Tips, Tricks, and Secrets
While it may appear that Overwatch 2's PvP is incredibly similar to its predecessor, dozens of subtle (and not so subtle) changes to Overwatch 2. Between the new Push Mode, new 5v5 team composition, or recent character reworks, there is a lot to keep track of. Here are some tips and tricks to ease you into this new era of Overwatch.
For more on the changes to Overwatch 2, be sure to check out the Overwatch vs Overwatch 2 Major Changes page.
Gameplay Tips
No matter your preferred hero or role, keep these tips in mind when hopping into Overwatch 2 for the first time:
- Use the new ping system to your advantage. Whether you prefer to use Team Voice Chat or keep your peace, Overwatch 2's new ability to ping enemy positions is a much faster and more effective means of communicating than your standard callout. Don't forget to change your "ping" keybind in the "Controls" menu if the preset version isn't comfortable or easy to use in your setup.
- Learn the new map layouts by creating your own Custom Game. If you find yourself walking straight past "Point A" in Midtown on Defense, walking around these new maps without a timer or an enemy team impeding you will help you get a lay of the land. You can change the active map in Custom Games under Settings.
- If you are eager to try out Sojourn, Junker Queen, and Kiriko without getting grief from your teammates for trying out a new hero, give them a spin in the Practice Range. It's not quite the same as playing against actual people, but you can enter the Practice Range while in the queue to get a feel for their abilities.
- Play Open Queue. You might be a Damage main through-and-through, but with Overwatch 2's new 5v5 team composition, you will want to try your hand at every Role to truly understand the new team dynamic.
- Assign buttons and keybinds to your Communications wheel. "Comms" were expanded in Overwatch and you will find them just as useful in Overwatch 2. You can find more options under the "Additional Communications" section of the "Controls" menu. You can even customize your Communications menu by selecting the dropdown on any of the eight Communication slots.
- Pay attention to damage indicators. When struck by enemy fire, a "bleeding" effect appears on the side of your screen in the direction it came from. The look of this effect has changed slightly in Overwatch 2, but it still gives you a good clue to enemy positions you might not have seen at first.
- It can feel very pressing to get back to the objective pronto, especially when trying out the new Push Mode. Be wary of "staggering", or trickling out of the spawn room one by one rather than grouping up to make a solid push.
- Health packs are your friends, especially if you prefer to play Damage heroes. Learning the placement of both "mini" and "large" health packs on the new Overwatch 2 maps is crucial.
- Try not to "overextend" past your Support's sightlines if you are not actively flanking. In the heat of the fight, it can be tempting to give chase, but just know that if you cannot see your Supports, they also cannot see (or heal) you.
- Coordinate Ultimate usage with the rest of your team. This can be tricky if you are not using Voice Chat, but you can announce your "Ultimate Status" by assigning a key or button in the "Controls" menu. Overwatch 2's new Scoreboard also displays all your teammates' current Ultimate Statuses, so check your Scoreboard frequently.
Role Tips
With a new 5v5 team composition in PvP and plenty of new changes to heroes, keep these things in mind for each Role:
Support Tips
Tracking the enemy team's Ultimate usage can give you a huge leg up. Not only is this important for Supports who have damage mitigating Ultimates (such as Lucio's Sound Barrier) which can be effectively canceled by certain enemy Ultimates, but at the end of the day, Overwatch 2 is a numbers game.
If you and your team use all your Ultimates to get the Team Kill and secure "Point A", the next fight you will not have any Ultimates left to mitigate the enemy team's Ultimates.
With the Support Role's new regenerative healing passive ability, you have a little more survivability. However, this passive self-healing does not match the output of a second healer, so do not rely on it too heavily. Instead, use cover to your advantage to regain some health while in an active team fight.
Tank Tips
In Overwatch 2, Tanks now receive a passive ability that reduces the amount of "knockback" they receive. This makes it much easier for you to plow forward into the enemy line and "create space" for your Damage heroes while creating cover for your Supports.
As much as shielding your teammates and getting kills is important, the most crucial part of playing Tank is "creating space". This can essentially mean intimidating your enemy into moving back so you and your team can push forward, or using your own "knockback" abilities to push enemies out of position, making them easy targets for your Damage heroes.
Damage Tips
Stay focused on a single target. Maintaining focus on an enemy player not just by yourself, but as a whole team, is the difference between getting a Team Kill or losing the objective.
Besides, Overwatch 2 gives Damage heroes a new Passive ability that gives you a boost in movement and reload speed whenever you get an elimination. Concentrating on one target and getting the kill gives you the advantage you need to reposition or even retreat if things get too sticky. This temporary buff to movement speed is especially crucial to Damage heroes that excel in flanking.
Do not be afraid to switch between Damage heroes early on in the match, depending on the enemy team's composition or if you feel something is just not working.
Tips for Push Mode
Overwatch 2's newest PvP mode is a bit of a spin from the classic Escort. In Push Mode, your team and the enemy team compete to maintain control of a Robot (TS1) for the duration of the match.
How to Play Push Mode:
After the first thirty seconds of the match, the Robot becomes active. There are two Barricades located by the Robot's start location. Depending on which team won control, the Robot will begin pushing that team's Barricade in the direction of the enemy team's spawn.
While pushing the Barricade, the Robot moves much slower. However, if at any point on the journey to the end of the route the Robot is retaken, it will walk at a much faster pace until it reaches the other Barricade. Whenever control of the Robot is swapped, the respective Barricade the Robot was pushing remains exactly where the Robot left it.
You have ten minutes to escort the Robot while it pushes your Barricade to the end of the route. If neither team succeeds in this, at the end of the ten minutes, whichever team pushed the Robot the farthest distance is declared the winner.
The game can go into Overtime if the Robot is currently being contested at the ten-minute mark, or if the team with control at the ten-minute mark has less distance traveled than their rival.
Here are some tips to keep in mind while playing the new Push mode:
- Try to keep at least one or two teammates on the Robot at all times. The new Push maps have lots of side corridors and alternate passageways for flankers to reach the main route the Robot travels, so keep an eye out for sneaky attacks from behind.
- Tanks and Damage heroes can push forward after retaking the Robot to cut off enemies returning from spawn early. The objective of Push is essentially to run up the timer as much as possible while you are in control, so the longer you can distract the enemy team, the farther your Robot will travel.
- Prioritize staying grouped up over getting back to the Robot. Like any mode in Overwatch 2, it is better to make a push as a full team than attempt to contest the Robot in a 1v5 fight.
- Speed is key, so consider choosing heroes for Push with high mobility, such as Lucio, Hammond, or Tracer.
- As a Damage hero, always look for flanking opportunities. Taking the opportunity to learn the new Push maps can help you memorize routes to get behind enemy lines as they escort the Robot and still be able to make a quick escape whenever needed.
- Taking the first checkpoint is crucial. Coordinate a solid first push with your team to get the Robot and the Barricade to the first checkpoint location, and you will unlock a much better spawn. This gives you a huge advantage to coordinate team pushes in order to recontest.
Secrets
- The champagne bottles in Monaco are labeled as originating from Petra, an Arcade map inspired from the real-life ancient city located in southern Jordan.
- On the Midtown map, you can see a timetable in Grand Central Station with departures for various other Overwatch 2 maps. That includes Blizzard World, which is noted not only as being delayed but being a part of the “Deeprun Tram”. This is a reference to Deeprun Tram in World of Warcraft, an underground tram system that runs from Stormwind City to Ironforge.
- Behind Club Sinestestia on the Paraiso map, you can not only find Lucio’s personal sound mixing station but a collection of his award-winning albums with album art that references some very froggy memes.
- The two starting spawn rooms in Colosseo Push maps are modeled after the Pantheon in Rome, but the Latin above the doors on both reads “Laris Maximus” and “Galleria Imperial”. The former Latin only translates to “home of Maximus”, one of the gladiators advertised around the Colosseo.
- Some of the Hyper-rail signs in Esperanca note “Atlantic Arcology” as a destination among other Overwatch 2 maps. The timetable in Grand Central Station of Midtown also mentions Atlantic Arcology, potentially hinting that this could be a new upcoming map in future Battle Pass seasons.
- The Tom Beansons shop and signs in the new Toronto-inspired New Queen Street map are likely a reference to the beloved Canadian chain, Tim Hortons.