Overwatch 2 Unveils A Third-Person Ranked Mode With Custom Abilities

One of the biggest announcements Blizzard made by far during the Overwatch 2 Spotlight stream was a brand new game mode that will exist alongside Competitive, Quick Play and the Arcade. It’s called Stadium and it will debut in Season 16 in April.

ForbesWatch The Overwatch 2 Spotlight Stream HereBy Kris Holt

A lot of things are different about Stadium, starting with the most obvious one: it’s a way to play Overwatch 2 in third-person. Blizzard says this new perspective (well, at least new to those who don’t play Workshop modes) slows down the pace. You’ll apparently see more of the battlefield, as well as the impact of your upgraded abilities – more on that shortly – and, of course, your hero skins.

I wrote just this week that Mythic weapons were my favorite cosmetics, in large part because you see those far more often than your hero skins. Stadium renders that point kind of moot, because in that mode, you’ll get to see more of your favorite heroes’ butts. I mean, skins.

The third-person camera will be enabled by default. You can swap shoulders using the F key on PC (and presumably whatever the interact button is on controller). If you’d rather switch over to the standard first-person view, you’ll have that option as well.

It’s worth bearing in mind that Stadium will have been in development long before Marvel Rivals (another popular hero shooter with a third-person perspective) arrived in December and stole much of Overwatch 2’s thunder. There’s definitely a comparison to be made between Stadium and Marvel Rivals, but I think it would be a little disingenuous to argue that Blizzard is directly copying NetEase’s game here.

Overwatch 2: How The Stadium Mode Works

Anyway, here’s how Stadium works. It’s a 5v5 mode in a best of seven format. If one team wins the first three rounds, the mercy rule comes into effect and they are the victors.

Stadium uses the game’s asymmetric map types of Control, Push and Clash. You’ll switch to a different map and map type after each round, which will be a shortened version of each map.

You’ll only play a single point on Control before the action moves elsewhere, for instance. The Push mode will take place on smaller-scale maps with changes to forward spawns, while you’ll win a Clash round when you capture two points instead of the usual five.

Of note, in-development screenshots that Blizzard shared of Stadium indicate that there could be a vastly reworked Paris map that will slot into the Push mode, as well as one in a forest setting. We’ll have to wait for more details on those.

There’s no Quick Play option for Stadium. All matches will played as part of a ranked system, in which unique rewards and Competitive Points are up for grabs.

The Stadium ranked system works in a similar way to Competitive in that there are seven ranks (or Leagues), each with five divisions, and your skill rating is updated after each match. There are separate ranks for Damage, Support and Tank roles too.

Third-person camera aside, all of this sounds pretty familiar so far. You might be wondering why Team 4 is referring to this as “the biggest game mode we’ve ever made.”

Well, that’s because Stadium changes the dynamics of Overwatch in all-new ways. Let’s get into that.

Overwatch 2: What’s Really Different About Stadium?

In every round, you’ll earn currency that you can use to create unique builds for your heroes. You can acquire, upgrade and customize your hero’s damage, survivability and abilities, which adds some RPG elements into the mix.

You’ll start out with 3,000 currency in round one and get another 3,000 for each subsequent round. You’ll be able to see every other player’s current balance at the top of the screen and the total currency each player has earned during the match on the leaderboard.

You’ll earn more currency by securing eliminations and assists, as well as dealing damage and healing allies. There’s also a bounty system that rewards you for eliminating high-performing enemies.

At the start of every round, you’ll visit the Armory. Here, you can buy items and equip powers to supercharge your hero. It sounds a bit like the buy phase in a Valorant or CS:GO match, which adds a new tactical element to Overwatch 2.

There are three types of mods you can acquire: Items, Hero Items (which are unique to the hero you’re playing) and Powers. You’ll also be able to see which mods the enemy team has equipped to help you strategize.

Before rounds one, three, five and seven, you’ll have 100 seconds in the Armory to make your purchases and you’ll get a free Power on each of those occasions. Otherwise, you’ll get 75 seconds in this shop. While you can sell Items, you won’t be able to get a refund on Powers.

This will all make more sense the more you play Stadium. To help you find your feet, there will be some Starter Builds available to give you some pointers. You can purchase Items and Powers for these directly from the Starter Builds tab, though you can buy other mods from other tabs if you prefer. This Starter Builds tab will stop being the default tab after you complete three games of Stadium.

Items have a wide range of effects on various stats. They can increase damage and healing output of weapons and abilities; boost reload speed and ammo; increase your weapon’s rate of fire; or provide you with lifesteal (i.e. a health boost) when you use a weapon or ability.

Items can also increase your maximum health and armor; provide extra Ultimate charge at the start of a round; boost movement speed; reduce cooldowns; bolster damage from critical hits and melee attacks; increase shields; and reduce the length of time that negative status effects (sleep, anti-heal, burning etc) affect your hero.

In other words, items can fundamentally change nearly every aspect of the core gameplay loop.

Powers, meanwhile, seem to be where things get truly wild. Blizzard says you’ll be able to do things like fly through the air as Reinhardt into an enemy backline then hit a Firestrike that leaves a trail of lava, or teleport more freely as Kiriko. Allies standing in Soldier: 76’s Biotic Field might get a buff to their attack speeds, while Mercy will be able to place a shield for extra protection while rezzing allies.

At least 14 heroes will be available in Stadium when it arrives in Season 16. More heroes, maps and modes will be added over time.

It’s too early to say just how well all of this is going to work in practice, but I’m excited to try something completely new. As with the Perks system that will come into play in Season 15, Blizzard is reviving some of the ideas it had for PvE several years ago, such as being able to customize your abilities.

Overwatch 2 needed a real shot in the arm. The Perks system and Stadium mode might be just what the game was crying out for. Hero bans, map voting and the return of Loot Boxes might help bolster the player count too.

Speaking of which, be sure to check out all the rest of my coverage of today’s Overwatch 2 Spotlight Event:

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