There are few things more daunting than stepping into a game that your friends are already good at— it’s even more difficult when that game is a team-based first-person shooter that has its own sports league, terminology and sub-culture built around it.
Overwatch is, for all intents and purposes, a multiple online battle arena played from a first-person perspective. If you’re new to Blizzard’s darling, picking up a controller/mouse and helping your team might seem like an impossible task; luckily, we’ve got a guide that will help even the clumsiest of thumbs get the job done in this guide to the best game modes for beginners to improve (once you’ve done the tutorial, that is).
6V6 Mystery Heroes
If you’re completely new to the game and have no idea where to start with characters, it’s best to just hop into a game of mystery heroes and let Overwatch decide for you. The game will load up a regular map, which will have the same goals as in the more competitive game modes. Instead of selecting your hero, however, your character is randomly selected and you’ll play them until you suffer an in-game death at the hands of the enemy. While in spawn, bring up the hero information notes and take a gander at what their abilities are before heading out into the rest of the map.
This game mode is similar to Quick Play and can be found in the Arcade mode once you’ve entered the Play menu, and can be easily enjoyed by anyone regardless of experience. It's a great way to pick up a character you may not have otherwise tried and take them for a test drive, and you're less likely to get steamrolled by other players as they're all random too.
The Practice Range
Once you’ve selected a hero to try and learn, load up the Practice Range and wander around to try out your hero abilities. It’s irrelevant as to which hero you’ve selected, as there are things to do for each character here, whether it’s destroying training bots, healing ally bots or simply platforming from one area to another.
If training bots aren’t your thing, feel free to load any one of the game’s characters using the imported hero computer on the left of the main exit of the spawn room to see how quickly you can eliminate an enemy hero. This mode is an excellent way to learn your character’s movement, offensive and defensive abilities in a no-pressure environment.
Deathmatch
After you’ve decided who you want to play and which characters appeal to you, load up a game of Deathmatch under the Arcade menu and see if you can’t pull out a few wins. While this might seem like a strange choice if you’ve selected a healer or support character, survival skills are essential to playing Overwatch and succeeding. With every other player out for blood, it’s going to be a challenge staying alive as you find cover. As for Tank players, knowing when to back off or play aggressively and outmuscle the enemy is a must. Of course, Damage players will enjoy this mode quite a bit as their hero kits come with everything they need to eliminate the enemy.
In this mode, you’ll see which characters have a harder time in specific matchups (finding heroes your character has a good matchup against and avoiding characters who your hero will struggle to compete with), which is an invaluable tool in-game.
The Workshop
Once you’ve spent some time fleeing or fighting the enemy, there’s a workshop game mode for you. Many workshop modes are designed to help beginners and intermediate players do their best work and improve their game sense, so feel free to load in a few that look interesting from sites like Reddit or YouTube. Just jump into the game, head into “Play” and select the “Game Browser,” then find the “Create” button. After that, load the preset game mode via code and enjoy.
These workshop modes are excellent at honing game mechanics such as aim and positioning, two factors that will be a heavy factor in determining wins depending on the character. Many players also enjoy using these as warm-up tools as well, so don’t be afraid to come back to the workshop even if you're a more intermediate or advanced player.
Quick Play
If we’re getting to the meat of the matter, Overwatch is a game that is built around its competitive scene. If you’re a new player, competitive won’t be available until you reach level 25 or higher, which means you’ve got plenty of time to get to know the game beforehand.
Quick Play is a game mode played with a competitive ruleset but without consequences for losing. Players are free to select any character they’d like and enjoy any of its map types available in competitive in addition to the ones available only in Quick Play.
To enjoy the Overwatch experience the way it was meant to be, players are encouraged to use the Group Finder tool (Available once you head into the Play menu) to find other, like-minded individuals that you get along with (You’ll even get a group bonus of experience points to help you level up faster in each game you play with a group). Be sure to be friendly on mic and communicate in-game, as well as formulate strategies based on the compositions of your enemy team.