A Guide to Individual Performance Scoring in Overwatch

Note: This post explores the mechanics of scoring in Overwatch and how it relates to competitive rank gains. As Blizzard will not reveal how the game measures individual performance due to potential for abuse, some conclusions drawn in this post are educated guesses based on available data.

This post will be updated as new information becomes available over time.

Not all Overwatch players are ranked equally. Although there are six players in each team, everyone gets a different skill rating gain or loss based on their personal performance.

Score is how Overwatch measures individual contributions to the success of a game. Every action a player takes that the game deems a contribution to the team's success is assigned a numerical score.

To account for the difference in the length of matches — since a short game will naturally result in less absolute score — it appears that Overwatch tracks your average score, or score gained per minute. At the end of the match, if your score/min is higher than average for the character you are playing on that map, your hidden MMR will see a bigger increase on a win.

The bigger the difference between your MMR and your skill rating, the more your skill rating will increase to match your MMR. To find out more about how MMR works, check out our post on competitive ranking.

An easy way to see if you're generating score quickly is the "On Fire" meter, found under your own health bar. It takes about 210 score to get set on fire, The On Fire meter decays at a rate of 4 score/second, so you need to be generating 240 score/min to stay on fire.

Here, we've put together the following list of general actions that generate score in a game so players know what they can do to maximise their score. These actions can be performed by all characters.

Eliminations: +1-100 score

When you kill, or help to kill an opponent. Score for eliminations is assigned based on your percentage contribution to an opponent's death. So if you did 100 damage to a 200 HP opponent and your team finishes them off, you'll get 50 score.

Environmental kills happen when you knock a target off the map, such as using Lucio's right click ability to knock an opponent into the well on Ilios. The score you get is calculated based on the HP your target has when their death is registered.

In the gif below, you can see that Pharah gets +100 score when she knocks a full HP Winston into the pit in Nepal.

But she only gets +44 for knocking a Winston at 44 per cent health into the pit.

It is widely perceived that environmental kills assigns a large chunk of score. This does not seem to be the case from the above experiments.

The game does not appear to differentiate between different types of eliminations, so regardless of whether it's a normal, environmental or objective kill, your score gain is solely based on the percentage of damage contributed.

Healing: +1-100 score

Similar to Eliminations, except that you're awarded score for refilling yours and your team mates' health bars. How much score you get for healing appears to be based on percentage of their max HP healed.

In the case of Lucio, if several team mates are healed at once, his score appears to be the sum of the percentage of health healed. So if three team mates were at 90 per cent health and you healed all three to full health, you get +30 score.

For non-support characters like Roadhog, Reaper and Soldier who have the ability to self-heal, they receive score for the percentage of self-healing done. Soldier will also receive score for team mates healed in Biotic Field.

Objective Capture: +1-33 score/second while capturing, +50-79 on capture

You get score for capturing the point on KOTH (i.e. Ilios and Nepal), 2CP (i.e. Hanamura and Anubis) and the first point of hybrid maps (i.e King's Row and Numbani). In the case of the latter two map types, you can only get Objective Capture score as the Attacking team.

While standing on the point, you get score every second for being on a capture point. Once you capture it, you are awarded a one-time bonus score..

The amount of score you get for helping to capture a point appears to depend on the number of team mates standing on the point, objective kills done as well as how long it's been kept free of opponents while you're standing on it.

Objective Defense: +1-33 score/second while defending

If your team has captured the point on KOTH or are on defense on 2CP, escort and hybrid maps, you receive Objective Defense score.

You only receive this score if there are opponents on the objective. Every second you fight on the payload or capture point nets you score. How much you get appears to depend on the number of opponents and team mates on the objective with you, as well as objective kills done.

Escorting the Payload: +1-59 score/second

Helping to move the payload usually nets you +10 score/second, although occasionally you are awarded more score if you stay on it long enough. This score also appears to fluctuate depending on how long the payload has been kept clear of opponents.

Destroying Turrets: +10-50 score

Destroying Torbjorn's turret is worth 50 score. Each of Symmetra's turrets is worth 10.

Character Specific Scores

In addition to the above general metrics, each character has their own unique criteria that they are scored on. For example, supports receive score if their ultimates heal, resurrect or block damage. Torbjorn receives score when a team mate uses an armor pack.

Character-specific actions that generate score will be covered in later guides.

Metrics that don't matter

It's not uncommon to hear players asking why they did not get more SR or lose less on a loss when they had multiple gold medals. The truth is, medals are purely cosmetic. All they tell you is how well you did relative to your team.

Your SR gain is calculated by comparing your performance to other players playing the same character on the map, So to maximise your SR gain or minimise your losses, don't fixate on medals. Focus on maximising your score, which means playing on the objective, destroying turrets and killing/healing as much as you can.

K/D also doesn't seem to play much of a part in scoring. However, do note that the longer you stay alive, the more likely you are to be performing actions that generate score. So dying less helps to maximise your SR gains indirectly.

Was there a score-generating action you've noticed that isn't covered here, or have you seen different minimum/maximum scores assigned for an action? Let us know in the comments!