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Competitive Play is the ranked Play Mode of Overwatch. In this mode, players are matched with others of similar skill level that is of greater accuracy than the matchmaking system in Quick Play. It is a more serious game mode where players compete in order to rank up. Competitive Play will have each team take turns attacking and defending until the match is decided.

Players must achieve level 25 before this game mode is unlocked.


Role Queue vs Open Queue

When a player selects Competitive Play from the menu, they are given two types of matches to queue into: Role Queue and Open Queue.

  • Role Queue matches impose a team composition of two Tanks, Damage, and Support heroes. Players select a role they wish to queue up for, and can queue up for multiple roles should they choose. Once a match has been found for the player's selected role, they are only allowed to select heroes in that role for the entire match (i.e. if a player is given the Damage role in a match, they cannot play as any Tank or Support heroes).
  • Open Queue matches do not restrict a team to have a specific number of heroes from each role. Players can select a hero from any role and are allowed to switch roles mid-game.
  • Prior to Season 18, all Competitive Play matches were Open Queue. Open Queue was replaced by Role Queue in Season 18, but was re-introduced in Season 23.

Scoring

  • On Escort maps, the attacking team which escorts the payload the farthest wins. If both teams manage to move the payload the exact same distance without reaching the destination or fail to move it at all, the match ends in a draw. Note that the furthest distance the payload has been moved is what counts, even if the payload moves back. If both teams reach the destination, a new rotation is played using the time bank rules.
  • On Assault maps, the attacking team which captures the most control points and/or makes the most progress on capturing a control point wins. If the first attacking team does not fully capture a control point but makes at least 33.3% capture progress, the second attacking team must exceed the first team's capture progress in order to win. If neither team reaches at least 33.3% capture progress on the same control point or if both teams reach the exact same capture percentage (<100%) on the same control point, the match ends in a draw. If both teams capture both control points, a new rotation is played using time bank rules.
  • On Hybrid maps, the attacking team which achieves the most capture progress on the control point and/or escorts the payload the farthest wins. If neither team reaches at least 33.3% capture progress on the control point, if both teams reach the exact same capture percentage (<100%) on the control point, or if both teams capture the control point but manage to move the payload the exact same distance or fail to move it at all, the match ends in a draw. If both teams escort the payload to its destination, a new rotation is played using the time bank rules.
  • Control maps are a best-of-three and has the same rules as Quick Play. Prior to Season 6, it used to be a best-of-five.

Time Bank Rules (Extra Rounds)

If a match is tied after both teams have played on attack and defense, a new attack and defense rotation will start using the time bank system.

Escort Time Bank Rules

If both teams have escorted the payload to the destination, the game examines their remaining time before starting a new rotation:

  • If both teams have 120 seconds or more left, the team with the smaller amount of remaining time has their time decreased to 120 seconds and the other team's remaining time is decreased the same amount. (i.e. if team A has 165 seconds and team B has 250 seconds after a full rotation, Team A's time bank is reduced by 45 seconds for a total of 120 seconds, and Team B's time bank is also reduced by 45 seconds for a total of 205 seconds).
  • If both teams have between 60 seconds and 119 seconds left, no changes are made to either team's time bank.
  • If team A's has between 0 seconds and 59.9 seconds left while team B has 60 seconds or more, team A is granted additional time to increase their remaining time to 60 seconds and team B is granted the same amount to their time bank. This rule also applies if both teams have between 0 seconds and 59.9 seconds remaining. (i.e. if team A has 20 seconds and team B has 150 seconds after a full rotation, team A's time bank is increased by 40 seconds for a total of 60 seconds, while team B's time bank is also increased by 40 seconds for a total of 190 seconds).

Whenever a new rotation starts, the team with the least time remaining starts the next rotation on attack. No additional time will be added when the payload reaches a checkpoint in the extra rounds.

Assault and Hybrid Time Bank Rules

If a match is tied after both teams have played on attack and defense, the game examines their remaining time before starting a new rotation:

  • If both teams have 120 seconds or more left, the team with the smaller amount of remaining time has their time decreased to 120 seconds and the other team's remaining time is decreased the same amount.
  • If both teams have between 60 seconds and 119 seconds left, no changes are made to either team's time bank.
  • If team A's has between 0.1 seconds and 59.9 seconds while team B has 60 seconds or more, team A is granted additional time to increase their remaining time to 60 seconds and Team B is granted the same amount to their time bank. This rule also applies if both teams have between 0.1 seconds and 59.9 seconds remaining.
  • If team A has no remaining time but team B has 60 seconds or more left, no changes are made to either team's time bank and only team B will proceed to play an attacking round. If team B reaches at least 33.3% progress on the first capture point with their remaining time, they win. If they do not, the match results in a draw.
  • If neither team has any remaining time, both teams are given 60 seconds and a new rotation begins.

Whenever a new rotation starts, the team with the least remaining time starts the next rotation on attack. In Assault maps, only 30 seconds of additional time will be added to the attacking team if they successfully capture point A in the extra rounds, unlike the 3 minutes given in the initial rotation. No additional time will be added after capturing a checkpoint in Hybrid maps.

Ranking

For each competitive season, a player must play five placement matches for each role to receive a rank in Role Queue mode, and ten for Open Queue.

When a player participates in their first placement match for the season, their last competitive rank is used regardless of how long ago that rank is from. If the player has never participated in a Competitive Play match before, their performance from Quick Play and Arcade modes will be used to find a match.

After completing the placement matches, a numerical value that denotes a player's skill called Skill Rating (SR) will be assigned to the player. SR ranges from 1 to 5000, with a higher number representing a higher level of skill. Players are assigned independent SR for each role in Role Queue.

Alongside the 1 - 5000 SR value, players are assigned tiers depending on their SR which is publicly displayed on their portrait:

Badge 1 Bronze Bronze - 1 - 1499 SR
Badge 2 Silver Silver - 1500 - 1999 SR
Badge 3 Gold Gold - 2000 - 2499 SR
Badge 4 Platinum Platinum - 2500 - 2999 SR
Badge 5 Diamond Diamond - 3000 - 3499 SR
Badge 6 Master Master - 3500 - 3999 SR
Badge 7 Grandmaster Grandmaster - 4000+
Badge 8 Top 500 Top 500 - Given to players that have the 1st to 500th highest SR in their respective region (Americas. Asia, Europe) and platform (PC, PS4, XBox, Switch). This tier only becomes available two weeks after the start of a season, and the player must have completed at least 25 competitive matches for that season to be eligible. For PC players only, they must also have Blizzard SMS Protect enabled.

After each match, a certain amount of SR is granted if a player's team wins, and the reverse happens in a loss. The amount gained or lost depends on several factors, including the difference between the average SR of the teams, the win rates of heroes on a given map, and for players ranked Platinum and below: individual performance. Players do not gain or lose any SR if a match ends in a draw.

Players in Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond will be moved into lower skill tiers if they cannot maintain the minimum skill rating for that tier over five games, while players in Master and Grandmaster will be immediately moved into lower skill tiers if they fail to maintain the minimum skill rating for that tier.

Players are allowed to participate in Competitive Play as a group, though the following restrictions will be applied:

  • For Diamond and below, the SR of all group members must be within 1000 of each other. This SR range is reduced to 500 for Master players, and 350 for Grandmaster players.
  • Grandmaster and Top 500 players may only form a group consisting of two players.
  • Players who have yet to complete their placement matches are not allowed to group with players ranked Diamond or higher.

Suspensions

As this mode exists to players wanting a more serious experience of Overwatch, harsher punishments 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 be temporarily suspended from Competitive Play, with repeated offenses extending the duration of the suspension until an eventual permanent ban from the game mode.

Rewards

After every competitive match, players are awarded 20 Competitive Points for each win and 10 for each draw.

When a season is concluded, players who have completed their placement matches are rewarded a player icon and a spray that are unique to each season, and players who reached Top 500 at any point during the season are given an additional player icon and an animated spray. In addition, additional Competitive Points depending on the highest rank they achieved, with more points rewarded to higher ranks.

Seasons

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
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
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
15 Mar 1, 2019 May 1, 2019 Off-season removed. Henceforth the following season begins immediately after the previous season ends.
16 May 1, 2019 Jun 30, 2019
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, McCree, 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, McCree, Widowmaker, Brigitte
  • Apr 20 - Apr 26: Orisa, Echo, Tracer, Moira
  • Apr 27 - May 3: Wrecking Ball, McCree, 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 implemented.
24 Sep 3, 2020 Nov 5, 2020
25 Nov 5, 2020 Jan 7, 2021
26 Jan 7, 2021 Mar 9, 2021
27 Mar 9, 2021 Season was delayed by five days due to technical issues. The original start date was March 4th, 2021.

Arcade modes seasons

Starting with Copa Lùcioball introduced with the Summer Games 2017 event, Blizzard sporadically added Competitive Arcade modes. The duration of a Competitive Arcade mode season is usually three weeks long.

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 less Competitive Points per win and less Competitive Points for your rank at the end of the season.

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.

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