Overwatch 2's Stadium mode gameplay trailer somehow looks even more chaotic with whole team nano boosts, multi orbs, and a mini B.O.B.
Today, we got a small look at Overwatch 2's upcoming Stadium mode. While only a few minutes long, the gameplay trailer has a ton of stuff packed into it, including a snapshot of some unique hero abilities and how teams will have to band together to be competitive in this new mode.
Stadium is a new third-person mode (but you can pick first-person if you want) that Blizzard announced a couple of months ago. It subverts the usual Overwatch 2 format in favour of a best-of-seven round-based mode, which has random shortened objectives to make fights even quicker and, as a byproduct, likely more chaotic.
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From what we saw in this little gameplay snippet, it seems like teams are going to need a level of coordination not yet seen in Overwatch 2, which is really saying something as I've always thought Blizzard has demanded too much organisation from complete randoms.
The trailer shows a team of five fighting in the Stadium mode, and between rounds, discussing what's going right and wrong, and how they can improve for the next match point. The team agrees that their biggest issue is the enemy Zarya, who is "frying" them. In response to this, another player suggests building "the inflection for Zarya", hinting at the fact that players can create counter-builds against heroes.
You'll be able to do this in the buy menu, where you can purchase upgrades with cash you earn during the game. The cheapest of which just buff your stats like attack speed, ability power, or cooldown. The trailer also shows the final stage of one hero: Ana. Another team member says they've specced into nano boost, with the ultimate upgrade allowing Ana to nano any allies within your line of sight, but with a 50% reduced duration.
Other wacky features displayed in the trailer include a triple damage orb for Moira, a self-nano for Ana, Reinhardt's lava fire strike, and a tiny B.O.B. for Ashe. But if all of this seems a tad too confusing, then worry not, the Stadium mode will also have a few pre-builds to make the first few rounds slightly easier to grasp.
There'll also be new ranks with different shiny emblems for you to grind towards and some rewards which look like skins for Genji, Moira, Orisa, Soldier 76, and Juno. You'll be able to try all of this out for yourself next Tuesday, April 22.
It's a surprisingly quick turnaround considering this mode was only announced in February, but it looks like a really exciting new chapter for Overwatch 2, and probably the adrenaline rush that has been needed for a while.