Everything you need to know about the Overwatch League 2022 season

The Overwatch League 2022 season kicks off May 5. The fifth season of the league is highly anticipated due to the fact that teams will be playing on an early build of Overwatch 2. A new map mode, new maps, 5v5 gameplay and a new hero are among the more notable changes for Overwatch’s sequel. While players have had access to Overwatch 2 for a couple months, fans and content creators got access to the Overwatch 2 beta beginning April 26. With the OWL’s fifth season set to kick off in less than a week, here’s everything you need to know about the schedule and format plus a few teams you should keep an eye on.

Schedule and format

The 20 Overwatch League teams again will be split into East and West divisions and the schedule will be split up into a few stages with qualifiers leading to a tournament at the end of each stage. This year, the New York Excelsior are moving back to New York from Korea and will be in the West division. There will be seven teams in the East and 13 in the West.

The Shanghai Dragons are the defending champions. Photo credit: Activision Blizzard

These are the seven teams in the East:

• Shanghai Dragons
• Chengdu Hunters
• Seoul Dynasty
• Guangzhou Charge
• Hangzhou Spark
• Philadelphia Fusion
• Los Angeles Valiant

These are the 13 teams in the West:

• San Francisco Shock
• Los Angeles Gladiators
• Vancouver Titans
• Dallas Fuel
• Houston Outlaws
• Atlanta Reign
• New York Excelsior
• Boston Uprising
• Washington Justice
• Toronto Defiant
• London Spitfire
• Paris Eternal
• Florida Mayhem

The schedule will split up into the following four qualifying stages:

• Kickoff Clash (May 5 - May 29)
• Midseason Madness (June 16 - July 10)
• Summer Showdown (Aug. 11 - Sept. 4)
• Countdown Cup (Sept. 22 - Oct. 16)

After each qualifying stage there will be a tournament. The plan is for the first and third tournaments to be regional events, while the second and fourth (barring any COVID complications) will involve teams from both regions competing against each other.

The Countdown Cup tournament also is intended to be a play-in tournament for the playoffs at the end of the season. The end-of-year playoffs are, of course, intended to be a global event involving the best teams from both regions.

One of the major changes for 2022 is the inclusion of a new map mode: push. It will replace the assault map mode and will be in addition to the escort, control and hybrid maps. The push mode will feature two new maps, but there also will be new maps for a couple of the other map modes.

Rome is one of the new maps that will be in play. Image credit: Activision Blizzard

Here is the map pool for 2022:

Control: Ilios, Lijiang Tower, Oasis

Hybrid: Eichenwalde, King’s Row, Midtown (New York)

Escort: Circuit Royal (Monte Carlo), Dorado, Route 66, Watchpoint: Gibraltar

Push: Colosseo (Rome), New Queen Street (Toronto)

Players also will have a chance to play the newest Overwatch hero, Sojourn.

To find out which matches to watch during opening weekend, check out this article: Overwatch League 2022 schedule and matches to watch

Teams to watch

Shanghai Dragons

The Shanghai Dragons are the defending champions, which makes them an obvious team to watch again this season. They were dominant throughout 2021 and capped it off by winning the OWL 2021 Grand Final. They have not made any significant changes in the offseason as they look to run it back this year. The only addition they have made is Hui-chang "BeBe" Yoon, a support play who was with the Washington Justice last year. They still have a formidable DPS line featuring 2020 MVP Byung-sun "Fleta" Kim, Jae-won "LIP" Lee and Seung-jun "WhoRU" Lee.

Atlanta Reign

The 2021 runners-up made significant changes in the offseason, changing up more than half their roster. The 2021 Rookie of the Year Se-hyun "Pelican" Oh is gone, and so is Petja "Masaa" Kantanen, Tae-hoon "Edison" Kim and Seung-hyun "Ir1s" Kim. They added former San Francisco Shock DPS player Charlie "nero" Zwarg as well as three players from Contenders teams. They also added a 17-year-old DPS player Nicholas "Speedily" Zou, who is currently underage but will be eligible to play once he turns 18.

Dallas Fuel

The Dallas Fuel made several trips to Hawaii in 2021 to compete against teams form the East. Photo credit: Activision Blizzard

The Dallas Fuel were one of the best teams in the league in 2021. They won one tournament and finished second in another, and it looked like they would meet the Dragons in the grand final but ended up finishing third in the playoffs. They made a few changes in the offseason, adding DPS players Tae-hoon "Edison" Kim and Min-seo "guriyo" Kang as well as support Hyeon-seok "ChiYo" Han. Dong-ha "Doha" Kim and Yeong-han "SP9RK1E" Kim are already some of the top DPS players, so the new DPS players will bolster an already strong Fuel attack.

San Francisco Shock

When thinking about the first four years of the Overwatch League, the two-time champion San Francisco Shock stand out as one of the best and most consistent teams in the league. However, the era of Shock dominance might be over in light of major changes in the offseason. Matthew "super" DeLisi, a tank player who was with the team since the OWL’s inaugural season has retired. All the team’s DPS players from last season have moved on, including stars Seonchang "ANS" Lee and Myeong-hwan "smurf" Yoo. The Shock have added a trio of players from O2 Blast, the top Contenders Korea team in 2021, so perhaps the Shock have the right players to rebuild. It’ll be fun to see whether the Shock can remain a top team with a revamped roster.

Houston Outlaws

The Atlanta Reign’s loss was the Houston Outlaws’ gain in the offseason. The Outlaws added 2021 Rookie of the Year Pelican to their DPS lineup and support Seung-hyun "Ir1s" Kim. Considering how good the Reign were last season, these additions should immediately elevate the Outlaws from one of the better middle-of-the-pack teams to a contender. Like the Shock, they also looked toward the best Contenders team and added Tae-min "MER1T" Choi from the O2 Blast. Fan-favorite Jacob “JAKE” Lyon is still with the team, but now as an assistant coach.

Los Angeles Gladiators

Patiphan left VALORANT to join the Gladiators. Photo credit: Riot Games

The Gladiators clearly had VALORANT on their mind this offseason. They added former VALORANT player Patiphan “Patiphan” Chaiwong as well as Seonchang "ANS" Lee, a player who competed briefly in VALORANT in between stints with the San Francisco Shock. It’s worth noting that Patiphan was actually a highly touted Overwatch prospect and a star for Team Thailand before switching to VALORANT. These two additions should make up for the fact star DPS player Ji-hyeok "birdring" Kim retired. The team’s other notable offseason addition was longtime Philadelphia Fusion support Daniel "FunnyAstro" Hathaway.

Los Angeles Valiant

The Los Angeles Valiant were terrible last season. There’s no sugarcoating the fact they went winless and only won two maps in 2021. There’s nowhere to go but up this season, right? They have a completely new roster for 2022, with three players coming over from Team CC, the Shanghai Dragons’ academy team and one of the best Contenders teams in 2021. The most notable of these players is Weida "Diya" Lu, who played the first three seasons of the Overwatch League with the Dragons. Maybe the Valiant can emulate the Dragons in going from worst to first?

Lead photo credit: Activision Blizzard