How Do Placements Work in Overwatch 2

On Overwatch 2 release, Blizzard Entertainment launched a revamped way to place players based on their skill rating, doing away with SR numbers and competitive points. Competitive mode has two options:

• Open Queue - players can play any hero they want
• Role Queue - teams must have a composition of one tank, two DPS, and two support.

From there, Overwatch 2 will place you based on your Matchmaking rating (MMR). Though the Overwatch 2 team has remained rather hush-hush about the MMR system, this is an algorithm that measures the following:

• Wins/Losses
• Win rate/loss rate
• Damage/Healing output
• Assists
• Damage Mitigation
• Kills/Deaths

After 7 to 26 placement matches, you will be assigned one of the Overwatch ranks; anywhere from Bronze to Master.

Unlike in the original Overwatch, where you can see your skill rating after each game, your skill tier will remain the same until you have seven wins or 20 more losses. 

Though seven matches seem like a lot, the Overwatch 2 developers wanted players to focus less on their rank grind and more on the fun of the game, making competitive matches more accessible for casual players that don't really care about achieving the highest skill tiers such as Grandmaster. Plus, it makes that seventh win feel so much better, especially the first seven wins you score in your career.

Does Previous Season Affect My Current Overwatch Placement Matches?

The SR you get after playing your placement matches caused by a rank reset will probably never be lower than 150 SR compared to your previous competitive season. We don't know how it works exactly because Blizzard never shared this information publicly, but there are theories that your first game is what matters the most after a rank reset, which matches with our experience.