Overwatch’s 2026 Season 1 just launched with a brand new weapon variant called Crimson Wolf. This red Talon-themed skin can be applied to any hero’s weapon, making your guns look awesome with a special crimson color scheme. But figuring out how to actually unlock it can be confusing because Overwatch uses different types of points and currencies. This guide explains exactly what you need to do to get Crimson Wolf weapon variants and the special Crimson Wolf Doomfist skin in simple terms.
What is Crimson Wolf in Overwatch
Crimson Wolf is a weapon skin that makes your guns and weapons look red with a Talon theme. It’s the fourth competitive weapon variant in Overwatch, joining Golden, Jade, and Galactic variants that came before it.
There are actually two different Crimson Wolf rewards:
- Crimson Wolf Weapon Variants – Red weapon skins you can unlock for any hero by spending Competitive Points
- Crimson Wolf Doomfist Skin – A full character skin just for Doomfist that you get by reaching Diamond rank
Both are separate rewards, so you can get one without getting the other.
How to Unlock Crimson Wolf Weapon Variants
Crimson Wolf weapon variants are bought using Competitive Points. This is the red currency you earn from playing competitive matches.
How Much It Costs
Each Crimson Wolf weapon costs 3,000 Competitive Points per hero. If you want Crimson Wolf weapons for all your favorite heroes, you need to earn 3,000 points for each one.
For example:
- Crimson Wolf for Genji = 3,000 points
- Crimson Wolf for Mercy = 3,000 points
- Crimson Wolf for Reinhardt = 3,000 points
- Total for all three = 9,000 points
How to Earn Competitive Points
You get Competitive Points by playing competitive matches. Here’s how many points you earn:
- Win a regular competitive match – 10 Competitive Points
- Draw a regular competitive match – 5 Competitive Points
You also earn bonus points just for playing matches and filling up a progress bar, even if you lose.
How to Unlock Crimson Wolf Doomfist Skin
The Crimson Wolf Doomfist skin is completely different from the weapon variants. This is a full character skin that changes Doomfist’s entire appearance, not just his weapon.
What Rank You Need
To unlock the Crimson Wolf Doomfist skin, you need to reach Diamond rank or higher in competitive mode.
You can reach Diamond in either:
- Role Queue competitive (where you pick your role before queueing)
- Open Queue competitive (where you can pick any hero)
Reaching Diamond in just one of these modes is enough to unlock the skin.
When You Actually Get the Skin
Here’s the tricky part: Even if you reach Diamond rank immediately, you won’t get the Crimson Wolf Doomfist skin right away.
According to Blizzard, you have to wait 2 weeks after the season starts before the skin is given out. Season 1 started on February 11, 2026, which means the earliest you can receive the skin is around February 24-25, 2026.
So if you reach Diamond before February 24th, you’ll have to wait until then to get the skin. If you reach Diamond after February 24th, you should get it shortly after hitting the rank.
The good news is you have the entire Season 1 (until around May 2026) to reach Diamond rank. You don’t have to do it immediately. The skin is available as long as you hit Diamond at any point between Season 1 and Season 3 this year.
When Does Crimson Wolf Expire
Crimson Wolf is a limited-time reward. It will be available until February 2027, which is when the next competitive year starts.
After February 2027:
- You can no longer buy Crimson Wolf with regular Competitive Points
- Crimson Wolf becomes a “Legacy” reward
- You’ll need Legacy Competitive Points to buy it (the white currency)
- A new weapon variant will replace Crimson Wolf as the current year’s reward
So you have about one year (February 2026 to February 2027) to unlock Crimson Wolf using regular Competitive Points. After that, it becomes much harder to get because Legacy Points are only earned when your regular Competitive Points convert at the end of each year.
