Overwatch 2 - Hero Mastery: The Gauntlet Guide (Top Tips)

Get ready for an exciting new game mode! Dive into the details of the Overwatch 2 Hero Mastery Gauntlet mode, where we cover what to expect and how to emerge victorious. Plus, we'll walk you through all the challenges and rewards waiting for you in this limited-time event.

If you're a fan of Overwatch's Deathmatch and enjoy a challenge, the new Hero Gauntlet mode is perfect for you. In this mode, eight players duke it out to reach 22 kills first while cycling through all 22 Overwatch heroes. It's all about testing your aim, skill, and a bit of luck.

The Hero Gauntlet arcade mode was cooked up in the Overwatch Workshop, a tool that lets players create their own custom game modes. It's inspired by Gun Game mode from Call of Duty, where you switch weapons with each kill, starting from big guns and ending with a humble knife.

What is The Gauntlet in Overwatch 2?

Hero Mastery Gauntlet is a team-based mode where three players team up to protect three towers from enemy attacks across 10 waves. Along the way, you'll gather energy from foes, purchase upgrades, and snag emblems. Beware of yellow platforms—they're traps! Stick to the blue ones for speedy travel.

How Does It Work?

To kick things off, gather a squad of three players with a tank, DPS, and support player in tow. Brace yourself for relentless waves of training bots. These waves come at you on a timer, with brief breaks in between. Use these breaks to hustle to the next tower spot and beef up your defenses whenever you can catch a breath. Hit "F" to upgrade your towers, or hold "F" to shuffle your upgrades around.

Alongside the regular attack bots, watch out for shielded ones, explosive types, healers, grenade launchers, and snipers. Priority numero uno? Take out those explosive bots and their beefed-up versions, especially when they're gunning for your towers. Oh, and when wave 10 hits, you've got to defend all three towers. Brace yourself—Torbjorn makes an appearance in this wave too!

OW 2 The Gauntlet Strategy

Here's the basic plan: focus on beefing up your best tower with repairs as your main goal. By round 10, aim to have it nearly at full health to boost your chances of winning. The first few rounds, 1-6, are pretty easy. You'll mostly just need repairs; maybe grab some turrets if you're feeling fancy, but save most of your cash for later when things get tougher.

From rounds 7-9, you can start splurging a bit. Expect at least two towers to go down, so stick close together to defend the strongest one during the final wave. If a teammate goes down, check the clock; if there's less than 30 seconds left, it might not be worth reviving them. If both teammates bite the dust, forget about the towers and focus on staying alive, even if it means sacrificing one.

Feel free to use your ultimates generously in this mode; you can usually unleash one every round. Just keep some defensive ults in reserve for emergencies and save tower-clearing ults for when things get hairy. Make sure you've got your ult ready for wave 10 though!

When it comes to heroes, prioritize survivability, damage, range, and mobility to stand the best chance of success.

Upgrades

Fields/pulse effects: These last the whole round, so they're handy later on if you've got extra cash. Slow field is neat against exploders, while damage boost is the top pick.

Tower repairs: The big one. Keep those towers healthy!

Turrets: Type doesn't matter too much; high damage ones are good for random enemies, and freeze works best against exploders. They're all good for soaking up damage.

Barrels: Not the greatest upgrade. Bots spawn in the same spots, so only a few barrels are useful. Plus, you and your team need to remember they're there to shoot them.

Airstrike: Sounds good on paper, but hitting the button when you need it is usually a challenge.

Bot Types

Exploders: Top priority unless you're in dire straits. For elite exploders, use your tank or someone speedy to bait their explosion away from the towers.

Healers: Not a huge deal; their healing is slow, so sometimes it's better to just focus on their target instead.

Grenade/rockets: Pretty straightforward. Watch out for elite versions—they can wreck you up close, even if you're a tank.

Snipers: Not a big threat. Sometimes it's best to dodge their shots rather than waste time trying to take them out.

Tanks: Lowest priority. If they're not blocking anything important, just leave them be.

Best Heroes For The Gauntlet in Overwatch 2

DPS

Cassidy: Easy headshots mean consistent high damage, especially with his powerful ultimate, High Noon, which can rack up kills in the open map.

Bastion: Great for mowing down crowds in turret form, but a bit vulnerable. His ult is handy for taking out enemies at distant towers.

Torbjorn: Deals good damage and his turret gets free kills. Extra HP from Overload helps in a pinch. His ult is useful when the turret is overwhelmed.

Hanzo: Another good damage dealer with excellent range. His ult is decent for crowd control.

Sombra: Her SMG is deadly up close, and her mobility lets her move around easily. Hacking stops robots, which is handy in a pinch, and her EMP is incredible. Invisibility makes her great for stalling rounds or reviving teammates.

Support

Baptiste: He's your damage-dealing support, great at keeping himself alive. His immortality field can offer a free revive, and his Amp Matrix is handy too.

Kiriko: Perfect for headshots with no damage drop-off in a mode with wide sightlines. Swift Step helps with team mobility, and Kitsune is a strong ability.

Lifeweaver: Offers long-range healing, perfect for this mode. Has good escape tools and deals solid damage similar to Baptiste without damage falloff.

Tanks

D.va: Probably the top hero choice here. Her Matrix helps defend the towers, and she's mobile enough to move between them easily. Her ult can clear a tower or act as a second life in a pinch. Plus, she's great for earning emblems if you care about your score.

Mauga: Similar to D.va but trades some mobility for more damage. Still a strong pick, though. His ult is mainly for emergencies.

Rammatra: His infinite range staff is super useful in these open maps. His Vortex ability is great against exploders. His shield is low-maintenance, and while his Nemesis form is okay for crowd control, you'll mainly use it for the speed boost and extra health.

Orisa: Has good range and decent survivability but is generally a weaker pick compared to others.

OW 2 The Gauntlet Tips

Here's a few more general tips.

Tower B is crucial to keep standing. If you're defending two towers simultaneously, make Tower B your top priority. This is especially important because on Round 10, the "bosses" spawn near the front door. Tower B is the one farthest from the door. This means your team can take out more enemies before they reach the tower and cause serious damage.

Avoid any hero that requires you to get up close. Consistent, ranged DPS seems to be the best. This is also valid for supports.

Prioritize tower health, and focus the exploding bots first.

These Tower upgrades are great: Ballistic Turret, Freeze Turret, Frost Barrel, Damage Boost, Stun Field, Slowdown Field, Tower Repair.

Re-rolls aren't totally random. Each type of upgrade tends to re-roll the same type of upgrade. For example, turrets re-roll other turrets, and barrels re-roll other barrels. So, if you keep getting a barrel instead of a tower repair every time you re-roll, it's because barrels can only re-roll other barrels.

Also, remember not to wander off alone for too long, especially as the rounds get tougher. You might get overrun and end up getting taken out, leaving your team with one less player.

Overwatch 2 Gauntlet Challenges and Rewards

Title	Description	Reward
Gauntlet Expert: Tank	Win a game in Hero Mastery Gauntlet mode on Expert playing a tank hero.	2,500 Battle Pass XP
Gauntlet Expert: Support	Win a game in Hero Mastery Gauntlet mode on Expert playing a support hero.	2,500 Battle Pass XP
Not a Scratch: Hard	Win a game in Hero Mastery Gauntlet mode on Hard difficulty without dying.	2,500 Battle Pass XP
Not a Scratch: Legendary	Win a game in Hero Mastery Gauntlet mode on Legendary difficulty without dying.	7,500 Battle Pass XP and Mercy Hero Mastery victory pose
Gauntlet Role Expert	Win a game in Hero Mastery Gauntlet mode on Expert difficulty with a 5-star score on each role.	5,000 Battle Pass XP and Reinhardt Hero Mastery victory pose
Round and Around We Go	Complete 5,000 rounds in Hero Mastery Gauntlet mode.	Gauntlet Hero player title
Gauntlet Expert: Damage	Win a game in Hero Mastery Gauntlet mode on Expert playing a damage hero.	2,500 Battle Pass XP
Upgrade Variety	Activate 14 different upgrades in Hero Mastery Gauntlet.	5,000 Battle Pass XP and Gauntlet Blocks spray.
Not a Scratch: Expert	Win a game in Hero Mastery Gauntlet mode on Expert difficulty without dying.	2,500 Battle Pass XP and Hero Mastery Gauntlet player icon
Legendary Gauntlet Run	Win a game in Hero Mastery Gauntlet mode on Legendary difficulty with 5 stars.	Hero Mastery Gauntlet name card
Legend of the Gauntlet	Win a game in Hero Mastery Gauntlet mode on Legendary difficulty with a 5-star score on each role.	Master of the Gauntlet player title

OW 2 The Gauntlet Boost

In case you need help with getting these, our professional Overwatch 2 boosting team can help you with our OW 2 Hero Mastery boosting service. You can either allow us to do the desired challenges for you, or you can play with us while we carry you!

Whichever way you prefer, rest assured we got you, starting today!