In Overwatch 2, staying alive is great, but staying ahead is better. That’s where Perks come in. These mid-match upgrades let you power up your hero, tweak your playstyle, and, ideally, make your enemies regret their choices. Want shorter cooldowns? Bigger impact? A little extra chaos? Perks have you covered.
But don’t just button-mash your way through. Earning and equipping them at the right time can mean the difference between domination and a fast trip back to spawn. So, how do you rack up Perk progress? What happens if you swap heroes mid-match? Let’s break it down so you end up on the right side of the victory screen.
What Are Perks?
Available in both Quickplay and Competitive modes, Perks provide mid-match upgrades that enhance your chosen hero’s abilities, allowing you to evolve your strategy as the match progresses. You first unlock a minor Perk at level two, offering small improvements like cooldown reductions, followed by a major Perk at level three, which significantly alters your hero’s abilities.
With two choices available for both minor and major Perks, you can tailor your upgrades to match your playstyle and adapt to each game.
How Do You Earn Perks?
Perk progress is earned through active gameplay — dealing damage, securing eliminations, and healing allies all contribute to unlocking upgrades. As the match continues, the rate of Perk acquisition increases. Defeating an enemy who has reached a higher Perk level grants additional progress, providing an incentive for you to engage in combat against well-upgraded opponents.
Perks do not transfer between heroes, meaning if a player switches heroes mid-match, you must restart their Perk progression for the new character. However, progress is saved for any hero previously played in that match. For example, if you reach level three with Roadhog and later switch back to him, you will retain both of his unlocked Perks.
Your Perk progression appears in the bottom left of your screen, with a blue bar slowly filling as you progress. When it’s time to equip a Perk, an orange pop-up will appear in that corner.
How To Equip Perks
You can choose your Perks using multiple selection methods.
- The standard selection method involves holding down the Left Alt key on the keyboard or pressing up on the directional pad for controllers, then selecting the desired Perk with directional inputs or shoulder buttons.
- For faster selections, you can customize keybindings in your settings to select Perks without opening the Perk menu.
- Additionally, you can modify the selection input to be a toggle instead of requiring a hold.
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