Skip to main content

As required by Chinese law, Blizzard reveals ‘Overwatch’ loot box drop rates

L
Image used with permission by copyright holder
If you frequently buy loot boxes in Overwatch, but mostly wind up with duplicates and less than epic items, you’ve probably wondered: What are the odds anyway? We now have a clearer picture — thanks to a Chinese gaming law requiring companies to disclose odds in games that feature “loot box” systems like Overwatch.

The breakdown was originally posted on Overwatch‘s Chinese site, and reported by news site Meta Bomb. Each supply drop contains four items, and one of those items has to be at least of rare distinction. The likelihood of acquiring an epic item is once in every 5.5 loot boxes opened. Legendary items are only likely to appear, on average, once per 13.5 boxes. When broken down into percentages, you have an 18.2 percent chance to obtain an epic item, and a 7.4 percent chance to get your hands on a legendary item.

Since Blizzard was only required to disclose these figures for the Chinese version of Overwatch, it’s unclear if these odds apply to all regions. However, it’s hard to imagine that Blizzard would switch things up region to region.

The new Chinese gaming law was passed in December, but didn’t take effect until May 1.

Prior to Blizzard revealing Overwatch loot box odds, Riot Games released Hextech Chest drop rates for League of Legends. And Perfect World, the Chinese distributor of Valve’s Dota 2, announced drop rates for the Treasure of the Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017, the only “loot box” available to Chinese players at this time.

Blizzard also revealed drop rates for Hearthstone card packs in China, although the new info didn’t tell us much more than what fans have already managed to deduce over the years. Each card pack contains a rare card, an epic comes in about one of every five packs, and a legendary in one of every 20 packs, on average. Blizzard also claimed that as you open more packs without receiving a legendary, the chances of you finding one increases. Hearthstone players had more or less figured that out already, and have dubbed it the “pity timer.”

Like the Overwatch odds, the Hearthstone drop rates can only technically be applied to the Chinese version of the game — but again, it seems unlikely that the algorithm differs by region.

Find an item at last? Great! Soup up your system for Overwatch and get going. The only outstanding question is how to integrate it into your strategy; fortunately, we’ve got some Overwatch tips and tricks for you. Good luck!

Editors' Recommendations

Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
Overwatch 2 Kiriko guide: abilities, strategies, counters, and more
Kiriko throws items in Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2 launched not only with every single original hero returning, many with tweaks and updates to their kits, but also three brand new heroes to join the fun. These new heroes, as well as all the new ones yet to be released, still fall into the familiar three categories of Damage, Support, and Tank roles. Even so, the diversity in each character within their roles can be massive -- Mercy and Lucio are both Support characters but use very different skills and tactics.

Kiriko is the newest Support hero in Overwatch 2 with a very clear ninja inspiration. If her charming design wasn't enough to interest players in trying her out, then her unique set of abilities certainly will. Support heroes can be the most tricky to learn, and Kiriko is on the more technical side of things in terms of characters, so a quick guide on how she works will help you make the most of this shinobi's prowess. Here's a full Kiriko guide for Overwatch 2.

Read more
Overwatch 2 ditches phone requirement after fan outcry
Overwatch 2 Junker Queen

Blizzard will no longer ask legacy Overwatch players to verify their phone numbers in order to play Overwatch 2 following criticism from fans with prepaid phones.

On top of the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and miles-long queues that have plagued Overwatch 2 since its launch on Tuesday, some fans were furious about their inability to link phone numbers tied with their prepaid mobile providers, like Cricket Wireless and Mint Mobile, to Battle.net. Those numbers didn't meet the requirement for SMS Protect, which Blizzard instituted in the game to combat cheating, trolling, and other bad behavior. The company said in the latest status update that it will remove the phone number linking requirement, but remains "committed to combating disruptive behavior."

Read more
Overwatch 2 hit with second DDoS attack as long queues persist
Sombra's new look in Overwatch 2.

Another distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack has plagued Overwatch 2 just one day after its launch. The attack occurred early Wednesday, merely eight hours after the first DDoS attack caused servers to go awry. The issue is contributing to the game's continued queue size issues, which has players waiting hours to get into a round.

Overwatch 2 developer Aaron Keller confirmed the second DDoS attack on Twitter, telling fans the team has been working to stabilize the servers. He wrote, "We’re steadily making progress on server issues and stability, as well as working through a second DDoS attack," He wrote. "We’re all hands on deck and will continue to work throughout the night. Thank you for your patience -- we’ll share more info as it becomes available."

Read more