Cosmetics

Cosmetics are items in Overwatch which allow players to customize their heroes and profiles. They do not affect gameplay. There are eight types of cosmetics: Player Icons, Skins, Emotes, Sprays, Voice Lines, Victory Poses, Highlight Intros, and Weapon Skins. Cosmetics are unlocked by opening them in loot boxes, or buying them with credits or competitive points. There are 678 cosmetics for Overwatch.

Types of Cosmetics

 * Player Icons – Player icons are avatars which are displayed to a player's friends and group. They cannot be bought.
 * Skins – Skins modify the appearance of heroes with different colors or outfits. Some skins modify voice clips heard in-game.
 * Emotes – Emotes make the hero strike a pose or perform an action while in-game. They can be used through the communication wheel.
 * Sprays – Sprays can be put on surfaces by pressing the bound key or button.
 * Voice Lines – Voice lines make other players around the hero hear them say a phrase. They can be used through the communication wheel.
 * Victory Poses – Victory poses modify how a hero stands at the ending screen, if they won.
 * Highlight Intros – Highlight intros customize the animation that is shown when a player gets Play of the Game.
 * Weapon Skins - Weapon skins modify the appearance of a hero's weapon.

Rarity
Note: Cosmetics bought with competitive points do not have a known rarity system.

Progression System
Players gain experience by completing matches in any game mode. The amount of experience players earn per game varies based on a number of factors. After gaining enough experience, players will level up and receive a loot box (you can buy loot boxes in the game or in markets like mmoauctions). After reaching level 100, players will gain a star under their portrait and restart at level 1. Experience needed to level up is gradually increased from levels 1-100. The amount of experience needed to reach levels after 100 is constant (20,000 XP) and will no longer reset after each promotion.

In Quick Play and Arcade, you gain XP from completing the following actions: †You will only earn XP for the highest medal achieved.

In Play vs A.I., you gain XP from completing the following actions (all are increased by 20% when playing in a group):
 * ~2.02 XP per second played in a match
 * +150 XP for completing an entire match
 * +300 XP if you also won
 * +120 XP if you've now played 2 or more matches in a row
 * +90/60/30 XP for getting gold/silver/bronze as your highest medal (once per game)
 * +1500 for your first win of the day

Hero Gallery
The Hero Gallery is where players customize their heroes, view items they’ve unlocked, and spend credits.

To access the Hero Gallery, navigate to the game's main menu and click on Hero Gallery. From the gallery, you can select the hero you'd like to customize, and then see all of the skins, emotes, victory poses, voice lines, sprays, and highlight intros available for that hero. Equip an item you want to use from your collection, or click the "Unlock" button to spend credits and unlock that skin or spray you've been eyeing. Changing your player icon must be done through the Career Profile > Player Icons page.

Seasonal cosmetics
During seasonal events, exclusive time-limited cosmetics become available from seasonal loot boxes. Starting with the first Halloween Terror event, seasonal cosmetics can also be purchased with credits. The amount of credits needed to unlock newly added seasonal cosmetics is three times as much as the amount needed for regular cosmetics and older seasonal cosmetics from a previous event. Any seasonal cosmetic is only available for unlocking during the associated event.