Overwatch 2 Competitive mode is getting reworked with Skill Tier Divisions replacing SR

Alongside other changes, Blizzard is reworking how Overwatch 2‘s Competitive mode works. Competitive has always been a playground where players get serious about their gameplay. The game’s more complicated aspects such as metas, team compositions, and hero match-ups are important in Competitive. That will all remain true for the Competitive mode in Overwatch 2, but the ranking system will be completely different.

Skill Tier Divisions will replace the old Skill Rating (SR) system. Previously, you’d receive SR after wining a match, and losing a match meant losing SR. In the event of a draw, you’d either slightly gain or slightly lose SR based on your rank. It’s an easy system to understand, but it wasn’t flawless. Some players felt that SR didn’t provide an accurate representation of how they performed. Factors often outside of your control would cause you to lose or gain SR when it was not deserved.

Skill Tier Divisions look to fix this by changing how players ranking works. As before. the main ranks in Overwatch 2 will range from Bronze up to Grand Master. However, each of these ranks will also have sub-tiers. For example, instead of going from Silver to Gold, you will go from Silver 2 to Silver 1.

However, that isn’t the biggest change coming to Overwatch 2 Competitive. You will no longer gain or lose ranks every match. Instead, either every seven wins or every 20 losses, your Skill Tier Division will be updated. This is being introduced to reduce the importance of each individual game and have players focus on their performance across a range of games instead.

Placement matches

Along with some smaller changes Blizzard is making to the Competitive mode in Overwatch 2, it’s also adjusting how placement matches function. You will no longer just play five games in a role and then get given a rank. The new system will instead rank you in a role after either seven wins or twenty losses.

Returning players who played the original Overwatch will have their rank modified post-launch. Blizzard justifies this by explaining that Overwatch 2 is a very different game, and so an Overwatch rank doesn’t necessarily translate perfectly. The sequel uses a formula that will re-rank returning players when they queue into Competitive.

Overwatch 2 launches next week on October 4.

Overwatch 2 will introduce a lot of smaller improvements to Competitive too. For example, the Game Reports screen provides detailed information on how you played.