“Top 500 has been upgraded to Challenger Tier.”
Overwatch 2 Season 20 is now live, and it arrives with a major change to its Competitive Play game mode. Read on for details.
Overwatch 2 Challenger Tier explained
According to the developers, this update pertains to an overhaul of the ranked leaderboards. It's now a season-long race among the top Overwatch 2 players. It also features better rewards and recognition for their efforts. The Top 500 tank is now the Challenger Tier with a Challenger leaderboard organized by Challenger Score. This Challenger Score is now displayed in both the career profile and the screen featuring one's competitive progress.
"We're introducing a big update to our Top 500 leaderboards, now known as the Challengers Tier," Overwatch 2 game producer Sivonne Ward said. "We want Top 500 to feel like a season-long race between the very best. So tear down your tents. Ladder camping is dead."
She continued, "Wins now award Challenger Score based on your rank, and the leaderboard itself will be ordered by score. Approved Challenger Tier players will be able to link to their social channels. We'll be starting small with this aspect of the feature in Season 20, but expect to see us expanding to more players in future seasons."
Overwatch 2 Challenger Score explained
Players earn a Challenger Score by winning a match at or above Diamond 5 in core Competitive Play or All-Star 5 in Stadium. This score is based on the highest ranked player per match. Meanwhile, losing a match at or above Diamond 5 or All-Star 5 subtracts 33% of the Challenger Score a player would normally gain, and the highest ranked player in a match does not affect the score for losses.
The Challenger Score also resets to zero at the end of each season and gains a Heat Bonus of 5% each consecutive week. Additionally, while it cannot be earned in wide matches, it does apply to Open Queue and Stadium leaderboards separately.
"Challenger Score earned [in] Role Queue is applied to both the Role-specific leaderboards and the Combined leaderboard," Blizzard Entertainment added.
Players must meet Challenger Score requirements to appear on leaderboards, too. These are outlined below.
Leaderboard | Challenger Score Requirement | Additional Requirement(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Combined | 5,000 | Endorsement Level 2 |
| Open Queue | 5,000 | Endorsement Level 2 |
| Stadium | 5,000 | Endorsement Level 2 and 25 wins |
| Each Role in Core 5v5 and Stadium | 4,000 | Endorsement Level 2 |
That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more Overwatch 2 news and updates.
