Overwatch 2’s new core game mode Flashpoint: Maps, how it works, more

Overwatch 2 Season 6 introduced a whole new major game mode, Flashpoint. With this unique game type now available across both Quick Play and Competitive, here’s a full rundown on how it all works.

With the release of Overwatch 2: Invasion came many new additions from a new hero in Illari, to the arrival of the long-awaited PvE story missions.

Also bundled in was a new core game mode, which was teased back in April 2022, Flashpoint. Accompanying this unique game type is two of Overwatch 2’s biggest maps ever.

Flashpoint, as Blizzard described in a blog post about Season 6, is a new “core game mode” which debuted in Season 6, meaning it’s right alongside other staple modes.

Flashpoint is Overwatch 2’s official replacement for Assault, better known as 2CP, which was a game mode that always had mixed reception.

So here is all you need to know about Flashpoint; its gameplay, map design, and arrival into competitive play.

Overwatch 2 Flashpoint: Release date

Flashpoint was released with the arrival of Overwatch 2: Invasion on August 10 and was immediately playable in Quick Play or Arcade.

It later arrived in Competitive on August 18.

Overwatch 2 Flashpoint: Gameplay details

For anybody who has played Call of Duty’s Domination or TF2’s Control Point game modes, Flashpoint essentially plays the same.

Two teams compete to capture “flashpoints” in a quasi-symmetrical map. In each map, there are a total of five flashpoints to be captured. In each round of a map, a single flashpoint will be unlocked for teams to fight over.

The first point to be unlocked will always be the central flashpoint. And after the first point has been captured, it randomly selects which flashpoint will be the next.

The first team to capture three flashpoints is declared the winner.

Overwatch 2 Flashpoint: Maps

The arrival of Flashpoint brought in two fresh maps, New Junk City and Suravasa.

The design philosophy is markedly different from the game mode it replacing, 2CP, as the new Flashpoint maps are designed to be quasi-symmetrical to put both teams on equal footing.

Blizzard

Suravasa was the very first Flashpoint map teased with an image of one of its flashpoints.

Additionally, because of how many flashpoints are on a single map, both New Junk City and Suravasa are two of the biggest PvP maps to date.

As discussed by Overwatch’s devs on the design process of the maps, they talked about how “massive” both maps are, and how visually detailed they both are.

“We really tried to push the bar as much as we could with these maps, they are much larger than any other maps we’ve built to date,” said principal environmental artist Daniel McGowan.

Overwatch 2 Flashpoint: Entering Competitive Play

It was announced on Overwatch League’s Watchpoint that Flashpoint would be entering professional play on August 25, just in time for the Playoffs qualifiers.

Though ahead of schedule, Flashpoint entered the Competitive lobby on August 18.

Flashpoint joins the already existing four game modes; Control, Escort, Hybrid, and Push. This means for the first time in Overwatch history the game now has five different game modes in Competitive and Pro Play.

And that is all there is to Flashpoint. As players get more time on the new mode, metas will develop as to what team comps will work the best, so keep an eye out on what OWL teams will be running come qualifiers.