▲ A proper mindset can help you climb the Overwatch ranks.



Team-based games like Overwatch typically require three distinct skill sets; mechanical ability, communication, and strategy. There is of course overlap between the three, but players generally don’t place the same amount of importance on each. A budding DPS player may wish to brush up on their Tracer mechanics to reach the next level, and we often see articles and guides teaching players how to communicate efficiently. When it comes to general strategy— information that applies to every single game you play—online resources often seem to fall short.

If you find yourself lacking focus or commonly misplaying, thinking about strategy and your mindset is crucial and cannot be neglected if you wish to climb to greater heights. While strategy does include notions such as ‘playing to the meta’ or ‘combining Ultimates,’ our strategic spotlight today is more about your own individual contribution to a game.





Competitive Empathy is a concept that I picked up while playing another game, Magic: The Gathering. As empathy itself describes the ability to understand another, competitive empathy refers to the ability to get inside your opponent's head, allowing you to read their intentions. Armed with that knowledge, you can move to counter them through a process usually referred to as ‘next-levelling.’ In card games such as Magic or Poker, where the denial of information is crucial, competitive empathy most commonly reveals itself in the form of bluffs.



Although there are some comparable scenarios in Overwatch, awareness and game knowledge are far more important tools to maximize the potential choices you can make in-game, allowing you to be as flexible as possible and ‘next-level’ your opponents. I’ve divided these levels quite arbitrarily, but hopefully, they will serve as a useful tool to explain the concept.





The first hurdle to overcome is auto pilot and solo play. I consider this to be Level -1, as players in this category tend to be playing below their own ability. Players resort to autopilot for a myriad of reasons, but the end result is always some form of disconnect between what the player is doing, and what they know they should be doing to raise their odds of winning a game. There are lots of things you can look out for to tell if you’re in this group;





● Playing while distracted by something other than the game.

● Tilted as a result of griefers or a loss streak.

● Never bothering to communicate with your team (voice or pings).

● Playing solo without concern for team comp or general awareness.





If you find these things are often affecting you, it may be wise to take a small break from the game and allow yourself to recover. Players of all skill ratings can find themselves operating at Level -1, and no amount of forced gameplay is going to help—autopilot is the result of burnout, and it’s only fixed with a fresh mindset.