Overwatch 2: Mistakes That Are Holding You and Your Team Back

These mistakes are holding you back from reaching your desired rank.

Overwatch 2 has been a hot topic in the last couple of days because of Blizzard’s announcement that it won’t develop the PVE version of the game. As expected, this cancelation got a lot of feedback, and most people are fierce that they won’t be getting what’s promised.

That said, others use this opportunity to double down on the PVP side of the game and try to reach Grandmaster before Season 4 is over. The mid-season updates took place a couple of days ago, meaning that Season 5 is just around the corner. That said, we have enough time to do the impossible and get to where we should be.

Winning a ranked match in Overwatch 2 is often more complicated than it seems, even for experienced players. They have to do a lot of things to be successful, and one of them is to avoid some of the common mistakes that are holding them back. There are a couple of big mistakes that should be taken into account, so let’s learn more about them.

Not taking full advantage of your positioning

We’ve said many times that positioning is critical in Overwatch 2, no matter your role. Of course, each role and some heroes have their specifics, but generally speaking, you need to know how to position yourself to be successful.

People who have some experience usually know what to do in certain situations, but for some reason, they’re not making the most of it. For example, you can often find Overwatch 2 players who do not use the map’s natural covers or those who are playing too defensively when they can escape from danger.

The fact that you’re not taking full advantage means you miss out on opportunities that would allow you to win the specific fight. It is not game-breaking, but once you learn to avoid this mistake, your win rate will improve a lot.

Speaking of positioning, some heroes have something known as “effective range”,  which is used to describe the specific range that a hero needs in order to be most effective. Some heroes have damage dropoff after that, whereas others are simply not worth using. 

When talking about the effective range, it all depends on the specific hero, so you need to have enough experience to know what you’re doing. If we take a look at heroes like Widowmaker, we know she requires to stay back because of her range. However, Reaper is a hero that is only effective up close.

Not knowing when to use your defensive abilities

Some heroes in Overwatch 2 have amazing defensive abilities that allow them to take more risks than others. However, the only way to make use of those things is by knowing when to use them properly, which is where many people need help.

Instead of holding on long enough to use them when needed, people pop their defensive CDs for no reason. Doing this may not have any immediate effect, but good opponents will notice you’ve wasted your cooldown for no reason. Consequently, they will try to take advantage of it and kill you.

Aside from using it early, there are also situations where you’ve used it late. For example, Junker Queen is one of the hottest tanks right now, and she has an ability called Commanding Shout that gives bonus HP. Sadly, some people wait too long to use it and pop it too late. Consequently, the hero and her allies are not making the most of it and miss out on a lot of opportunities.

The bad news is that it is really hard to learn when to and when not to use specific cooldowns. This usually comes down to experience, so people who play more and pay attention will usually learn when to use their cooldowns.

Some roles focus too much on doing only one thing

One of the reasons that make Overwatch 2 such a fantastic game is the fact that it offers diverse heroes. All roles are special, and have to do a lot of things to succeed, but for some reason, people forget about it.

There are several good examples here, but the most apparent one is for Support players. The word Support doesn’t mean a heal bot, but it seems like many people forget about it and only focus on healing their allies. Sure, this is incredibly important, and it can decide the course of a team fight, but this doesn’t mean that Supports only have to heal.

Another thing to take into consideration is that not all supports are good healers. Lucio, for example, is way better at providing utility and survivability with his ultimate rather than just healing. So, if you have to play this role, always think of what you’re missing out to make the most of it.

If we take a look at the hottest role in Overwatch 2 (Tanks), we can also see a lot of big mistakes, such as not knowing when to start a fight. Some players play a tank as if they’re a training dummies, which is another big mistake because some tanks do incredible amounts of damage. This is especially true now when Junker Queen is one of the best heroes in the game. 

Of course, all players in OW 2 should know their heroes’ limits and what they should do against a specific opponent. This comes with experience, but in case you’re not sure, feel free to check some of the guides where we also cover some of the best and worst matchups of every hero.