Overwatch 2 competitive rank distributionexplained

Publish date: 2024-07-12

Overwatch 2 is a first-person shooter action game that was developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. The game was released as a sequel to Blizzard’s very famous FPS Overwatch. It is a team-based first-person shooter that allows players to pick between 3 classes. The 3 classes are Tank, DPS and Healer/Support. The default setup for a competitive Overwatch 2 match is 1 tank, 2 DPS and 2 Healers.

With the release of Overwatch 2, the game’s player base is at an all-time high. With the game being free-to-play, the player base is in millions. Giving the existing players of Overwatch the nostalgic experience from the earlier game has retained the old player base. Loads of new changes fill Overwatch 2, ranging from new heroes to newer maps and new game modes. But some things are still constant, like the competitive rank distribution system. Let’s take a dive into explaining what the Overwatch 2 Competitive Rank Distribution is all about!

Related: Overwatch 2 on PS4 vs PS5: Which console provides better graphics?

Overwatch 2 competitive rank distribution system

With Season 4 of Overwatch 2 rolling in, Blizzard has introduced some changes and additions to the ranked aspect of the game. The developers have removed competitive rank decay meaning that rank will no longer decrease over time if not played. They have also introduced a system of letting players know when they are about to rank up. Overwatch 2 has 2 ranked modes, the role queue and the open queue, both of which require players to either play 50 matches or have owned Overwatch 1 previously.

Role queue means that the game locks the team composition to default that is 1 tank 2 DPS and 2 healers. Players can only pick characters from the role that they have initially queued for. However, it is possible to queue for multiple roles at once. Open queue means that the game does not lock it into the default composition so players are free to pick any character that they like. For example, all 5 players can pick tank or DPS. However, this is very inefficient as Overwatch 2 is a team-based game and highly depends on team composition.

All Ranks available in Overwatch 2

Overwatch 2 has a total of seven ranks split up into 7 medals, each of which represent a rank. A rank in the game consists of five divisions after which they advance to the higher rank. For example, if a player is Silver 1 and wins a couple of matches to rank up, they will advance to Gold 5. Every two weeks, the Top 500 players on the ranked leaderboards are also updated.

Here are all the ranks available in Overwatch 2:

Another thing to keep in mind is that players can five stack a lobby however, the skill or rank difference between the players in the lobby can be of one rank higher or lower.

Overwatch 2 Rank Rewards

The developers have also made changes in the reward system for players rank in Overwatch 2. In order to be eligible for rewards, players must have completed the  “Competitive Role/Open Queue Player” challenge by winning 15 games in either mode in the season. After players have completed this, they will start earning competitive points for every win or draw in a ranked match. For every game a player wins, 25 competitive points are awarded and for every draw, 5 competitive points are awarded. Players can use competitive points to buy their favorite character’s gold skins that cost 3000 competitive points each. Players also earn titles and name cards for the season.

The rank reward system was also reworked in Season 2. Unlike previously, players are given rank rewards on the final and highest rank one achieves in the Role or open queue mode of the game. It means that if a player had achieved Masters at one point in the season but ended on Diamond at the end, they will receive rewards for the Diamond tier. Here is the number of competitive points and titles players receive as they advance through the ranks in Overwatch 2:

Possible Changes in Competitive Rank Distribution in the near future

The majority of the player base, according to the data, is Gold or Platinum. This, however, wouldn’t be true since Overwatch 2, unlike its predecessor, is a free-to-play game. In only 10 days after the servers went up, it drew more than 25 million players. In fact, the game’s daily player count has already quadrupled compared to its predecessor. So, there is a significant likelihood that the proportion of participants in the lower levels will rise. This takes us to the second factor that will affect the rank distribution.

While it is assumed that many past players are at higher levels, newbies will need some time to become used to the game’s fundamentals since it has a steep learning curve. It is reasonable to suppose that the top ranks, which include Grandmaster, Master, and Diamond, will only have a tiny fraction of players. The game also assigns sub-ranks inside the ranks, so one must also get used to it. They should be aware of the necessary number of wins in order to advance in the ranks.

One may move up in the ranking system as they have more practice playing the game. So, even if the rank distribution for higher levels does not change. It is reasonable to state that the distribution for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum players might vary significantly. However, the community will have to hold out until the developers officially release this information.

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