Overwatch Season 3 Anima Strike & Excavation Initiative Events: Challenges, Rewards, and More

Overwatch Season 3 kicks off with two new events: Anima Strike and Excavation Initiative. While the former lasts three weeks, the latter runs throughout the entire season. Both offer players plenty of opportunities to earn in‑game cosmetics and other rewards. Below, we'll cover everything you need to know about the two events.

Anima Strike Event

Running till July 6, Anima Strike is a three‑week‑long event celebrating the in‑game addition of the new Japanese hero Shion and the Tokyo‑based Hybrid map, Neon Junction. Each week features a challenge map that you can progress through to earn unique rewards and unlock fragments of lore.

The event includes three sets of challenges: daily, weekly, and milestone. Daily and weekly challenges reward Event XP, represented in‑game by a bike icon, while milestone challenges offer a victory pose and two player titles.

The Event XP earned from daily and weekly challenges contributes to two reward tracks: main and prestige. You must complete the main track to unlock the prestige path. Each week, both tracks feature five unlockable map locations (Points of Interest – POIs). The main track offers seven locations in total; however, after the third POI, you must choose between two sets of two POIs.

Each POI on the weekly challenge map requires 150 Event XP to unlock. The main path requires 750 XP in total, and to complete the prestige tier and secure all rewards, you need to accumulate 1,500 XP.

Every day, you have access to four daily missions, each offering 50 Event XP. This allows you to earn up to 200 XP per day and 1,400 XP per week. Weekly missions, on the other hand, offer 300 XP each, amounting to 900 XP per week.

Out of the maximum 2,300 XP you can earn in a week, you only need 1,500 XP to complete everything. This leaves room to miss a few daily missions or two weekly challenges.

Week 1 of the Anima Strike event will explore Neon Junction, while Weeks 2 and 3 will unfold the lore around Yokai Hideout and Hashimoto HQ, respectively. Below is a look at the event's challenges and rewards.

Week 1: Neon Junction

All Week 1 challenges and their corresponding rewards are listed below: 

POIs and Rewards

Regular Path

Prestige Path

Daily Challenges

The daily missions include three recurring challenges and an Anima Strike challenge with new objectives every day. Below are the three missions that refresh daily in Week 1, along with an example of an Anima Strike challenge.

Weekly Challenges

Milestone Challenges

We will provide full details about the subsequent weeks of the event, including POIs, challenges, and rewards, once the ongoing week concludes.

Excavation Initiative Event

Until Season 3 concludes on August 11, Overwatch players can simply play the game to progress in the Excavation Initiative event. All you need to do is log in and win one match per day, three days a week. Each completed "dig" earns you a Loot Box.

You can complete up to two digs per week, and over the course of eight weeks, you can complete a maximum of 16 digs, each rewarding you with a Loot Box. Upon crossing certain milestones, you will receive additional rewards, as outlined below. 

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Featured Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment

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