Overwatch 2 Shrinks PvP Teams to Five Players, Instead of Six

Today Blizzard shared a major update for Overwatch 2 including one major change coming to the PvP experience. In Overwatch 2 PvP will be 5v5 experience instead of the current 6v6 team size.The team comp will now comprise two Damage classes, two Support classes, and one tank instead of two. Overwatch director Aaron Keller says that the change will remove help clean up the combat and create a more fluid gameplay style.

Furthermore, without the defense provided by a second tank players are likely to use the environment more and play more strategically and aggressively. And since Overwatch and Overwatch 2 will have parity, this means PvP teams will shrink to five for both versions when Overwatch 2 comes out.

Blizzard says that the change to 5v5 will update Overwatch’s classic roles. Starting with the sequel, Tanks will change significantly and become more front-line brawlers than stationary shields.

In addition, each role will get a passive role bonus that will complement each heroes’ unique ability.

Tanks will have knockback reduction and reduce ultimate charge gain when taking damage from enemies. Damage heroes will get a movement speed bonus, and Support heroes will have automatic self-healing if they don’t take damage for an extended period of time.

This is one of the biggest shake-ups to Overwatch PvP and could potentially re-shape the competitive scene. By dropping the team count to 5, the contentious 2-2-2 Meta (2 Tanks, 2 Damage, 2 Healer) will no longer be possible, and it will give Tanks players a potentially bigger hand in the action.

It remains to be seen how this new team count will shake out in action but stick around for more news from today’s Overwatch 2 briefing.

And also check out IGN’s last big Overwatch 2 coverage, including 55 new details from BlizzCon 2021, and our big interview with former Overwatch 2 director Jeff Kaplan.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor.