold glasses and the huge gold bow that adorns the ice canister on her back. Even her companion, Snowball, is decked out in matching festive colors. There is a recolor in the form of the white and purple Chang’e, but we like the bright red Luna more.
Palanquin D.Va
This legendary skin transforms D.Va’s mech into a palanquin, a traditional transport used in Asia that carries a single passenger in a covered chair on poles. With a traditional wood and metal makeover, D.Va’s mech is the palanquin in this skin, carrying her to victory. D.Va herself is decked out in a short version of a hanbok, a traditional Korean dress. Its colorful sleeves, combined with the fun fringe on her mech and the bunny-shaped pin in her hair, give a unique D.Va spin to traditional designs.
Tiger Huntress Ashe
This skin turns Ashe into a tiger hunter and B.O.B. into the tiger—but he’s not willing to go down without a fight. The intricate gold tiger art on the back of B.O.B.’s jacket is one of the highlights of this skin, as are the bear paws on the shoulders of Ashe’s tunic. Her run gains gilded golden edges and a purple charm, and her boots are transformed into clawed shoes that look eerily like the tiger she’s trying to catch. It’s one of the game’s most imposing skins, especially when tiger B.O.B. is chasing you down.
Zhuge Liang Zenyatta
This detailed Zenyatta skin is based on the real-life Zhuge Liang from Chinese history. He was a military strategist and an advisor during China’s Three Kingdoms period; he’s also depicted in the classic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Thanks to his wisdom, Zenyatta is the perfect fit for this skin. From his mechanical hair to his crane feathered-robe, the Zhuge Liang skin gives a look at what Zenyatta might look like as a futuristic version of the strategist. The best part is, of course, his excellent goatee.
Bull Demon Orisa
If Orisa’s other skins look too happy and pleasant for you, try out this much more fearsome and aggressive legendary skin. Bull Demon gives the Omnic a glowing blue face and impenetrably thick armor covered in tassels and scales. With the smoke effects curling around her neck and her enormous rounded hooves, we wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to turn tail and run as soon as you saw her stomping across the battlefield.
