How to reach Grand Master rank in Overwatch 2

There’s no greater feeling in any multiplayer game with a ranked or competitive mode than climbing to the very top of the mountain. In Overwatch, the peak is embodied by the rank of Grand Master, the highest of all skill tier ranks.

Technically, there’s a higher echelon called the Top 500, but the highest actual rank you can achieve is Grand Master. Even with Overwatch 2 shifting away from its classic Skill Rating distinction and into Skill Tier divisions, Grand Masters remains the ultimate prize for players who want to make the long journey up the ranked ladder.

Looking to distinguish yourself as one of the best when OW2 launches? Start your climb here.

Play your placement matches

You’ve got to start somewhere, and in Overwatch 2, that means your placement matches. Compared to the first Overwatch placement procedure, there’s a lot more work that needs to be done in the sequel. Players will remain unranked until their “first competitive update,” which occurs after their first seven wins or their first 20 losses.

If you’re a new player or are playing on a new account made on Oct. 4 or later, then the journey is even longer. You’ll have to win 50 Quick Play matches just to unlock competitive.

Rank up with these tips

Players will continue to receive competitive updates to their ranking after every seven wins or 20 losses, rather than receive updates after each individual match. The Overwatch team at Blizzard says this is to get a better understanding of a player’s performance and reduce the amount of pressure put on one individual game.

Here are some general use tips for ranking up in Overwatch 2:

• Make use of the new scoreboard. The new scoreboard removes the arbitrary medals and replaces them with more important information from across the entire team, namely damage, healing, and damage mitigated. Traditional columns for K/D/A are also available. If you’re playing with a stack, the new scoreboard should aid the team in determining which heroes are working and which are not in a given comp.
• Speaking of comps, being able to effectively communicate with your team about comp needs is vital to success, especially early on. Knowing which tanks, healers, and DPS heroes match up well with each other will help you win more games.
• Communicate with pings at the very least. We know that the microphone can be hard to use, but there’s no excuse not to use pings, especially to mark enemy players. Even with a full stack queued with working mics, pinging enemies is so useful.