Battle Royal(ish)
Note: This game mode can be set up to play in a variety of different ways that greatly changes the experience. Different game mode objectives are described further down.
To get an idea of how the game plays you may watch this video by beloved streamer Jay3:
It's like Battle Royale but it's not
Like your typical Battle Royale shooter expirence all players spawn at a high altitude above the map. You start out as a weak character (or hero, as this is Overwatch), without any gear and may "parachute" to anywhere on the map.
And just like in those kinds of Battle Royale games there’s loot containers everywhere on the map that can be looted to gain powerful items, or to switch heroes (as this is Overwatch).
The objective is to build your character as strong as possible either by looting containers or killing your enemies and steal their items, and win by clearing the conditions set by the game lobby.
But here the similarities end, and the overwatch experience begins!
Mercy: Starter hero
All players start as this hero high above ground. Basically this hero allows for the parachuting phase in which you can transport yourself where you want to go on the map. Killing Mercy does not award any points.
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90% reduced damage.
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Max ammo set to 3.
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Can see the contents of loot containers containing heroes prior to looting them. This makes for an interesting decision of which part of the map to glide/drop to based on which hero you want to play
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Damage dealt puts enemy to sleep for 5 seconds. There's a short cooldown before the same target can be slept again.
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Ability 1 can be used to dash forward. Has a short cooldown.
The loot
Loot is what makes each play experience fresh. As the loot is randomly distributed across the map you'll have to adapt your strategy according to the loot you equip. Certain combinations of items and heroes synergizes very well, but spending too much time finding the perfect combination may lose you valuable progress towards the objective. Excluding the 22 lootable heroes there are over 100 different items to loot.
Besides looting heroes, each player have 3 loot slots and may equip one of each different category of items.
- Weapon mod
- Body mod
- Consumable
When looting an item of the same category as an already filled loot slot you are offered to swap items, putting your equipped item into the loot container.
All health packs have been removed from the map, but you can heal 10% of max health when opening any not recently looted loot container. The last 5 opened containers counts as recently looted.
When killed you drop all currently equiped items.
You don't really need to know much more than the basic mechanics of looting items to play this game mode, but in case you want a more in depth description of what all items do here's the list:
Weapon mods
Generally mods that modify offensive actions, such as adding effects when firing your primary weapon, dealing damage, meleeing etc.
Marksman | 50% more critical damage. Deals 25% more damage to enemies farther than 20m away. | |
Lethal shot | Every 2 seconds, the next hit deals 20% of enemy maximum health as extra damage. | |
Power shot | Every 6 seconds, the next hit deals 50% extra damage and stuns. | |
Ice projectiles | Firing primary also fires additional ice projectiles. Note: Mei can also fire using Secondary Fire. |
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Explosive mod | Every 100 damage dealt causes an area explosion on target. | |
Incendiary mod | Applies damage over time that cause the enemy to burn for 10% of max health per second for 3 seconds. Does not stack with itself. New hits instead refresh the duration. | |
Freezing mod | Has a chance to freeze players hit. Chance is based on damage dealt. | |
Crippling mod | Lowers movement speed and disables jump of players hit for 3 seconds. | |
Enfeebling mod | Enemies hit deal 50% less damage for 3 seconds. | |
Power fist | Quick melee stuns and knocks the enemy back and grants 60 overhealth. Also grants the Ground slam ability.
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Life leech | Heal 30% of damage dealt. 300% healing from kills. | |
Disruptor shot | Has a chance to hack players hit for 2.5 seconds. Chance is based on damage dealt. | |
Disruptor glove | Quick melee hacks players hit for 2.5 seconds. | |
Brawler's glove | 300% melee damage. Dash. Counter punch.
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Rockets | Periodically fire rockets. | |
Shurikens | Primary Fire or Melee launches 3 shurikens that can ricochet off walls. Note: Genji fires 5 shurikens and may also trigger with Secondary Fire. |
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Overdrive | Damaging abilities have a 1 second cooldown. | |
Overkill | Enemies under 30% health explode in a cluster explosion. | |
Lightning dash | Melee to dash forward moving through enemies, stunning and damaging enemies hit. Note: Melee cooldown is increased slightly with this mod equipped. |
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ZF-1 replay | Dealing damage to an enemy marks it. While firing your primary weapon, fire additional homing bullets towards the marked enemy until next reload. | |
Burst fire | Fires a burst of three fire projectiles. Automatically reloads when you are no longer firing. Note: heroes that does not reload instead have a short cooldown. |
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Solar flare | Continiously burn nearby enemies when you are actively using abilities. | |
Auto aim system | Dealing 70 damage in a single hit or dealing a critical hit initiates auto aim for 3 seconds. | |
Knuckle shotgun | Melee to blast your enemies with lead. Fires 13 pellets that each deal 10 damage. Can critically hit. | |
Shoulder cannon | Your shoulder cannon automatically targets a nearby enemy in your sights, locking on for 1 second after which it blasts it with 3 high energy shots. | |
Bombardment | When firing your primary weapon, lob 3 grenades in a burst, each grenade traveling along a different arc. | |
Flicker strike | Melee to teleport to an enemy in sight. Executes enemies on low health. Note: closest enemy on low health and within line of sight is marked. |
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Ballistic mod | +10% damage dealt. Very fast projectiles. | |
Air support | Attack with your Primary Fire to strike a targeted location with a bombardment. Has a 6 second cooldown. | |
Auto discord | Dealing damage automatically applies discord orb. The debuff cause the enemy to take an additional 30% damage. Can at most have one enemy debuffed at a time. | |
Leash | Hit enemies with melee to leash them.
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Force push | Melee to damage and push enemies in line of sight away. Works from any distance.
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Railgun | Primary fire periodically fires a railgun shot that can pierce through walls and enemies. Has an 5 second cooldown. Dealing damage reduces the cooldown. Has infinite range. Deals 100 damage. | |
Scrap gun | Perodically fire pellets of scrap while attacking with Primary Fire. | |
Multi rockets | Melee to gain a 40% speed boost and empower your next Primary Fire attack with rockets. The speed boost lasts until you fire the rockets. | |
Reaper's shot | Enemies hit have at most 50% health.
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Power core | Increases damage dealt by 50% of ultimate charge. | |
Plasma bombs | Periodically shoot a burst of 5 plasma bombs. | |
Blade shot | Periodically shoot 5 blades in a horzontal line pattern. |
Body mods
Generally mods that enhance your defensive capabilities such as increased health, damage reduction and movement speed, but may also grant other useful effects or even new abilities.
Lesser health | Adds 75 health. | |
Greater health | Adds 150 health. | |
Lesser armor | Adds 75 armor | |
Greater armor | Adds 150 armor. | |
Shield generator | Adds 100 shield. Out of combat regeneration active. | |
Speed boots | Gain 40% movement speed. | |
Rocket boots | Grants leap attack. Deals 65 damage on impact. Note: This ability replaces jump. |
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Repair bot | Regenerate 20 health per second. | |
Growth module | Grow into a giant
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Jet pack | Hold jump to fly. | |
Quickening | Abilities cool down twice as fast. | |
Omni boost | All stats are increased by 15%.
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Phoenix | A fiery death. A splendid rebirth. Explode on death and become ressurrect shortly after, keeping all your mods. Has a 60 second cooldown where you can't loot new body mods. | |
Nova | Taking damage shoots damaging spikes in a nova around you. | |
Ice shield | Damage taken reduced by 20%. Has a chance to freeze attackers. | |
Assassin's implant | You can equip 2 weapon mods. Identify the closest weapon mod container. | |
Scanner | See the contents of the closest loot container in sight. | |
Commando | Movement abilities have a 1 second cooldown. | |
Nullifier | Unaffected by enemy weapon mods. Auto EMP.
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Item printer | Generate a random consumable when the consumable slot is empty. | |
Chemist | 300% consumable buff duration. Identify the closest consumable container. | |
Treasure hunter | Efficient looting. Has a chance to find legendary items.
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Medic | +50% increased healing received. Generate a random healing consumable every 12 seconds. | |
Elusive | Become phased out for 1.5 seconds every 4.5 seconds. | |
Shrink module | Shrink yourself to half size but retain all other stats. | |
Quantum travel | Grants an additional option when looting. Instead of [Melee] to pick up the item you can instead press [Jump] to teleport yourself to a random location. | |
Ward | Grants temporary overhealth while afflicted by negative status effects or reloading. | |
Recon mod | The enemy closest to the reticle is revealed. The revealed player has its Hero, distance away, equipped items and ultimate charge shown in the HUD. | |
Rejuvenating dash | Double jump into an 8-directional dash that heals you for a portion of your health over 0.5 seconds. Has a 2.5 second cooldown. | |
Body swap | Swap to a new hero instead of dying.
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Thick skin | Non-critical hits received deals 50% less damage. Does not stack with armor. | |
Pain suppression | You can't take more than 50 damage per hit. | |
Power surge | Gain a surge of power, granting 50% movement speed, 50% damage reduction and heal yourself for 25% of maximum health over 1 second, every 5 seconds. | |
Hybrid armor | Adds +75 health and +75 armor. | |
Molten armor | Adds +75 armor. Fire nova on armor break. The armor regenerates after a 10 second cooldown. | |
Orbs of retaliation | Gain an orb every 2 seconds up to a maximum of 3. Each orb reduces all damage received by 15%. Taking damage consumes the orb and launches it as a projectile against the attacker. | |
Omnic fusion | Convert 99% health into armor. |
Legendary Body mods
Can only be found with the Treasure hunter mod equipped. Has a 15% chance to be looted from any container.
Power armor | Adds 150 armor. +25% damage reduction. Cannot be knocked back. | |
Mega health | Double health. Heal 20 health per second. +25% healing received. | |
Hyper drive | +60% movement speed. Abilities cool down twice as fast. Gain 2% ultimate charge per second. |
Consumables
Items that grant an temporary effect on use. Are used and consumed by pressing the interact key.
Nano boost | Gain Nano boost for 10 seconds. | |
Lesser Med kit | Heal 125 health, overhealing grants up to 50 overhealth. | |
Greater Med kit | Heal 250 health, overhealing grants up to 100 overhealth. | |
Lesser overhealth | Grants 75 overhealth. | |
Greater overhealth | Grants 150 overhealth. | |
Personal teleport | Teleport to a random location. Note: can't teleport outside of Ring of death. |
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Air strike | Call in an air strike, bombarding rockets in a straight line. | |
Instant ultimate | Immediately activate ultimate on use. Note: Ultimate charge is not consumed. |
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Feral rage | Deal double damage and gain 50% movement speed for 10 seconds. | |
Invulnerability | You are invulnerable for 6 seconds. | |
Cloaking device | Become invisible, phased out and gain 50% movement speed for 10 seconds. Attacking or using any ability ends the effect. | |
Sniper swap | Transform into widowmaker with ultimate for 15 seconds. Being killed ends the effect early and swaps you back to your previous hero. | |
Shuriken Storm | Shoot shurikens in all directions for 10 seconds. | |
Small recovery | Recover 25% health over 10 seconds. Reaching full health ends the effect. | |
Medium recovery | Recover 50% health over 10 seconds. Reaching full health ends the effect. | |
Large recovery | Recover 75% health over 10 seconds. Reaching full health ends the effect. | |
Tempo boost | Heal 16 health per second and gain 25% movement speed for 10 seconds. | |
Upgrade: ALL | Upgrade all stats by 5%. The buff stacks with itself but resets on death. | |
Upgrade: Damage | Upgrade damage by 15%. The buff stacks with itself but resets on death. | |
Upgrade: Health | Upgrade health by 15%. The buff stacks with itself but resets on death. | |
Upgrade: Speed | Upgrade speed by 15%. The buff stacks with itself but resets on death. | |
Death punch | Transform to doomfist for 10 seconds. The next rocket punch deals 75-500 extra damage (based on charge level) and ends the effect. | |
Power nap | Take a nap and heal yourself to full. Heals 20% of max health per second. | |
Super railgun | Activate to power your next primary fire attack with a railgun shot that can pierce through walls and enemies. Has infinite range. Deals 200 damage. The closest enemy to your reticle is marked through walls. | |
Redeemer | Activate to become a guided misslie nuclear warhead. Manually detonate it with Primary Fire or by colliding with players or environment. Knocks enemies down and away. Deals 150 damage. Taking a 100 damage whilst in flight cancels the effect. | |
Action man | Transform into Cassidy with increased speed and enhanced abilities for 10 seconds. (Such as grenade barrage and infinite combat rolls). | |
Nano blade | Transform into Genji with ultimate and Nano boost. | |
Mech | Transform into D.va. mech until you eject. Ejecting will transform you back to your previous hero. Note: Looting a new hero will remove the mech. Using self destruct will transform you back to your previous hero after the ultimate has ended. You can't use Transforming consumables. | |
Omni strike | Rapidly teleport up to 10 times to random enemies and hit them with melee. Each enemy can be hit up to 3 times. | |
Hammer down! |
Game mode rulesets
These rulesets alters the game objective and rules, making it possible to play this game mode in a variety of different ways.
Name | Objective description | Settings |
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Kill streak | First player to reach the required kill streak wins. | Killstreak needed to win: 5-10 |
Kill streak and capture | Reaching the required kill streak opens a capturable point in the center of the map. Holding the point uncontested for 10 seconds wins you the match. | Killstreak needed to win: 5-10 |
Battle Royale | This mode is played in rounds. When you die you are permanently dead until the next round starts. Being the last player alive grants you one point. The first player to reach the number of required points win the match. | Rounds needed to win: 1-10 |
Battle Royale: Scored rounds | The same as Battle Royale but each kill scores you a point, and each round win scores you 3 points. The first to reach the score needed to win wins the match. | Score needed to win: 10-100 |
Workshop settings
Game settings
Option | Value range | Description |
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Game mode ruleset |
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Choose which game mode ruleset that should be active. |
Players required to start the match | 2-6 | When this many players are in the game, the game starts. |
Solo game (VS AI) | On/Off | Allows you to test/learn the mode against AI players. Bots are automatically assigned mods and does not spawn as Mercy. Refer to enabled heroes for which bots that you can use. Other heroes may work but are not tested. |
Hide tank heroes from Mercy | On/Off | When this setting is ON Tank heroes will be hidden during the drop phase, but will still be available as loot. |
Battle Royale
Option | Value range | Description |
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Ring of Death | On/Off | Enable ring of death for Battle Royale rulesets. |
Time until ring of death spawns | 45-150 | The time it takes for the ring of death to spawn each round. |
Rounds needed to win | 1-10 | The amount of round wins needed to win the "Battle Royale" ruleset. |
Score needed to win (scored rounds) | 10-100 | The score needed to win the "Battle Royale - Scored rounds" ruleset. |
Kill Streak
Option | Value range | Description |
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Streak required to win (or unlock capture point) | 5-10 | The streak required to win in the "Kill Streak" ruleset or open the capture point in the "Kill Streak and capture" ruleset. |
Creator's comment
Over all I'm very happy with how this workshop mode turned out, though I have limited tests against actual players as I can't put any time in creating lobbies (I can play about an hour each evening). If you have any suggestions, feedback or find any bugs please send me a comment, I very much appreciate it!
I plan on updating and adding more items, maps, rulesets and make general improvements to this mode as I find it a very enjoyable passtime.
And lastly, I know that certain combinations of items and heroes are going to be completely broken, but reasoning out those synergies and having the luck to find them in the game without being killed first is part of the fun. Any game/round should not last long enough for it feel opressive though. Have you found any crazy combinations yet? My favourite so far is probably "Reaper + Solar flare + Commando".