Everything you need to know about the Nexus Challenge 2.0!
Last year’s Nexus Challenge is back in a revamped 2.0 version which offers loads more cosmetic rewards for those of you who are up for getting stuck into a clutch of Heroes of the Storm games.
Given the significant reboot that’s taking place for Blizzard’s brawler, the rewards in the Nexus Challenge 2.0 are appropriately beefier this time around. Old items you might have missed out on last year are back, and there are plenty of new Overwatch items you’ll certainly want for your collection.
Before we get started on the guide proper, here’s the headline stuff you need to know about.
- The Nexus Challenge 2.0 promotion runs from now until Sunday 21st May. The rewards themselves are spread out across four promotional weeks within this time period.
- Within each given week, you’ll need to complete a total of five Heroes of the Storm matches in order to unlock the Overwatch rewards.
- A new quest unlocks each week, offering a new set of rewards. If you come to the event late, you can still work through all the quests but you must work through each one in order of release.
- To qualify for the items, you must play these matches while partied up with someone in your Battle.net friends list.
- Those matches can be completed in the game’s AI, Versus, Ranked or Unranked modes.
- You’ll need a PC capable of playing Heroes of the Storm, but it’s a free to play game. Just download it through the Battle.net desktop launcher.
- Console players can unlock the Oni skin by logging into the PC desktop launcher using their PlayStation 4 or Xbox One Battle.net credentials.
We’ll also mention that while you can use this guide to unlock the Oni skin pretty quickly, you might just want to play the game as intended and at your own pace – it’s actually really good!
There are four promotional weeks in the Nexus Challenge 2.0. You need to complete five matches in each week in order to pick up all of the rewards.
Here’s what’s on offer:
- Week 1 (25th-30th April): Oni skin, spray and player icon
- Week 2 (1st-7th May): Officer D.Va skin
- Week 3 (8th-14th May): Officer D.Va spray and player icon
- Week 4 (15th-21st May): Ten free Loot Boxes
More Nexus Challenge 2.0 guides:
- 1. Oni Genji skin – Overwatch: Genji Oni skin guide
- 2. Officer D.Va skin – Overwatch: Officer D.Va skin guide
- 3. Unlocking on console – Overwatch: Oni and Officer D.Va console guide
- 4. Nexus Challenge 2.0 – Overwatch: Nexus Challenge 2.0 guide
Using AI matches to unlock your rewards
First of all, if you’ve never played a MOBA before, complete the tutorial after installing the game so you understand the basics that feature in this guide. It really won’t take you long, and will speed up the overall process for you. Once you’re done, read on.
AI matches are by far and away the fastest and easiest way to unlock all of these items, even for a complete newcomer to the game. Even beating the beginner AI difficulty setting counts as a game played, and these are incredibly easy and quick to finish.
The objective in every match is to destroy the enemy’s “core” base before they can destroy your own, and so the other key to polishing off these AI matches fast involves using a hero in the game called Sylvanas.
Battlegrounds in Heroes of the Storm are typically split into two or three lanes which run from your core on one side of the map, to the enemy’s core on the other. Sylvanas specialises in obliterating the AI turrets and towers that protect these lanes and – ultimately – the core.
Once a single lane’s been smashed to pieces, it’s very easy for you and your team to charge almost unimpeded towards the enemy core and turn it into rubble before the enemy AI can catch its breath. Simply complete this process five times in each week to get the items.
Finding teammates
As we’ve already mentioned, for a match to count towards your tally of five you must complete it while in a group with someone on your Battle.net friend list.
If you’re stuck for friends, just ask in General Chat once you’re in-game! There’ll be loads of people trying to do exactly the same as you are – particularly in the early days of each promotional week.
That’s it for now! If you’ve got any questions, let us know in the comments and we’ll do our best to answer them. We’ll add any important extra information to this guide too.
