Attempting to dive into Overwatch 2’s Competitive Play can be pretty daunting in itself, so trying to get those wins and rise on the Competitive Rank ladder can be quite tricky to do at times. Luckily, after spending countless hours in Comp, I’ve reviewed the tips and tricks that have contributed to helping me climb an additional four Ranks higher than where I was when I began and become much better at the game in general. Here are our top 10 tips for Climbing Ranks in Overwatch 2’s Competitive Play.
Focus on Critiquing Your Own Mistakes, Not the Mistakes of Others
Overwatch 2 is a team-based game, making it highly convenient and easy to blame your teammates for your mistakes. This happens across all roles with exclamations from players such as “I’m getting zero healing,” “My DPS isn’t doing damage,” and “My Tank isn’t creating any space.” Don’t fall into the trap of blaming your deaths on others. Instead, focus on your mistake and why your team may not have been able to help you at that moment.
Perhaps your Supports are being harassed by the enemy, or you’re out of their line of sight. Your Tank may also need help picking off a character before they can make space. These situations occur a lot in-game, so recognizing them is crucial. However, even if your allies make the occasional wrong decision, it’s best not to focus on this, as you can’t fix other people’s mistakes. Instead, focus on improving your own play and doing everything you can to ensure your positioning and playmaking favor yourself and your teammates.
Focus on Improving Your Play With a Select Pool of Heroes Instead of Trying to Master the Entire Roster
With 37 Heroes on the Overwatch Roster, learning to play every one of them to a high level is extremely challenging and not worth wasting time trying to achieve. While you should have at least a basic idea of how all Heroes function for counter-picking purposes, trying to play them all will hinder your skill levels on a Hero. Instead, pick out a selection of Heroes, perhaps a couple in each role, that you’re best at playing, and aim to further improve your skills with these Heroes.
When picking out your characters, you’ll want a little variety to cover most of your bases. For example, If you’re a projectiles player on DPS, perhaps consider making one of your other heroes a hitscan, so you can deal with the nuisance of skilled fliers. On Tank, if you’re a big Dive-Tank player on heroes such as Hammond or D.Va, try picking up a Main Tank like Reinhardt or Sigma for situations where Dive isn’t viable. In doing so, you’ll find it much easier to counter-pick if there’s a suitable Hero you’re already proficient with.
Learn How to Counter-Pick When Needed & Know When to Switch Off Your Hero
Learning how to counter-pick the opposition is crucial to Competitive Play in Overwatch 2. From my experience, games become so much easier to navigate once you recognize how to counter and shut down the enemy team. Do they have fliers that are getting free picks? Time to go a hitscan. Is your team getting swarmed and picked when you dive in? Switching to a Main Tank that can better defend them is best. Are you struggling to keep your heals going through heavy damage? Perhaps you’d have an easier time on a Support with higher healing output.
This all comes down to your judgment, which means it’s also very important, perhaps even more so, to realize when your first choice of Hero isn’t working. If you’re being stopped in your tracks, hard countered, or your choice simply isn’t benefitting the team, knowing when to switch to someone else in your Hero pool can completely stop the enemy’s momentum and change the potential outcome of the game.
Spend Time Learning the Layout, Spawn and Health Pack Locations on Unfamiliar Maps
I’ve been there, you’ve been there, heck, even the pro players have been there at times. Getting lost on an unfamiliar map is no uncommon occurrence in Overwatch 2, especially now that new maps are being added more frequently. However, knowing each map inside and out will give you a considerable advantage in the game and help improve your overall game sense and survivability.
To learn new maps and explore at your own pace, you can simply load up a Custom Game, select the map you’d like to explore and enter it solo as an empty lobby. This will allow you to choose any hero and explore as you’d like. I recommend using high-mobility characters such as Lucio, Wrecking Ball, D.Va, Doomfist, and Soldier: 76 to learn maps, as you can even practice rollouts for these specific heroes and dashing or sprinting to health pack locations, which is valuable knowledge for when it comes to playing live games on that map.
Stop Fixating on the Matchmaking System & Ranks of Others
So many players fall into the trap of fixating on Overwatch 2’s matchmaking system. While the system has undoubtedly had flaws along the way, worrying too much about other players’ Ranks is a negative mindset that can interfere with your gameplay. Sure, it can be daunting to see ‘Diamond Role Challenger’ show up in your Silver lobbies, but it’s best to remember that just because a player has Diamond on one role, it doesn’t make them Diamond level across all roles.
Chances are, they’re the same as you when it comes to mechanical skill and may only have an advantage in terms of game sense and ult tracking, as higher-elo players tend to adapt to have. Besides, it’s natural for the matchmaking system to put you in slightly more difficult or higher-ranked lobbies from time to time to determine where you sit during your climb, especially if you’re getting close to hitting a new rank.
Accept That You Won’t Win Every Match & Some Players Will Just Be Better Than You
This one can be hard to acknowledge for many, as there’s always something else you could try to blame your losses on — your teammates, cheaters, smurfs, the map, etc. However, if you go into Competitive with the expectation of a few struggling matches and losses, you should have a much easier time just leaving those bad matches behind and moving on to your next win. While you may have some easy games where you roll the other team, you should always be ready and expecting to be on the other side in future matches.
Simply put, you should know you can’t win them all. Hell, you may even go on a losing streak or move down in Rank occasionally. It’s essential to recognize that this is all part of the game, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting worse or not pulling your weight at your elo. One Season, I even went down several Divisions, only to move right back up and beyond, hitting a new peak two entire Ranks higher than I had previously been.
Play to Live, Not to Secure As Many Kills As Possible
Once again, we’ve all been there. The rest of your team is dead, and you know you can get just one more kill, then die and respawn. Well…don’t. Instead, it’s better to escape while you can instead of going back in for that extra kill. Because there’s a lot of shooting in Overwatch, you can often forget it’s an objective-based game (hence all the hilarious and unbelievable C9s we’ve all witnessed).
You may get a little more Ult by staying and getting that extra kill. Charge, but you’re also feeding the enemy-free Ult. Charge when they inevitably pick you off and delay your respawn, which means your team has to wait even longer for you to catch up with them before going back in. Once you start playing to live and playing for each team fight, as opposed to just playing to kill, you should see massive improvements in how the game plays out for you and even an improvement in your game sense, which goes a very long way.
Remember to Always Regroup with Your Team
Regrouping is a massive key to winning team fights in Overwatch 2, and if you’re not regrouping with your team every fight, you need to start; there’s no argument against it. If you don’t regroup with your team and go in alone, you’re essentially a free kill to the enemy and force your team to enter the next fight as a 4v5, which will not often work out in your favor.
There are times when going in alone may be needed, such as to contest a control point or payload in Overtime, but apart from that, you should make it your primary objective to group up for every fight and enter as a team. This is now made even more accessible, thanks to Overwatch 2’s new Spawn Room mechanics, so there aren’t even any excuses for not doing so anymore. Trust me, and get in the habit because it will make all the difference.
Track Enemy Ultimates / Abilities & Use Your Own to Counter
This one can be a tricky habit to get the hang of, but as you do, you’ll find yourself with a much better understanding of the game and more game sense regarding how to counter and bait out specific Ultimates and abilities. Tracking is a huge part of Competitive play and allows you to bait out the enemy’s counter-Ults or force them to waste these in certain situations. You can judge the enemy’s Ult charge based on both your own charge and the last time they used their Ult.
For example, if you’re engaged in a Rein vs. Rein duel with 95% Ult Charge, and the enemy Rein shattered before you in the last team fight, he will very likely have his Ult again. Once you recognize this, you can fake your own Shatter to bait him into using his, then block with your shield and hit the enemy with a huge counter Shatter. This is just one of many circumstances, but it reinforces how vital Ult tracking can be at every level and Rank of the game.
Stop Any Flaming Habits, It’s a Bigger Issue Than You Think.
This last tip is a short and sweet reminder that flaming and toxic chat will get you nowhere in Overwatch. If you’re feeling frustrated with yourself, your team, or the enemy, it’s best to take a break from the game and, in classic gamer lingo, touch some grass. Flaming your team and stirring problems in both text chat and voice chat will do nothing to benefit your team or yourself and only results in making yourself look like a total ass.
If you struggle to hold back, you can even turn off the chat options. I’m begging you, gamers, don’t make a name for yourself as that toxic guy or gal; Competitive Play isn’t the end of the world. All you’re fighting for is a tiny pixel icon with a number on a screen.
That’s it for our top 10 tips for climbing Ranks in Overwatch 2’s Competitive Play. Don’t forget to check out the rest of our content here at Twinfinite for plenty more lists, guides, and news, covering your favorite Overwatch heroes and villains.