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.

Caduceus Blaster

• 90% reduced damage.

• Max ammo set to 3.

• Damage dealt puts enemy to sleep for 5 seconds. There's a short cooldown before the same target can be slept again.

Hero Spotter

• 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

Quick Dash

• 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.
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. Look downward and melee to trigger Ground slam. It damages and knocks enemies back and grants 30 overhealth. Also knocks you away in the opposite direction.
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. Dash: Leap forward and gain movement speed while meleeing. Counter punch: Stun and punch enemies that hit you with melee or melee type abilities (such as Rocket punch or Carnage).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Anchors the player to a position on the ground under you for 5 seconds. Leashed players are afflicted with a weak damage over time and can’t move more than 3m away from the anchoring position. Players trying to escape the leash takes additional damage.
Force push		Melee to damage and push enemies in line of sight away. Works from any distance. Knockback and damage dealt is based on the distance to the enemy hit.
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. When you hit an enemy above 50% health and the damage you dealt did not bring the enemy under 50% health you will deal additional damage so that the enemy health is set to 50%.
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.
Repair bot		Regenerate 20 health per second.
Growth module		Grow into a giant Double size 200% added health 30% added movement speed 20% added damage 10% added damage reduction
Jet pack		Hold jump to fly.
Quickening		Abilities cool down twice as fast.
Omni boost		All stats are increased by 15%. 15% added health 15% added movement speed 15% added damage 15% added damage reduction 15% added projectile speed 15% added healing received
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. Trigger an EMP when taking a hit that exceeds 30% of maximum health or takes your health to below 30% health.
Item printer		Generate a random consumable when the consumable slot is empty.
Chemist		May use consumables twice. Identify the closest consumable container.
Treasure hunter		Efficient looting. Has a chance to find legendary items. Opens loot containers twice as fast. 300% loot container heal. May reroll non-hero containers once per container.
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.
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.
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.
Feral rage		Deal double damage and gain 50% movement speed for 10 seconds.
Invulnerability		You are invulnerable for 5 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.

Workshop settings

Game settings

Battle Royale

Kill Streak

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".