How to get on Overwatch’s PTR

The Overwatch public test region is where developer Blizzard Entertainment puts changes before they’re added to the live game. New tweaks to hero damage numbers, total reworks, and entirely new heroes are all fair game on the Overwatch PTR.

Want to try out Overwatch content before it’s official? The PTR is where you’ll find it. The Overwatch PTR is only available to PC players—PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players only have access to the live game. Any Overwatch players with the paid version of the game can access the PTR. Here’s how to do it.

1. Open the Blizzard Battle.net application.
2. Click the Overwatch icon on the left side of the screen to open the Overwatch page.
3. Open the Region/Account drop-down menu on the bottom left side of the screen and select Public Test Region.
4. The big blue button underneath will switch to Install. Click that.
5. Once it’s installed, the blue button with change to Play. Click that button to open the server.

Updates hit the Overwatch PTR frequently, so you’ll want to update it often to get the new changes. There are more bugs than players will find in the live game, but that’s the nature of a test server.

Oftentimes when a new hero is released, there will be a queue to get into the PTR. These will typically go by quickly, so stick around to get in. There’s just a lot of folks looking to access the test server at once when a new release happens.