Overwatch League Tokens: What They Are & How to Earn Them Effortlessly

There are multiple ways to earn Overwatch League Tokens for free. If you'd like to do so, read this guide to understanding and earning Overwatch League Tokens.

Chris Wong - Writer for Buff
By Chris Wong
Joel Taylor, editor for Buff
Edited by Joel Taylor
Fact-check by Itai Guzik

Updated July 25, 2023.

Earning Overwatch League Tokens has a history of being slow and restrictive. Even as recently as 2020, the only way to earn League Tokens was to watch OWL live matches on the official website or mobile app. Since then, Overwatch 2 has come to life and Blizzard has now made it easier than ever before to rack up those tokens!

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What Is the Overwatch League?

Overwatch League (a.k.a OWL) is the official esports league for Blizzard Entertainment's wildly popular franchise, Overwatch. Currently, we are in the 2022 Overwatch League season, the fifth season of the league, which will conclude with the Grand Finals later this year on November 4th.

What Are Overwatch League Tokens?

Overwatch League Tokens are used as a form of in-game currency to purchase exclusive team skins, cosmetics, and items in the Overwatch League Shop. Not only will you be able to root for your favorite teams while you lay fire on the opposing team, but you'll be able to do so with your choice in style, with both home and away skins for your hero.

To get these skins, you're going to need at least 100 League Tokens to unlock basic skins, with the more expensive ones going up to 200 League tokens. While you can buy bundles of tokens directly through Battle.net, starting at $5.99 for 100 League Tokens, there are other ways to earn them for free!

How to Earn Overwatch League Tokens

Now that earning is no longer limited to watching live matches on the official OWL website or mobile app, here's how to earn while watching either live matches or via encore broadcasts on YouTube.

Prior to the release of Overwatch 2, console players would have needed to link their game accounts to Battle.net. However, with the release of Overwatch 2, both PC and console players need a Battle.net account in order to play.

To link your Battle.net account to your YouTube account, navigate to the YouTube account sharing page, find Battle.net, and click "connect".

Earn Tokens While Watching Live Matches & Encore Games

Once you are watching a live match on YouTube, you can rest assured that you are earning your League Tokens if you see the indicator reading "connected" below the broadcast window. As for how your time is tracked and how much you earn, 5 Overwatch League Tokens are earned for each hour of viewing.

Luckily for you, YouTube keeps track of your watch time even if it is not one continuous session, meaning if you watch 40 minutes of one match and come back for 20 minutes for a later one, you will still earn your 5 tokens for the hour watched. But don't forget that tokens can only be earned while viewing live games or encore broadcasts, not VODs—even those from the official Overwatch League YouTube channel!

Conclusion

Now that you are earning Overwatch League Tokens while watching streams, make sure to check out more about Buff if you want to earn while playing games. Just by running Buff in the background while playing your favorite games, you earn Buff Points to be redeemed for a number of in-game and out-of-game rewards!

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