If you’re planning on really digging into the strategic complexity and skill-based gameplay of Overwatch 2, you’ll want to unlock the Competitive Playlist ASAP. Competitive Playlists match you with other players of your skill level. As you claim victories, you’ll climb the ranks and face harder opponents — Competitive is where your skills and teamwork are really put to the test. And it doesn’t start unlocked. You’ll have to earn the right to play Competitive.
Competitive is the same as Ranked — Quickplay is where you’ll find unranked, casual matchmaking that’s just fine for earning rewards and blasting through the monthly Battle Pass. For players just looking to earn cosmetics and enjoy the game, Quickplay is a totally normal way to experience Overwatch 2. If you’re looking for more balance and to matchmake with players of your particular skill-level, always pushing to reach Diamond Rank, this is how to get it.
More Overwatch 2 guides:
How to Unlock the Founder’s Pack | How to Unlock Role Queue | How to Unlock Every Character | Can You Fix “0 Players Ahead of You” Error? | Does it Have Crossplay and Cross-Progression? | How to Merge Accounts | Which Characters are Unlocked and Free? | Best Characters in Each Class For Beginners | How to Play Tracer | How To Play Kiriko
How To Unlock Competitive Playlists | Ranked Multiplayer Guide
To see your progress toward unlocking Competitive Playlists, go to Battle Pass -> Challenges -> Competitive. The Competitive section shows your current progress toward unlocking ranked. There are multiple ways to earn it.
- To Unlock Competitive: You must win 50 Quickplay matches.
- Alternatively, if you owned Overwatch 1 before June, 2021 you will automatically unlock.
- Players that have Competitive unlocked already (in OW1) will unlock in Overwatch 2 after merging accounts.
Learn more about merging accounts here.
Competitive Playlists have different rules depending on mode — ranked has stricter rules to push players to earn their victories. There are no draws in Ranked, and punishments for quitting are harsher than in standard Unranked or Arcade modes.
Win 7 matches in a row to update your rank — or lose 20 matches. Every time you switch ranks, you’ll matchmake with a different class of players. Naturally, the most skilled players (and teams) rise to the top. There are 8 Rank tiers — and ranks are reset at the end of each season. Ranks look like this:
- Bronze (1-5)
- Silver (1-5)
- Gold (1-5)
- Platinum (1-5)
- Diamond (1-5)
- Master (1-5)
- Grandmaster (1-5)
- Top 500
Grouping in Competitive works differently than in standard play — for Bronze through Diamond rank, grouped players must be within 10 ranks or each other. Above Diamond, groups must be within 5 ranks (Master) and 4 ranks (Grandmaster and above) to work together. And further restrictions apply: Grandmaster and Top 500 players may only work in groups of 2.
Competitive is one of the most fun ways to play Overwatch 2. Don’t let those 50 Quickplay victories scare you — if you want to really get into Competitive, you’ll need to be winning way more than just 50 matches.
