Blizzard has revealed the most-played heroes from Overwatch 2's first beta alongside plenty of other data the development studio collected over the course of the game's first public playtest.
Sojourn Pick Rate in Overwatch 2 Beta
Sojourn, the only new playable hero available in the beta, predictably began the beta as the most-used hero, per Blizzard's blog post. Her pick rate began at a staggering 80% as players rushed to try out her kit. Her weighted usage rate, which is calculated relative to the number of heroes in the same role, shows she was chosen over the other damage heroes at a staggering rate.
Over time Sojourn's overall usage rate dropped closer to around 30%, and though her weighted usage rate dropped alongside it, she remained one of the most popular heroes in the beta.
Hero Pick Rates in Overwatch 2 Beta
The next highest usage rate went to Ana, a support that remains popular in the live version of Overwatch 1. She stayed steady at around 60% pick rate for the duration of the beta.
Of the reworked heroes, Orisa began with the highest pick rate at around 45%. It fell steadily over time to align with Doomfist, the second-most picked hero to have received a rework. Bastion and Sombra, the other two heroes to receive reworks, enjoyed starting pick rates of around 20% and 10%, respectively, that tapered off to just about 10% for both.
Highest Hero Win Rates in Overwatch 2 Beta
In the blog post, the development team explains that it accounts for how long a hero is played in a given match when calculating that hero's win rate. For example, if a player plays Sojourn for half of a 10-minute match that they go on to win, Sojourn earns a 0.5 "win fraction." These win fractions (and loss fractions, which are calculated in the same way) are added up across all matches played, then divided by Sojourn's total fractions. This creates a win rate that more accurately accounts for hero switching.
Then, to account for heroes that receive lots of play â such as Sojourn â Blizzard uses a separate metric called "unmirrored" win rate. This metric ignores matches where the hero in question appeared on both teams. This gives a more accurate read on how the hero plays when the same hero isn't being fielded by the other team.
Using unmirrored wins, Symmetra had the highest win rate in the game, hovering at around 60% throughout the beta. This is likely the result of players using Symmetra exclusively in situations where she's most powerful â for instance, defending the first point of a map â and swapping off her when she's no longer appropriate.
Reinhardt had the next highest unmirrored win rate, hovering between 57% and 58%.
Sojourn and Orisa had the opposite experience, as players flocked to them even when they may not have been the right choices. This hurt their unmirrored win rates, pushing them down to 43% and 45%, respectively. Even still, they managed to outperform Baptiste, whose unmirrored win rate was the lowest throughout the beta, dropping from around 43% to closer to 42% by the end.
Blizzard plans to sift through all this data and more to help balance the next round of beta testing, set to begin June 16.
