The latest competitive season of Overwatch is live and brings a much-desired ranked playlist: Six versus six Competitive Elimination. The traditional deathmatch mode will be available in ranked play until the latest season ends on May 7.
Elimination is standardly available as an Overwatch Arcade variant, but this is the first time it finds itself in the ranked playlist. To join a Competitive Elimination match, head over to the arcade (which now has a designated ranked card).
In a forum post, Overwatch developer Scott Mercer noted that Lockout rules will be in effect. If you haven’t delved into the Overwatch Arcade, Lockout rules add some nuanced strategy to the otherwise rote deathmatch. In Elimination, it’s first to three match wins, but Lockout rules force you to switch heroes after each winning round. When you win a round, all of the heroes used by your team will be unavailable for the ensuing rounds.
This quirk forces teams to balance their teams for each round. After all, you don’t want to get stuck playing with a team full of healers in a closely contested match.
Elimination is meant to be a quick experience. To speed up the pace and deter camping, if a round hasn’t ended at the two-minute mark, an area on the map is marked. Players then have 30 seconds to beat their opponents to the area which turns into a capture circle. Once captured, the round ends.
For this competitive season of Elimination, Blizzard added Ayutthaya to the map pool, joining Black Forest, Necropolis, Ecopoint: Antarctica, and Castillo.
Elimination is a nice change of pace from Overwatch‘s object-based gameplay. We’re happy to see it get some love in ranked play. The challenge for many Overwatch enthusiasts will be deciding where to allocate their time over the next few weeks.
The ongoing Overwatch Archives seasonal event runs until April 30. It includes the Uprising PvE mission from 2017 as well as Retribution, an important Blackwater mission. For those interested in Overwatch lore, Archives is a can’t-miss experience.
At the very least, Archives ends a week before the brief elimination season concludes on April 7. So if you’re enjoying Archives too much to stop, you will have some time to play ranked Elimination once the seasonal event ends.
