How to unlock Competitive Play – Overwatch 2

While there are many multiplayer modes to choose from in Overwatch 2, players will want to unlock competitive play to play with players at higher skill levels. Competitive Play is Overwatch 2’s ranked mode and is key to earning Competitive Points and completing certain challenges. This guide will explain how to unlock competitive play in Overwatch 2 so you can start climbing the ranks.

Unlocking Competitive Play works a little differently in Overwatch 2 than in the first game. Previously, players had to reach level 25 to unlock competitive play. However, since Overwatch 2 no longer has player levels, the requirements for playing Competitive have changed.

How to Unlock Competitive Play

Blizzard implemented what’s known as First-Time User Experience (FTUE) in Overwatch 2, which involves completing a guided tutorial that explains the basics of gameplay for those new to the series. New players must complete the full FTUE as completing this tutorial is the first step in accessing the game’s competitive modes.

In addition to completing the FTUE tutorial, new players must also win 50 unranked Quickplay matches to unlock competitive play in Overwatch 2. This includes both Role Queue and Open Queue modes. Note that the requirement is to win 50 games, not just play them. Players can find out how many Quick Play matches they’ve won by navigating to their Career Profile’s Stats tab and filtering by Quick Play from the drop-down list.

Winning the required 50 Quick Play games completes the Competitive Play Qualification Challenge and grants access to all Competitive modes. Other competitive challenges reward players with new player titles and competitive points that can be spent on golden weapon variants for each hero.

Ability Ranks and Divisions

Competitive play is broken down into multiple skill tiers, each containing five divisions. Skill levels are Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, Grandmaster, and Top 500 in order. Divisions are ranked from five to one, with lower numbers denoting higher skill ranks. Skill levels are different for each hero role and are partially reset at the beginning of each season.

Competitive Points (CP) are awarded for each win or tie during competitive play and are distributed separately for each role’s skill level. Players earn 15 CP for each win and 5 CP for each tie. Additional CP can be earned for completing competitive challenges and is granted at the end of each season.

Now that you know what it takes to unlock competitive play in Overwatch 2, visit our Overwatch 2 page for more helpful tips.