Best Overwatch Betting Sites: Bet On Overwatch

How Does Competitive Overwatch Work?

Overwatch is designed primarily to be a multi-player rather than an individual game and as such, is very well suited to competitive eSports style play. Every different mode of gameplay possible within Overwatch involves players competing in two teams of six and aiming to complete certain objectives.

Characters & Roles

Every Overwatch player selects from a roster of 25 pre-defined characters, known as heroes, at the beginning of each game. Those heroes all have unique skills and abilities which can be utilised within the game, and are split into four distinct categories. The categories are known as Offence, Defence, Tank and Support, and any successful Overwatch squad will need a healthy balance of the four different types of hero.

Heroes within the Offence category are highly mobile and are able to deal significant damage to opposing players. They are, however, more vulnerable to attack given that they have fewer hit points than other types of hero. That’s where characters of the Defence category come in, as they can take a lot of damage and are perfect for defending team mates or strategically important areas of a map.

Tank heroes, meanwhile, take damage absorption to a whole new level, are typically used to draw fire from other heroes and often have special shield-like abilities. Finally, heroes within the Support category do not deal much damage or have many hit points, but they do have abilities which enhance or improve the other members of their team or weaken the members of the opposing team.

Maps & Game Modes

Most playable Overwatch maps are based on real-life locations, such as London, Japan, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece respectively in the case of the game’s first four maps; King’s Row, Hanamura, Temple of Anubis and Ilios. Each map, too, is specially designed to support one of the game’s distinct, different game modes.

There are a comparatively large number of different Overwatch game modes but competitive play is generally limited to either Assault, Escort, Hybrid (Assault/Escort) or Control. In Assault mode one of the two teams is tasked with capturing two target points in sequence on a map, whilst the other has to stop them. In competitive play, two rounds are generally played, with each team swapping roles after the first round.

Escort gameplay, meanwhile, involves one team having to escort a payload to a specific point on the map within a time limit. The payload will only move as and when at least one member of that team is near it and it is the job of the other team to delay and ultimately stop the payload from reaching its destination.

As its name suggests, Hybrid (Assault/Escort) gameplay combines the previous two game modes. That means a team must attack a certain point to gain control of a payload before then escorting it to a certain secondary point on the map. Control is the last of the four main game modes and involves each team attempting to capture and maintain control of a single point on a map. The winning team is that which holds the point for long enough to see their capture percentage reach 100%.

What Are the Big Events?

At time of writing (late 2017), Overwatch has only been fully available to the public for around 16 months. In spite of this there have already been a handful of notable tournaments and significant plans made for ongoing competitions.

The Overwatch Open

Organised by ELEAGUE, an organisation owned by Turner Broadcasting, the Overwatch Open was held at roughly the same time as the Overwatch Atlantic Showdown.

This event, however, ramped up the total prize money to a cool $300,000 and as such has developed a bigger following and more betting markets. Odds are widely available.

Overwatch League

At the Blizzcon convention in 2016, Blizzard Entertainment announced innovative plans for an Overwatch league. The league is expected to use an organisation of permanent teams in league placements similar to more traditional physical sports in the United States. The inaugural season of the Overwatch League will feature just twelve teams and is set to get underway with a series of pre-season matches in December 2017.

What Bet Types are Available?

Whilst there have only been a handful of major Overwatch events so far, it is clear to see that the game has a big eSports future. That is not a fact that has been missed by online bookmakers, either, and many of them already offer some or all of the following bets for big Overwatch contests.

Match Winner – In a major Overwatch match, punters are now commonly able to bet on which of the two teams they believe will ultimately win the match. Depending on the event in question, a team may have to win two or even three maps, possible played through different game modes, in order to win a match.

Map Winner – Drilling down one level further into competitive Overwatch contests, some bookmakers will also allow punters to bet on the team they think will win a particular map within an Overwatch match. Regardless of the ultimate result of the match, this type of bet will be a winner if the chosen team is successful on the chosen map.

To Win at Least One Map – Available from some online bookmakers for Overwatch matches where teams must win multiple maps to be ultimately victorious in a map, a win at least one map bet will pay out if a chosen team wins the match or if they lose but were successful in at least one map during the contest.

Correct Map Score – Just like correct score bets in football, correct map score bets in Overwatch ask punters to predict the final score of a match as well as the end result. For instance, a punter may choose to bet on a team to win their upcoming Overwatch match 2-1 in maps.