Flashpoint

Flashpoint is a game mode in Overwatch 2, released in Season 6. It is available in both Unranked and Competitive playlists.

Gameplay

An example of Flashpoint topography

The maps featured in Flashpoint are larger than those in any other mode. In this mode, teams fight for control of key positions across the map called "flashpoints," aiming to capture three of them before their opponents do. A team must capture three flashpoints to win. As soon as one flashpoint is captured, the next one becomes active. There are a total of five flashpoints, and the first flashpoint is always the one in the center of the map. The flashpoints function similarly to control points from Control game mode.

Flashpoints

At the start of the match, there is a 30 second timer until the first flashpoint unlocks. Thereafter, once a point is captured there is a 40 second delay before the next flashpoint unlocks.

When a point opens the teams must first fight to gain control of the point before they can start to capture it. To gain control a team must exclusively occupy the objective for a period of time. In other words, they must remove all enemy team's players from the objective to fill the meter, as it will be paused if both teams' players are on the objective. Taking control of a point unobstructed takes 8 seconds with one player on the objective. Having more players on the objective speeds up gaining control, with 2 players increasing the rate by 50% and 3 or more player by 100%, resulting in 5.33 seconds and 4 seconds respectively. The time to take control is the same whether the objective is neutral or controlled by the enemy.

Once a team has gained control of the point they start to gain capture progress. It takes 70 seconds to go from 0% to 100%, which equals to a capture rate of ~1.43% per second. The capture progress is unaffected by how many players remain in the area and continues even if the team has no players in the area. To prevent the capture, the opposing team must try to gain the control of the point from the team that is currently capturing it in the same manner as before. While the opposing team tries to gain control of the objective, the currently defending team will continue to gain capture progress until the opposing team takes control of the objective. If any attacking team's players have entered the area within 3 seconds prior of the capture progress hitting 99% (approximately after 94.7%), the point will enter overtime, and the defending team must clear all the attackers from the point before they can score the capture.

Once the capture is successful, the next flashpoint will be selected and it unlocks after a delay. The first flashpoint will always be the one at the center of the map, and thereafter the next point is chosen at random from any areas that have not been previously selected. When a new flashpoint is selected, the teams' spawn rooms may be moved, depending on its location.

Spawn Room Speed Boost

Beginning with Season 12, spawn point exits have been equipped with speed buff pads that grant a brief movement boost, with the duration of the buff varying depending on which flashpoint & spawn room is active. When player walks through the exit, they gain a brief 70% speed buff for 2 seconds, with a 30% lingering buff for 1 to 4 seconds, totaling a maximum of 6 seconds. This buff stacks with other speed boosts, but does not break the global movement speed buff cap of 75%. This boost is removed when a player takes damage, deals damage, or enters the spawn room, so the buff can only be gained by exiting the spawn room.

Maps

Flashpoint is playable on the following maps:

• New Junk City
• Suravasa

Upcoming maps

• Aatlis (Coming in Season 17)

Development

One of the top goals when designing Flashpoint was to make sure each control point was balanced and fair. To achieve this, all control point areas have a symmetrical layout, from the same amount of entrances and cover to same run times from the teams' spawn rooms. However, as the next control point unlocks in a different location, which could be all the way across the map, the situation becomes less symmetrical. The maps are also by far the largest PvP maps in the game. As such, one of the challenges was to make sure that players can recognize where they currently are on the map and where they are supposed to go. To make it easier for players to orient themselves, huge landmarks were added around key locations that would be visible from anywhere on the map.

One of the driving factors for the flashpoint mode was to promote map knowledge, which the development team considers one of the core skills in FPS games. The maps being on the larger side causes the learning curve to be longer, as there are various routes the player can take and has to learn which are more optimal for rotation in the given situation. Another reason was that the team recognized that there are rather limited in ways they can make the gameplay feel different just by making a new map for an existing game mode. For example, with Escort, all maps are very linear, cut into 3 sections and have the same choke points and run-back times from spawn. So, developing new game modes is also essential to create whole new experiences to the playerbase in the future.

Given the size of Flashpoint maps, there are more opportunities than usual to pack in theming and narrative. This resulted in various unique looking locations being displayed. Regardless, with the principle of "gameplay first" in mind, the art team worked hard with other teams in order to support these aspects and avoid causing distractions or performance issues.

Originally, flashpoints unlocked in random order. This was changed so that the central flashpoint is always the first one to activate.

Trivia

• The game mode is similar to Hardpoint from Call of Duty series. due to:
  • Starts in the central area and lasts until certain scenario happens and then transfers to another area.
  • Both teams who has the highest point wins.