How to Watch Replays Overwatch 2

Did you have one of the best games of your life and think you should be the player of the game? Or would you like to go back and look at some of the plays that helped your enemy win a team fight? Are you looking for the right team compositions? Or do you enjoy creating highlight footage?

Whether you want to watch team fights unfold, spectate the best heroes so you can climb the ranks,  want to better understand team rotations, or just want to decrease playback speed for eliminations you are confused about, here is how you watch replays in Overwatch 2.

How to watch match replays in Overwatch 2

To watch match replays, simply follow these steps:

1. At the main menu on game load-up, hit the "Career Profile" tab
2. You can also right-click your profile in the top right of the screen and access "Career Profile"
   there
3. From there, hit the "History" tab in the middle of the top options bar 
4. Click on "Replay"
5. There, you will see 10 of your most recent matches with the outcome, Defeat or Victory
6. You will be given four options once you select one of the recent matches: "View", "Pin", "Add/Edit Note", or "Share"
7. These will be reset at each patch Blizzard releases, so be sure to save any you want to keep as soon as possible.
8. To watch replays, click "View"

Options while viewing match replays

If you've ever seen Overwatch League replays or highlights on the Internet, you'll notice the commentators are constantly swapping from player to player, using multiple camera angles and slow motion to capture the most impactful moments from a map. Fortunately, most of these options are available to you as well.

Once you're in the replay viewer, press "N" to open the controls. You will automatically start with a bird's eye view of the map overlay. From there, you can use the media controls to do many different things listed below:

• You will see an interactive track slider, where you can click different times to view fights, play styles, or simply watch all the way through.
• Seek backward/forward by 20 seconds buttons
• Pause/Play button (the shortcut is Ctrl + P)
• Playback Speed scroll (Shortcut is Mouse Wheel Up & Down)

• Spectate players. You can hit the option on your media controls or press F1-F11. Each "F" key is assigned to a different player.
• Enable Free Cam. (Shortcut is LMB/RMB while spectating a player)
• Enable/Disable Spectate Overlay.
• W, A, S, and D allow you to move your camera around on a plane.
• Q and E move the camera up and down
• Spacebar toggles between first person and third person view
• 0 jumps the camera high above the objective
• Ctrl + L shows the map overlay
• Ctrl + 1 - Ctrl + 9 saves camera bookmarks
• 1-9 to restore camera bookmarks

You can also access a complete list of shortcuts and customize your replays experience by going to Options > Controls > Spectate.

How to get the best from your watch replays

To get the best out of your replays in Overwatch 2, there are multiple options you have. If you want to watch your games like the pros do in Overwatch league matches, follow these steps:

• Watching replays to learn how good players use a hero is a great way to improve your gameplay. The best way to learn is by spectating the best players using the character and switching to the enemy they are fighting. This may be especially helpful in learning how to better 1v1 in Overwatch.

• If you want to watch team fights, use the map overlay (Ctrl + L) to see what mistakes or rotations a team uses to get the advantage. This gives you an overhead map view, and the icons over each hero provide status indicators, allowing you to see the subtle changes in the entire fight.
• Don't be afraid to switch from free camera angles and set up multiple static cameras. You can bookmark locations to set up different cameras to watch replays of team fights, switching from enemy player to teammate in order to get a full understanding of the match.
• One of the most frustrating things for viewers is when editors overuse slow motion effects. Wait to use this at the last moment, when the play is most dramatic.