About The Game

Overwatch features squad-based combat with two opposing teams of six players each, while Overwatch 2 uses five-on-five teams. Players choose one of thirty-two hero characters, each with their own unique abilities and role classes. The three character roles include: damage characters that have powerful attacks to lead attacks or defend control points and choke points, support characters that provide buffs and debuffs for their allies and enemies respectively (such as healing or speed alterations), and tank characters that have a large amount of armor and hit points to withstand enemy attacks and draw fire away from teammates.[a] During the pre-match setup, players on a team will be given advice from the game if their team is unbalanced, such as if they are lacking defensive heroes, encouraging players to switch to other heroes pre-match and balance the starting team.Within a match, players can switch between characters in-game following deaths or by returning to their home base.

Player-versus-Player map types

In standard and competitive play, and in some of the special Arcade modes, maps are randomly selected for the match. Each Overwatch map has a specific game mode that it supports, which include:

Assault: (also known as 2 Capture Points or 2CP) The attacking team is tasked with capturing two target points in sequence on the map, while the defending team must stop them. Assault-style maps will be removed from main gameplay rotation when Overwatch 2 is released while still available in custom game modes.Since Season 2, Assault-style maps are available in Arcade Mode daily routine.
Escort: The attacking team is tasked with escorting a payload to a certain delivery point before time runs out, while the defending team must stop them. The payload vehicle moves along a fixed track when any player on the attacking team is close to it, but will stop if a defending player is nearby; should no attacker be near the vehicle, it will start to move backwards along the track. Passing specific checkpoints will extend the match time and prevent the payload from moving backwards from that point.