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Compete against other players and work your way up the ranks.

„

Competitive Play is the ranked playlist of Overwatch and Overwatch 2. Players must win 50 Quick Play (or Stadium, which grant double progress) matches or have owned Overwatch since before June of 2021 to unlock Competitive Play. In Competitive Play, players receive a rank representing their skill level, ranging from Bronze to the Top 500. As Competitive Play is meant to be a more serious game mode, it features altered rule sets and imposes some grouping restrictions for more fair and balanced matches. ^[1]

Game Modes

Permanent Modes

Competitive playlist features two permanent game modes: Competitive Play Role Queue and Competitive Play 6v6 Open Queue.

• Role Queue imposes a team composition 1 Tank, 2 Damage, and 2 Support heroes. Players must select a role they wish to play as in a match. Once a match has been found, they are only allowed to pick heroes in the role they selected for the entire match.
• 6v6 Open Queue does not restrict a team to have a specific number of damage or support heroes but limits the maximum number of tanks to two. Players can select a hero from any role and are allowed to switch roles during the match.

Open Queue ranking gives players 1 rank, whereas Role Queue gives players 3, one for each role.

6v6 hero changes

6v6 Open Queue modes have a slightly different balance state from 5v5 modes, with most changes going to heroes in the Tank role. The following table lists the balance changes made to heroes in the 6v6 modes. Otherwise, 6v6 modes receive the same balance changes as 5v5.

Temporary Modes

The playlist also features temporary game modes, such as Arcade-based modes available in a competitive setting. Temporary games modes are usually available for the latter half of the season, but may also stay longer.

Competitive Arcade Modes

Starting with Copa Lùcioball, introduced with the Summer Games 2017 event, Blizzard has sporadically added Competitive Arcade modes. The rewards for Competitive Arcade modes differ from those from the regular Competitive Play mode. As the seasons are shorter (as well as the matches duration), you earn fewer Competitive Points per match.

Following Arcade modes have been featured in Competitive play:

• Lúcioball
• Capture the Flag
• Elimination (6v6 and 3v3 Group)
• Deathmatch (8 player FFA and Team Deathmatch)

Mystery Heroes

Competitive Mystery Heroes was available during Seasons 3, 5, and 6 in Overwatch 2.

The rewards for game wins and the end of the season for Competitive Mystery Heroes are slightly lower than the Role Queue and Open Queue Competitive rewards. However, it is possible to earn both end of season rewards for Competitive Mystery Heroes and standard Competitive rewards in the same season.

Team Queue

Team Queue was a temporary competitive mode for Overwatch 2, lasting from Season 5 mid-season until the end of Season 5. It required everyone to play in a full group of five players. Team Queue had no ranking restrictions. Other important rules for the mode were:

• Players can group up regardless of how far apart they are in rank.
• Grandmaster players can play, even with up to four other Grandmaster players.
• Team Queue is limited to 1 Tank, 2 Damage, and 2 Support.
• Players do not queue for specific roles, instead choosing their roles within each match.
• Platform pool restrictions remain, meaning players on console must still only group up with other players on console, not those on PC.

Hero Bans

Hero bans were introduced in Season 16, allowing each team to ban up to two heroes, for a maximum of four bans total where a limit of two heroes per role is imposed. Before loading into a map, players have 15 seconds to select a preferred hero they wish to protect from bans. This selection is only a suggestion—teammates can still choose to ban preferred heroes. Afterward, players have 45 seconds to choose up to three heroes for banning, with the first choice weighted most heavily (7 votes), followed by the second (5 votes) and third (3 votes). Players may also opt to pass by pressing the Ready button. Each player’s preferred and ban choices are visible to the team, ordered left to right by priority. Ban selections can be changed until the timer runs out, after which players are presented with the final list of banned heroes for the match. In the case of a tie, the hero with more individual voters wins; if still tied, the decision is made randomly. Players can communicate with their team during the ban phase but cannot interact with the opposing team.

Competitive Ruleset

Compared to Quick Play, Escort, Hybrid and Push maps in Competitive Play feature different rulesets, but the rulesets in Control and Flashpoint maps are unchanged.

Push

• Match time is increased from 8 to 10 minutes.

Escort

• A minimum of 2 rounds are played, with both teams playing an attack and a defense round. Whichever team gets farther on their attack will win the match.
• If both teams manage to move the payload the exact same distance without reaching the final destination or fail to move it at all, the match ends in a draw.
• If both teams push the payload until the end, the match will proceed to extra rounds, following the time bank rules (see Extra Rounds & Time Bank).

Hybrid

• A Minimum of 2 rounds are played, with both teams playing an attack and a defense round. The attacking team which captures the most of the points and / or escorts the payload the farthest wins.
• If both teams fail to reach the first tick (1/3) on the capture point or manage to move the payload the exact same distance without reaching the destination, the match ends in a draw. Note if the capture point progress is between 33.3% (1st tick) and 100%, it is not possible for the game to end in a draw.
• If both teams capture the point and push the payload until the end, the match will proceed to extra rounds, following the time bank rules (see Extra Rounds & Time Bank).

Extra Rounds & Time Bank

If both teams complete the map in their first attacking round on a Hybrid or Escort map, extra rounds are played using the time bank system. No extra time is added when capturing checkpoints. When extra rounds start, the team with less time left attacks first. Time adjustments are made based on how much time each team has:

• If both teams have 120 seconds or more, the team with less time is set to 120 seconds, and the other team loses the same amount of time.
  • Example: Team A has 165s and Team B has 250s. Team A drops to 120s (losing 45s), and Team B also loses 45s (ending with 205s).
• If the team with less time has between 60–119 seconds, no time changes are made to either team.
• If the team with less than 60 seconds has any time left (0.1–59.9 seconds), their time is bumped up to 60 seconds, and the other team gets the same amount added.
  • Example: Team A has 20s and Team B has 150s. Both teams gain 40s, giving Team A 60s and Team B 190s.
• Hybrid only: If one team has no time left and the other has 60 seconds or more, only the team with time left plays. If they get at least 33.3% capture on Point A, they win. Otherwise, the match ends in a draw.

Ranks

Ranks are used to represent players' performance compared to other players in Competitive play. Since Season 9, a person's rank is the same as his matchmaking rating.^[2][3] Players have a separate rank for Open Queue and for each role in Role Queue.

Skill Tiers & Divisions

The ranked system is split in nine tiers, and each tier in five divisions.^[4] Additionally, the players position within each division is displayed as a percentage. Players can view their current skill tier and division through their Career Profile, or the Competitive Progress option in the Competitive Play menu.

Excluding Top 500, there are 5 divisions in each tier, with 1 being the highest and 5 being the lowest. The skill tiers from top to bottom are:

Top 500
Champion 1 - 5
Grandmaster 1 - 5
Master 1 - 5
Diamond 1 - 5
Platinum 1 - 5
Gold 1 - 5
Silver 1 - 5
Bronze 1 - 5

Top 500 Leaderboard

The Top 500 rank is given to players that have the 1st to 500th highest rating in their respective region (Americas. Asia, Europe) and platform (PC, PS4, XBox, Switch), and can be granted regardless of the player's actual skill tier and division. The current Top 500 can be viewed in the leaderboard, which can be accessed through the Competitive Play menu. Leaderboard and the Top 500 rank only becomes available two weeks after the start of a season, and to be eligible the player must have completed the "Seasoned Competitor" challenge, requiring 750 lifetime competitive wins, and have won at least 25 competitive matches in the current season. Blizzard SMS Protect must also be enabled for PC players.

Placement Matches

Starting from Season 9, the player must complete a set of 10 placements matches in order to gain a rank. Unlike previous seasons, it is not necessary to win these matches to progress the counter. The player's predicted rank is shown after each placement match before they gain their real rank.^[5]

Rank Updates

Players' ranks will update after every match. The rank updates are communicated to the players via the Rank Information screen, which displays how much their position in the division changed as a percentage, visualized by a progress bar towards the next division. Generally, players will gain rank progress whenever they win the match and lose progress whenever they lose. Rank Information also details what factors affected the amount of progress from the match with Rank Modifiers. Modifiers that have a positive effect, ie. cause the player to gain rank progress more upon win or lose less upon loss, are displayed with a green arrow to the right and ones with negative effect with a red arrow to the left.

Below is a list of the possible modifiers.

Rank modifiers

Modifier	Effect	Description
Winning Trend		Bonus for high win rate.
Losing Trend		Penalty for high loss rate.
Consolation		You weren't favored[Note 1] and you lost.
Reversal		You were favored but you lost.
Uphill Battle		You weren't favored but you won.
Expected		You were favored and you won.
Calibration		Your rank is uncertain.
Demotion		You lost a match while in Demotion Protection.[Note 2]
Demotion Protection		If you lose again you will rank down.
Wide		Your group is wide so you gained or lost less rank.
Pressure		You were pushed toward average at a high or low rank.
Notes: ↑ Favored – Whether a team is "favored" is based on the teams' average ranks prior to the game, with the higher ranked team being considered favored. ↑ Demotion Protection - See below

Demotion Protection

When player's Rank Progress would go below 0% and they would be demoted to a lower division, they will be put in "Demotion Protection", and instead of immediately ranking down a division, they will gain another chance and only rank down if they lose another match while in Demotion Protection.

When player enters Demotion Protection, the amount of Rank Progress that would go below 0% is not discarded, but will be saved and taken into account in the next rank update. Players can see this as negative Rank Progress in the Rank Update screen. If the player loses and is demoted, the next rank update will display this amount with a black bar, whereas the amount lost from the current match is displayed normally.

To leave Demotion Protection while retaining their current division, the player must again get their Rank Progress above 0%. In other words, if the player wins while in Demotion Protection, but does not gain enough rank progress to go back above 0%, they will remain in Demotion Protection for another match.

Inactivity

Players that did not play any matches during the previous competitive season will become Inactive. Inactive players do not have a visible Skill Tier and Division. Each role in Role Queue can become Inactive separately, while in Open Queue, a player only has one rank that can become Inactive. Once an Inactive player returns and achieves a Competitive Update after winning five games, their Skill Tier and Division will become visible again.

Distribution

Sometime after the start of Season 17, rank distribution was as follows:

Season 17 rank distribution^[6]

Rank	% of Playerbase
Champion	< 00.1 %
Grandmaster	00.3 %
Master	03.2 %
Diamond	14.9 %
Platinum	34.9 %
Gold	31.7 %
Silver	12.6 %
Bronze	02.4 %

Per-Hero Skill Rating

Starting with Season 18, players can start gaining per-Hero SR to present their skill at individual heroes. The rules are outlined below:

• Per-Hero SR unlocks after completing 10 placement matches in Role Queue or Open Queue. This number is separate for both.
• A player needs to complete 5 hero placement matches until their SR unlocks. Their predicted SR can be viewed on the Competitive Overview screen and the Career Profile after playing at least one match.
• Top 3 heroes that are played for at least 3 minutes gain SR.
• Per-Hero SR is not used for matchmaking.
• Per-Hero SR reset every mid-year rank reset.
• SR values have a rank from Bronze to Champion attached to them. See below for values:

Hero SR to Rank correlation

Rank	SR (minimum-maximum)
Champion	4500-5000 SR
Grandmaster	4000-4499 SR
Master	3500-3999 SR
Diamond	3000-3499 SR
Platinum	2500-2999 SR
Gold	2000-2499 SR
Silver	1500-1999 SR
Bronze	< 1499 SR

Groups in Competitive Play

Players are allowed to participate in Competitive Play as a group of any size and range of ranks, with some exceptions and tradeoffs. Groups are sorted into two categories: Wide groups and Narrow groups. Wide Groups are classified as groups with large rank disparity, while narrow groups are everything else. For Matchmaking, wide groups and narrow groups are matched separately, with solo queuers only ever being matched with narrow groups.

Wide Groups

Wide groups were introduced to allow friends who are ranks apart to play Competitive together. As such, wide groups consist of players with fairly large rank disparity. For Matchmaking, wide groups will only be matched against other wide groups and will still utilize Overwatch 2's Role Delta Tech to try match groups with similarly shaped groups to try keep gameplay as fair as possible^[7]. Wide groups will receive the "Wide" modifier after each game to represent the decreased change in rank progress. Players will be informed prior to the match if the configuration of roles they have selected would result in a wide group.^[8]

The following table describes what is considered a Wide Group at each rank.

Competitive Wide Groups

Rank(s)	Wide Group
Bronze Silver Gold Platinum Diamond	Highest and lowest ranked players are more than 5 Divisions apart.
Master	Highest and lowest ranked players are more than 4 Divisions apart.
Grandmaster	Highest and lowest ranked players are more than 3 Divisions apart.
Champion	Highest and lowest ranked players are more than 2 Division apart.

The existence of wide groups results in a few tradeoffs: ^[8]

• Wide Groups have increased queue times and reduced match quality because it’s more difficult to find another group of players with the same ranks in the same roles to match against.
• Wide Groups of 4 players are unable to queue to ensure solo players never have to play a Wide Match.
• The wider your group, the less your Rank Progress will change with each win or loss.
• Wide groups are unable to queue for Competitive 6v6 Open Queue regardless of the number of players in the group.

Narrow Groups

A group is a narrow group when players in the group have little rank disparity, all being fairly close in rank. In other words, any group that does not fit the aforementioned wide group criteria is considered narrow. Narrow groups will be matched with other narrow groups and solo queuers.^[7]

Penalties

Main article: Penalties#Leaver penalties

As this mode exists to players wanting a more serious experience of Overwatch, harsher penalties are given to players who abandon their team before the end of the match. As opposed to Quick Play, players who exit a match from Competitive Play prematurely will not be able to join another game of any play mode until their original match is concluded, and departed players will not be backfilled. Players that fail to rejoin their match before it ends will automatically gain a loss, and have their future placement ranking lowered, as well as a temporary suspension from Competitive Play, with repeated offenses extending the duration of the suspension until an eventual permanent ban from the game mode. As such, it is ill-advised to play comp when you are short on time, or have a poor connection to the game.

Rewards

Competitive Points

Main article: Competitive Points

Players can earn Competitive Points completing matches in Competitive Play: Each player is awarded 10 Competitive Points for a win, 5 for a draw or none for a loss. Additionally, each match completed fills the Competitive Progress meter, granting triple progress for wins. After completing 30 matches, the player gains an additional 100 Competitive Points.

Competitive Weapon Variants

Main article: Weapon Variants

Season 9 introduced a new competitive reward system in which competitive seasons that span over a year will feature unique weapon variants that can be purchased with Competitive Points. At the end of the competitive season, the remaining Competitive Points are converted to Legacy Competitive Points and can be used to purchase weapons variants from previous seasons, such as Golden weapons. The 2024 season ran from February 2024 to January 2025 and featured Jade weapon variants as the competitive reward. The 2025 season runs from February 2025 to January 2026, featuring Galactic weapon variants as competitive rewards while Jade variants joined Golden weapons as purchasable with Legacy Competitive Points.

Competitive Titles

At the end of every regular season, the players ranked Gold and above gain a Player Title according to their skill tier at the end. Players can receive a competitive title for each role in the Role Queue as well as one for the Open Queue. Competitive titles can be used until the end of the season, after which they are replaced by the new reward title or removed, if the player has dropped below Gold rank.

Competitive Skin Rewards

In Season 18, Competitive Skin rewards were introduced, granted to any player who reaches Diamond or above. These skins are similar to the rewards granted from reaching higher ranks in Stadium. The first Competitive skin reward is Galactic Freja, obtainable between Seasons 18 through 20.

History

The mode has gone through extensive reworks since its launch and was further revamped 2 times in Overwatch 2.

Competitive Play seasons

Overwatch
Season	Start Date	End Date	Notes
1	Jun 28, 2016	Aug 17, 2016	Had a 1-100 Skill Rating scale and a Sudden Death system if both teams reached their objective in the initial attack and defense rotation. During Sudden Death, one additional round was played where the attacking team was chosen by a coin flip. The attackers had to capture or escort the payload to the first point within 1 minute and 45 seconds. If they succeeded, the attacking team won the match. If they failed, the defending team won.
2	Sep 02, 2016	Nov 24, 2016	1-100 Skill Rating scale expanded to a 1-5000 scale. Sudden Death system replaced by the Time Bank system.
3	Dec 01, 2016	Feb 21, 2017	No Changes
4	Feb 28, 2017	May 28, 2017
5	Jun 1, 2017	Aug 28, 2017
6	Sep 1, 2017	Oct 28, 2017	Control map rounds reduced from a best-of-five to a best-of-three. Duration of each competitive season reduced from three months to two months.
7	Nov 1, 2017	Dec 29, 2017	No Changes
8	Jan 1, 2018	Feb 25, 2018
9	Feb 28, 2018	Apr 28, 2018
10	May 1, 2018	Jul 1, 2018
11	Jul 02, 2018	Aug 28, 2018
12	Aug 31, 2018	Oct 28, 2018
13	Nov 1, 2018	Jan 1, 2019	Off-season duration reduced from three days to two hours.
14	Jan 1, 2019	Mar 1, 2019	No Changes
15	Mar 1, 2019	May 1, 2019	Off-season removed. Henceforth the following season will begin immediately after the previous season ends.
16	May 1, 2019	Jun 30, 2019	No Changes
17	Jun 30, 2019	Aug 13, 2019	Ended two weeks early to implement a special three week season of Competitive Play that introduced the Role Queue system. Referred to as "Role Queue Beta" in player profiles to those that participated.
18	Sep 3, 2019	Nov 7, 2019	Role Queue system implemented with players having independent Skill Ratings for each of the three roles. Number of placement matches required decreased from 10 to 5.
19	Nov 9, 2019	Jan 2, 2020	Map pool system introduced. Each season had a specific selection of maps and only those maps were available for the entirety of the season. Map pool: Assault: Hanamura, Temple of Anubis, Volskaya Industries Escort: Dorado, Havana, Watchpoint: Gibraltar Hybrid: Eichenwalde, Hollywood, King's Row Control: Busan, Lijiang Tower, Nepal
20	Jan 2, 2020	Mar 5, 2020	Map pool: Assault: Hanamura, Temple of Anubis, Volskaya Industries Escort: Dorado, Havana, Rialto Hybrid: Eichenwalde, King's Row, Numbani Control: Busan, Ilios, Oasis
21	Mar 5, 2020	May 7, 2020	Hero bans introduced, changing weekly. Banned heroes were chosen based on hero usage across all ranks. Map pools were removed on April 14th, 2020. Horizon Lunar Colony and Paris were removed from Competitive Play on the same day. Map pool (until April 14th): Assault: Hanamura, Horizon Lunar Colony, Volskaya Industries Escort: Dorado, Junkertown, Watchpoint: Gibraltar Hybrid: Blizzard World, Hollywood, King's Row Control: Busan, Lijang Tower, Oasis Hero bans: Mar 5 - Mar 12: Orisa, Hanzo, Mei, Baptiste Mar 12 - Mar 19: Reinhardt, Reaper, Ana, Moira Mar 19 - Mar 26: Roadhog, Sigma, Doomfist, Brigitte Mar 26 - Apr 2: D.Va, Cassidy, Soldier: 76, Sombra, Widowmaker, Baptiste Apr 2 - Apr 9: Wrecking Ball, Hanzo, Mercy Apr 9 - Apr 13: Zarya, Pharah, Symmetra, Lúcio Apr 13 - Apr 19: Reinhardt, Cassidy, Widowmaker, Brigitte Apr 20 - Apr 26: Orisa, Echo, Tracer, Moira Apr 27 - May 3: Wrecking Ball, Cassidy, Widowmaker, Mercy May 4 - May 10: Reinhardt, Ashe, Reaper, Brigitte
22	May 7, 2020	Jul 2, 2020	Hero bans changed to be only applied to matches with an average team SR of 3500 or greater. Banned heroes were also chosen based on usage from the Overwatch League when the League was in season, and Grandmaster and Top 500 matches when not in season. Hero bans were removed on June 8th, 2020. Hero bans: May 4 - May 10: Reinhardt, Ashe, Reaper, Brigitte May 11 - May 17: Orisa, Mei, Tracer, Moira May 18 - May 31: None June 1 - June 8: D.Va, Echo, Sombra, Brigitte
23	Jul 2, 2020	Sep 3, 2020	Open Queue system re-implemented as a separate Competitive Play mode from Role Queue.
24	Sep 3, 2020	Nov 5, 2020	No Changes
25	Nov 5, 2020	Jan 7, 2021
26	Jan 7, 2021	Mar 9, 2021
27	Mar 9, 2021	May 6, 2021	Season was delayed by five days due to technical issues. The original start date was March 4th, 2021.
28	May 6, 2021	Jul 2, 2021	No Changes
29	Jul 2, 2021	Sep 2, 2021
30	Sep 2, 2021	Nov 4, 2021
31	Nov 4, 2021	Jan 6, 2022
32	Jan 6, 2022	Mar 3, 2022
TBA	TBA	Oct 4, 2022	Season was cut short for the release of Overwatch 2 and the shut down of Overwatch 1. Final season to grant comp points for each rank, as well as icons and sprays for the season and Top 500 rankings.

Overwatch 2
Season	Start Date	End Date	Notes
1	Oct 4, 2022	Dec 6, 2022	Competitive was significantly reworked, with new placements, rewards and ranking system. A map pool is listed but does not actually apply in game.
2	Dec 6, 2022	Feb 7, 2023	There are new, temporary Competitive title rewards for name cards based on your end of season rank You can only earn these titles at the end of the current Competitive season and can only use them in the season following Heroes that aren’t eligible for competitive play will have a lock icon in the Hero Gallery Implemented a group of matchmaking enhancements to improve match quality Minor polish improvements to the competitive play UI flow New hero, Ramattra, won’t be available in competitive for 2 weeks
3	Feb 7, 2023	Apr 11, 2023	Skill tiers and divisions will adjust after every 5 wins or 15 losses and ties (formerly 7 wins or 20 losses and ties) Players can select the "View Competitive Progress" button from the Competitive menu to view their progress toward receiving a rank update Mid-season patch updated the Competitive Play menu with buttons that will allow players to easily access the tier legend, leaderboard, and competitive progress screens. As of mid-season patch, players in Top 500 will now also see an animated update of their current position on the leaderboard after each match.
4	Apr 11, 2023	Jun 13, 2023	Players will now be required to win 25 Competitive matches before being eligible to enter the Top 500 leaderboard for a specific role, queue, or region. The start of a new Competitive season no longer fully resets the severity of suspensions and bans. The number of Competitive Points (CP) rewarded for a win in Competitive Play has been changed from 15 to 25 and season end rewards adjusted. Separated Open and Role Queue challenge titles. Average match rank is displayed in the initial loading screen. All seasonal rank decay removed; Player’s skill tier and division at the beginning of Season 4 will now closely match the matchmaker’s estimate of your current skill. Competitive progress and Competitive update screens will now include information about a player’s losses and ties as well as their wins. Competitive Update screen will also now provide players with an indication of their current percentage progress within a skill division.
5	Jun 13, 2023	Aug 10, 2023	Players that do not participate in Competitive Play will be marked inactive. Inactive player do not have visible rank, and each queue can become inactive separately. Improved how the matchmaker computes its initial skill estimation.
6	Aug 10, 2023	Oct 10, 2023	The number of wins required to appear on the Top 500 Leaderboard has been increased from 25 to 50. Added Player Title rewards for finishing the season ranked as Gold.
7	Oct 10, 2023	Dec 5, 2023	No changes
8	Dec 5, 2023	Feb 13, 2024	MMR Decay now only occurs for Competitive Play at the start of a new season. MMR Decay is not applied to roles that qualify for a rank. Example: A player that won five games and got a Competitive Update will not decay at the end of a season. If a player does not have a rank already who won three games and did not get a Competitive Update, that player will decay at the end of that season. If the player does have a rank, they only need to play one match in the season to keep their rank for the next season.
9	Feb 13, 2024	Apr 16, 2024	Major competitive update One time skill rank reset 10 Placement matches Competitive updates displayed after every match, showing modifiers that affected the amount of progress gained New rank above Grandmaster - Champion The versus screen now displays the range of ranks in the match New grouping requirements Bronze to Diamond - up to 5 player groups within 10 divisions Master - up to 5 player groups within 5 divisions Grandmaster - up to 5 player groups within 3 divisions Champion - up to 2 player groups within 3 divisions Yearly competitive seasons and reward weapons skins Season 2024 (Feb 2024 - Jan 2025): Jade weapons Competitive Points reworked 25 -> 10 per win New competitive progress meter: Complete 30 matches for 100, wins grant triple progress. Season end rewards removed Competitive Points are converted to legacy points at the end of the year, which can be used obtain previous reward skins (incl. golden)
10	Apr 16, 2024	Jun 20, 2024	Role-specific titles Wide and narrow group matchmaking. Competitive progress and Rank information view updates
11	Jun 20, 2024	Aug 20, 2024	Rank percentage now displayed on Competitive Progress screen Wide group matchmaking adjustments
12	Aug 20, 2024	Oct 15, 2024	Mid-year rank reset Completion of 10 placement matches required to be eligible to leaderboard in each role Predicted rank during placements now displayed to the player in any place that would normally show rank Predicted rank will be used in placements instead of automatically considering the group "Wide" Introducing Competitive Drives and Signatures
13	Oct 15, 2024	Dec 10, 2024	Requirements to appear on Top 500 leaderboard changed: Win requirement per season reduced from 50 to 25 Completing the "Seasoned Competitor" (750 lifetime wins) is now required to be eligible to the leaderboard. Wide and narrow groups and solo players are now matched in the same matchmaking pool in Competitive Open Queue.
14	Dec 10, 2024	Feb 18, 2025	No changes
15	Feb 18, 2025	Apr 22, 2025	Competitive year 2025 starts. Rank reset Remaining Competitive Points converted to Legacy Competitive Points. Introducing Galactic Weapons as the new Competitive Weapon Variants. Jade Weapons moved to Legacy rewards, purchasable with Legacy Competitive Points. End of season titles for Competitive Role Queue include the role the rank was achieved in. Competitive points can be manually converted to Legacy Competitive Points when purchasing Weapon Variants. Competitive Hero Portraits return with Overwatch 2's rank icons. Clash maps removed from Competitive Play map pool. 6v6 Open Queue testing begins, replacing 5v5 Open Queue during midseason.
16	Apr 22, 2025	Jun 24, 2025	Hero bans have been added to Competitive Play modes. 5v5 Open Queue officially replaced by 6v6 Open Queue.
17	Jun 24, 2025	Aug 26, 2025	Map Voting has been added to Unranked and Competitive Play modes.
18	Aug 26, 2025	Oct 14, 2025	Mid-year Rank and MMR soft reset, with readjusted rank distribution Addition of Hero SR
19	Oct 14, 2025	Dec 9, 2025	No changes.

Temporary game modes seasons

Overwatch
Mode	Season	Dates	Notes
Copa Lúcioball	1	Aug. 2017	Introduced with the Summer Games 2017 event.
Competitive CTF	1	Feb./Mar. 2018	Introduced with the Lunar New Year 2018 event.
Competitive 6v6 Elimination	1	Apr./May 2018	Was not part of an event.
Competitive Deathmatch	1	May/June 2018	Introduced with the Anniversary 2018 event.
Competitive 3v3 Group Elimination	1	June/July 2018	Was not part of an event. Introduced with the Looking For Group (LFG) feature. You had to be in a group of 3 players to be able to queue for the mode.
Copa Lùcioball	2	Aug. 2018	During the Summer Games 2018 event.
Competitive Team Deathmatch	1	Oct./Nov. 2018	Was not part of an event.
Competitive CTF	2	Jan./Feb. 2019	During the Lunar New Year 2019 event.
Competitive 6v6 Elimination	2	Mar./Apr. 2019	Was not part of an event.
Competitive Deathmatch	2	June/July 2019	Was not part of an event.
Copa Lùcioball	3	July/Aug. 2019	During the Summer Games 2019 event.
Competitive 3v3 Elimination	2	Oct./Nov. 2019	During the Halloween Terror 2019 event.
Competitive Team Deathmatch	2	Nov./Dec. 2019	Was not part of an event.
Competitive CTF	3	Jan./Feb. 2020	During the Lunar New Year 2020 event.
Competitive 6v6 Elimination	3	Mar./Apr. 2020	During the Archives 2020 event.
Competitive Open Queue	1	Apr. 2020	Was not part of an event.
Competitive Deathmatch	3	May/June 2020	During the Anniversary 2020 event.
Competitive Open Queue	2	June/July 2020	Was not part of an event. Is part of the main game now.
Competitive 3v3 Elimination	3	Sep./Oct. 2020	Was not part of an event.
Competitive Team Deathmatch	3	Oct./Nov. 2020	During the Halloween Terror 2020 event.

Overwatch 2
Mode	Season	Dates	Notes
Competitive CTF	2	Jan./Feb. 2023	Available for the latter half of Season 2.
Competitive Mystery Heroes	3	Mar. 2023	Available for the latter half of Season 3.
Competitive Deathmatch	4	May 2023	Available for the latter half of Season 4.
Competitive Mystery Heroes	5	June/July 2023	Available for the whole Season 5.
Competitive Mystery Heroes	5	July 2023	Available for the latter half of Season 5.
Competitive Mystery Heroes	6	Aug./Sep. 2023	Available for the whole Season 6.

Old grouping restrictions

Prior to Season 10, these were the previous grouping restrictions that had been in effect since Overwatch 2 released.

• Groups may only queue if all players in the group are within a certain range
  • Players ranked Diamond and below can only group within 2 skill tiers (10 divisions) of each other.
    • For example, a Bronze 5 player cannot play with a Gold 4 player.
  • Master players may only group within 1 skill tier (5 divisions).
  • Grandmaster and Champion players can only group within 3 divisions.
• Champion players may only queue solo or in a group consisting of two players.
• Players who have not completed their placement matches are unable to group with players ranked Diamond or higher.

Trivia

• In Custom Game only in Overwatch 2 Assault can be played with competitive rules. Players must capture both points to win the round. Point capture works like it does on Hybrid, with the rules for capturing the second point being identical to capturing the first (If players capture one point but capture none of the second, the enemy team can capture 1/3 or draw).
  • Only 30 seconds of additional time will be added to the attacking team if they successfully capture the first control point in the extra rounds, unlike the 3 minutes given in the initial rounds.

References

External links

• Developer Update | Let's Talk Competitive Play
• Welcome to Competitive Play
• Overwatch 2 tier list for Season 16

v · d · e Gameplay
Playlists	Unranked Competitive Play Stadium Arcade Custom Games Missions Training
Maps	Assault Clash Control Escort Flashpoint Hybrid Push
Heroes	Ability Health, Armor & Shields Melee Movement speed Passive ability (Global) Perks Ranged Roles (Sub-Roles) Ultimate ability Weapon
Mechanics	Channeled Damage modification Deployables (Barrier) Environmental kill Critical hit Healing Health pack Overtime Projectile Respawn Spawn Room Status effect Transformation
Systems & Content	Achievements Avoid as Teammate Battle Pass Challenges Cosmetics Elimination Feed Endorsements Events Loot Box Map Voting Matchmaking On Fire Penalties Ping Play of the Game Player Progression Quick Play: Hacked Scoreboard Tips Workshop
Other	Common Terms Patch Notes
Removed features	Sudden Death Card Medals Looking for Group Map Pools Priority Pass Assault Hero Mastery Hero Mastery: Gauntlet Hero Missions Talents