Facing Vendetta: How Talon's New Leader Changes Every Fight in Overwatch 2026

Vendetta is the scariest thing Blizzard has put in Overwatch PvE. Not because she does crazy damage (she does), but because she fights smart. Every Talon boss in the Reign of Talon arc has AI that actually adapts to your comp. Here's how to survive them.

Vendetta (Season 1, Mission 1 - Unwinnable Encounter)

Let's get this out of the way: the Vendetta encounter at the end of Mission 1 Gibraltar is not meant to be won. You hold out for 90 seconds while she rampages through the command center, then Winston calls the retreat.

She's immune to all damage during this fight. Don't bother shooting her. Your job is to stay alive and keep teammates alive until the timer runs out.

She has three attack patterns during this encounter. Her gladiator charge covers half the room in one second and one-shots anyone without a defensive cooldown. Her blade sweep covers 180 degrees with about a 6 meter range, applying a bleed that ticks for 40 damage per second over 5 seconds. Her ultimate indicator starts at 60 seconds remaining - if anyone on your team is below half health when she targets them, they die.

The trick is spreading out so she can't cleave multiple people with one sweep. The three defense points in the command center form a triangle. Put one person on each point, rotating position every time she charges. If she targets a damaged ally, that ally needs a support ultimate or they're dead. Save Sound Barrier or Transcendence for those moments.

Emre (Season 1, Mission 5 - Grand Mesa Defense)

Emre shows up as a mid-mission boss twist in Mission 5, and he's a nightmare if you don't understand his anchor tether mechanic.

He places three anchor points around the arena that continuously heal nearby Talon forces. The healing is about 50 HP per second per tether, and it stacks if an enemy stands in overlapping tethers. At the start of his phase, Talon infantry rushes into tether zones and becomes nearly unkillable.

Your first 30 seconds in this fight determine everything. Destroy the anchor points immediately. They have 200 HP each and can be targeted by anyone. An aggressive flanker like Mizuki can destroy two before Emre responds. Once the anchors are down, Emre himself is fairly squishy (400 HP total, no armor).

His personal attacks are modest. He fires a burst rifle that does about 60 damage per hit with a slow fire rate. His real danger is the tether mechanic. Without anchors, he's a Soldier: 76 with less mobility. Kill the anchors, then kill him.

What got me killed the first few attempts was trying to fight Talon forces inside the tether zones. You can't out-damage 50 HP per second healing on top of the enemy supports. Destroy anchors first. Every time.

Ashe and B.O.B. (Season 1, Mission 3 - Deadlock Alliance)

The train fight against Ashe and B.O.B. is the most mechanically demanding boss encounter in Season 1. The train car is about 15 meters long and 4 meters wide. Not much room to dodge.

B.O.B. has been massively buffed for PvE. His ground slam covers half the car and does 150 damage with a 1 second stun. His charge pins the first target hit, dealing 200 damage and dragging them to the end of the car. His arm cannons fire in 3-round bursts at 40 damage per shot.

Ashe stays near B.O.B. and uses her coach gun to reposition anyone who gets close to her. Her dynamite is the real threat: it covers a 3 meter radius and burns for 100 damage over 5 seconds, applied to everyone in range.

The fight has three phases based on B.O.B.'s health:

Phase one (100 to 70 percent) B.O.B. uses ground slam and charge on cooldown, about every 8 seconds. Pretty straightforward. Avoid the obvious windups.

Phase two (70 to 30 percent) B.O.B. starts comboing. Charge into slam, or slam into charge. The timing gets tighter. Ashe also becomes more aggressive here, throwing dynamite more frequently. This is where most wipes happen because the damage stacking gets overwhelming. A Bruiser tank needs to body-block B.O.B. during his charge to prevent team wipes.

Phase three (30 to 0 percent) B.O.B. enrages with 50 percent faster attack speed. Everything comes out faster. Your tank can't block every charge now. You need to burn B.O.B. down while dodging. Save all damage ultimates for this phase.

Once B.O.B. goes down, Ashe folds in about 20 seconds. She's not threatening alone.

Talon Heavy Mech (Season 1, Mission 6 - Counterattack Final Boss)

The season finale boss is a walking tank with a minigun arm and missile pods. It has 5000 HP and 500 armor, making it the bulkiest PvE enemy in Season 1.

Its attacks cycle in a fixed pattern: minigun barrage (8 seconds), missile salvo (3 seconds with red ground indicators), repair drone deployment (4 small drones that heal the mech for 100 HP per second each), repeat.

Destroy the repair drones the second they appear. All four left unchecked for even 6 seconds is 2400 HP healed. That deletes your progress.

The mech takes double damage from behind. Its rear armor panel is exposed and highlighted with a faint red glow. Flankers should stay behind it constantly. The tank should hold aggro from the front.

At 25 percent HP, it enters overload mode. Minigun damage doubles, missiles fire in spreads of 8 instead of 4. But it also overheats every 12 seconds for 3 seconds, taking 50 percent more damage during overheat. Time your ultimates for overheat windows.

This fight is more about execution than strategy. If your team can shoot drones, dodge missile indicators, and save ults for overheat, you clear it. If anyone's slacking on drone duty, you wipe to attrition.