Competitive Play

Competitive Play is the ranked Play Mode of Overwatch. In this mode, players stay on the same team for a full attack/defense rotation. Players are unable to join another game if they leave their original match before it ends. Instead, the Play option on the main menu is replaced with a Rejoin Match option. In addition, continued leaving may result in being restricted from Competitive Play. Departed players are not backfilled.

Players must achieve level 25 before this mode is unlocked.

Scoring

• On Escort maps, the attacking team which escorts the payload the farthest wins. If both teams don't reach their destination, and both teams manage to move the payload the exact same distance or fail to move it at all, the match ends in a draw. Note that the furthest distance counts, even if the payload moves back. If both teams reach their 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 capture a given control point but makes at least 33.3% capture progress (equivalent to the first "tick" on the capture meter), then the second attacking team must exceed the first team's capture percentage (the highest progress made counts, even if it went back down). Otherwise, the second attacking team must reach at least 33.3% progress on that control point. 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 both teams capture the control point but then 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, time bank rules are used.
• Control maps are a best-of-three. Prior to Season 7, it was a best-of-five.

Time Bank

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

Escort Rules

If both teams have escorted the payload to the final objective, the game examines their remaining time:

• If both Team A and Team B have at least 120 seconds, then a new rotation begins. The team with the smallest amount of remaining time is taken back time to decrease their remaining time to 120 seconds, and the other team is also taken back the same amount of time.
• If both Team A and Team B have at least 60 seconds of time but both not greater than 120 seconds, then a new rotation begins with both teams playing a round on attack with their remaining time.
• If Team A has less than 60 seconds of time but greater than 0 seconds, and Team B has at least 60 seconds of time, then a new rotation begins. Team A is granted additional time to increase their remaining time to 60 seconds, and Team B is also granted the same amount of additional time to their bank.
• If either or both teams have less than 60 seconds remaining, then the team with the least remaining time is granted additional time to bring their new total to 60 seconds. The other team receives the same amount of added time. A new rotation then begins with both teams playing a round on attack with their remaining time.

Whenever a new map rotation starts, the team with the least time remaining starts the next rotation on attack.

For all time banked rotations, no bonus time is added when the payload reaches a checkpoint.

Assault Rules

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

• If both Team A and Team B have at least 120 seconds, then a new rotation begins. The team with the smallest amount of remaining time is taken back time to decrease their remaining time to 120 seconds, and the other team is also taken back the same amount of time.
• If both Team A and Team B have at least 60 seconds of time but both not greater than 120 seconds, then a new rotation begins with both teams playing a round on attack with their remaining time.
• If Team A has less than 60 seconds of time but greater than 0 seconds, and Team B has at least 60 seconds of time, then a new rotation begins. Team A is granted additional time to increase their remaining time to 60 seconds, and Team B is also granted the same amount of additional time to their bank.
• If both Team A and Team B have less than 60 seconds of time remaining, then a new rotation begins, but it is the final rotation for both teams—even in the rare case, a team could take both map objectives with out overtime. The team with the smallest amount of remaining time is granted additional time to increase their remaining time to 60 seconds, and the other team is also granted the same amount of additional time.
• If Team A has 0 remaining time, and team B has at least 60 seconds of time, then team B plays a final round on attack with their remaining time. If Team B reaches at least 33.3% progress on the first map objective during their remaining time, they win. If they do not, the match results in a DRAW.

Whenever a new map rotation starts and both teams are going to play, then the team with the least time remaining starts the next rotation on attack.

For all time banked rotations, when an attacking team takes the first map objective, they receive an additional 30 seconds.

Hybrid Rules

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

• If both Team A and Team B have at least 120 seconds, then a new rotation begins. The team with the smallest amount of remaining time is taken back time to decrease their remaining time to 120 seconds, and the other team is also taken back the same amount of time.
• If both Team A and Team B have at least 60 seconds of time but both not greater than 120 seconds, then a new rotation begins with both teams playing a round on attack with their remaining time.
• If Team A has less than 60 seconds of time but greater than 0 seconds, and Team B has at least 60 seconds of time, then a new rotation begins. Team A is granted additional time to increase their remaining time to 60 seconds, and Team B is also granted the same amount of additional time to their bank.
• If both Team A and Team B have less than 60 seconds of time remaining, then a new rotation begins. The team with the smallest amount of remaining time is granted additional time to increase their remaining time to 60 seconds, and the other team is also granted the same amount of additional time.
• If Team A has 0 remaining time, and team B has at least 60 seconds of time, then team B plays a final round on attack with their remaining time. If Team B reaches at least 33.3% progress on the first map objective during their remaining time, they win. If they do not, the match results in a DRAW.

Whenever a new map rotation starts and both teams are going to play, then the team with the least time remaining starts the next rotation on attack.

For all time banked rotations, no bonus time is added when a team takes the control point or the payload reaches a checkpoint.

Ranking

This article needs cleanup to meet quality standards. Please help improve this page if you can. The talk page may contain suggestions. Reason: "Move non-current information to a historic sub section. Add specifics on SR gain/loss, where available."

A player must complete five placement matches for each role - tank, damage, and support - to receive their ranks each season. The player's ranking is represented as a Skill Rating (SR) between 1 and 5000, with a higher number representing a higher level of skill. After each match, players will gain or lose a certain amount of SR. The amount gained or lost depends on several factors, including the difference between each team's average SR, the win rates of heroes on a given map, and individual performance. Players do not gain or lose any SR when a match ends in a draw.

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

Bronze - 1 - 1499 SR
Silver - 1500 - 1999 SR
Gold - 2000 - 2499 SR
Platinum - 2500 - 2999 SR
Diamond - 3000 - 3499 SR
Master - 3500 - 3999 SR
Grand-master - 4000+
File:Badge 8 Top 500.pngTop 500 - Among the 500 best players in that region

Starting from Season 6, 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. However, Competitive Points awarded at the end of a season will still be based on the highest tier earned that season. Additionally, players in Diamond, Master, and Grandmaster tiers that have not completed 5 matches in 7 days time will lose 25 SR every 24 hours, until they reach 3000 SR or complete the requisite number of matches. Playing a match now increases the time till decay by 36 hours. As of Season 18 SR decay was removed.

The following restrictions apply when entering Competitive as a group:

• The SR of each group member must be within 1000 (positive or negative) of all other group members ranked at Diamond or below, within 500 of all members ranked at Master or above and within 350 of all members ranked at Grandmaster.
• Players who have not completed their placement matches may not group up with any player at Diamond tier or above.

Top 500

At some point during each season, the Top 500 system starts. After that point, if a player manages to attain a Skill Rank in the top 500 of all ranked players within their region (PlayStation 4, Xbox and Nintendo Switch each count as a region) and has played 25 or more competitive games that season, they will achieve Heroic status (represented by a special icon), as well as a player icon and an animated spray.

Additional requirements for Top 500

As of patch 1.25.0.1 from June 26, 2018, PC players must have Blizzard SMS Protect enabled on their account to be eligible for the Top 500. It should also be noted that to be eligible, players need to play 25 competitive games after they have enabled SMS Protect.

Also, even though it isn't specified on any official source, players are required to be at least Diamond rank (minimum 3000 SR) to be eligible. This has been verified with the leaderboard from the Competitive Arcade modes.

Seasons

There are six competitive seasons per year in Overwatch. The length of a season began at two and a half months, with a two week offseason. Starting with Season 6, this has changed to a two month season with a few days offseason. At the end of every season, rewards are distributed based on the player's rank. At the beginning of each season, players must play a set of ten placement matches to calibrate their first rating.

Season	Start Date	End Date	Top 500 Start Date	Notes
1	Jun 28, 2016	Aug 17, 2016	Jul 26, 2016	Had a 1-100 skill rating scale, no tiers, and a Sudden Death system. During Sudden Death, another abbreviated round was played, with the attacking team chosen by a coin flip. The attackers had to capture or escort the payload to the first point within 1 minute and 45 seconds.
2	Sep 02, 2016	Nov 24, 2016	Sep 19, 2016
3	Dec 01, 2016	Feb 21, 2017
4	Feb 28, 2017	May 28, 2017
5	June 1, 2017	August 28, 2017
6	September 1, 2017	October 28, 2017		From now, seasons will have 2 month durations instead of 3 months.
7	November 1, 2017	December 29, 2017
8	Jan 1, 2018	Feb 25, 2018
9	Feb 28, 2018	Apr 28, 2018
10	May 1, 2018	July 1, 2018
11	July 02, 2018	Aug 28, 2018
12	August 31, 2018	October 28, 2018
13	November 1, 2018	December 31, 2018
14	January 1, 2019	February 28, 2019
15	March 1, 2019	April 29, 2019
16	May 1, 2019	June 30, 2019
17	June 30, 2019	Aug 13, 2019
18	Sep 3, 2019	Nov 7, 2019		After a beta season Role Queue is introduced.
19	Nov 9, 2019	Jan 2, 2020		Limited map pools is introduced. 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 pools is introduced, changing weekly. Limited map pools are removed on Apr 14. Map pool (until Apr 14): 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 pool (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 9, 2020 (Not Comfirmed)		Hero pools no longer apply to matches below 3500 SR. Hero pools are also now determined "based on usage from the Overwatch League" when in season, and "Top 500, Grandmaster, et cetera" when not in season. Hero pool (bans): May 4 - May 10: Reinhardt, Ashe, Reaper, Brigitte May 11 - May 17: Orisa, Mei, Tracer, Moira

Arcade modes seasons

Starting with Copa Lùcioball, introduced with the Summer Games 2017 event, Blizzard started adding Competitive Arcade modes from time to time. Usually the season for a Competitive Arcade mode lasts about 3 weeks.

The rewards for Competitive Arcade modes differ from those from regular Competitive. 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.

It should be noted that Blizzard has never released exact end dates for the seasons. When accompanying an event, the season should end when the event ends, however when no event is involved, the end date is not known (but is usually about 3 weeks after the start of the season, often when the "Arcade Lootboxes" reset and Arcade modes are changed).

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.

Rewards

See Competitive Points

Eligible Maps

For Competitive Play only, certain Maps are ineligible for play, as given by the developers.

As of the 14 Apr 2020, Paris and Horizon Lunar Colony are not eligible to be played in competitive modes pending map design changes.

Trivia

• In Season 1, one competitive point was rewarded for each win. With the start of Season 2, all awarded competitive points were multiplied by 10, as well as the prices for Golden Weapons, to allow for partial rewards in the case of ties.

External links

• Developer Update | Let's Talk Competitive Play
• Welcome to Competitive Play