counterpickStadium rules
How a Stadium match runs: rounds, powers, Stadium Cash, items, builds, draft and the Stadium ranks.
The mode
Stadium started in Season 16 as a mode of its own next to Unranked, Competitive and Arcade. Two teams of five play several rounds on several maps.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025It only runs with Role Queue: one tank, two damage, two support. You choose your hero once and keep it all match.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025 · Enter the Stadium: Get Ready to BattleThird-person view is the default; first person is a setting away.
Source: Enter the Stadium: Get Ready to BattleIn July 2026 Blizzard said Stadium keeps its balance updates each season but gets no new heroes or maps.
Source: Director's Take: Future Formats33 of 53 heroes can be played in Stadium.
Source: Stadium page · Overwatch fan wiki
Ana
Ashe
Brigitte
Cassidy
D.Va
Doomfist
Freja
Genji
Hazard
Jetpack Cat
Junker Queen
Junkrat
Juno
Kiriko
Lúcio
Mei
Mercy
Moira
Orisa
Pharah
Ramattra
Reaper
Reinhardt
Sigma
Sojourn
Soldier: 76
Torbjörn
Tracer
Vendetta
Winston
Wuyang
Zarya
Zenyatta
Rounds and format
Stadium Competitive is best of seven: the first team with four round wins takes the match.
Source: Patch notes 30 Oct 2025Stadium Quick Play is best of five with a quicker economy. Leavers are replaced, and new players need 10 wins there before Stadium Competitive opens.
Source: Patch notes 26 Aug 2025The mercy rule ends a match early when a team leads by three rounds after round 3 and has at least 10,000 more Stadium Cash.
Source: Patch notes 16 May 2025 · Patch notes 16 Sept 2025
Format changes
| Date | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Launch: best of seven, powers before rounds 1, 3, 5 and 7. | Patch notes 22 Apr 2025 | |
| Stadium Quick Play: best of five, powers before rounds 1, 2, 3 and 5. | Patch notes 26 Aug 2025 | |
| Competitive also best of five, powers 1, 2, 3 and 5, mercy rule off. | Patch notes 14 Oct 2025 | |
| Competitive back to best of seven, powers 1, 3, 5 and 7, mercy rule on. | Patch notes 30 Oct 2025 | |
| Competitive: powers before rounds 1, 2, 4 and 6. | Patch notes 9 Feb 2026 |
Powers
Each Stadium hero has 12 powers to choose from.
Source: Enter the Stadium: Keys to VictoryIn Stadium Competitive you take a power before rounds 1, 2, 4 and 6, in Stadium Quick Play before rounds 1, 2, 3 and 5.
Source: Patch notes 9 Feb 2026 · Patch notes 26 Aug 2025Powers cost nothing, but once taken they stay until the match ends.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025 · Enter the Stadium: Get Ready to Battle
Stadium Cash
Everyone starts a match with a budget of 3,500 and earns more Stadium Cash through damage, healing, eliminations and assists.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025The top earner of each team in a round gets 1,000 extra.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025 · Patch notes 30 Oct 2025A team that goes into a round well behind earns with a bonus multiplier in that round.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025Every player has a bounty. It starts at 300 and grows by 75 per elimination or assist, now up to 3,000 instead of 2,000. Dying resets it to 300, or cuts it by 100 if it was 300 or less. Bounties from 750 up show in the HUD.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025 · Patch notes 14 May 2025 · Patch notes 30 Oct 2025Earned cash also raises max health: damage and support heroes get 1 health per 500, tanks 1 per 750, up to 300 in all. The 3,500 at the start do not count.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025
Armory and items
Before every round you shop in the Armory for a limited time; Blizzard cut it to 75 seconds in rounds 1 and 3 and to 60 seconds in round 2.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025 · Patch notes 14 May 2025You can carry up to six items and sell any of them for what you paid.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025There are weapon items for weapons without cooldowns, ability items for abilities with a cooldown or ult charge, and survival items for health, speed and the like.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025Gadgets came in Season 19: items with an active effect and a cooldown, used with their own key (3 on keyboard, up on the d-pad). You can carry one.
Source: Patch notes 14 Oct 2025Rarities are common, rare and epic; common is the cheapest. Most items fit every hero, some belong to one hero only.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025
Builds and share codes
Since Season 17 you can keep 10 builds for each hero in the Stadium Forge in the practice range and pick them in the Armory.
Source: Patch notes 24 Jun 2025A build can be shared as a code that stays valid for up to a year. Builds of other players in a match and builds from replays can be copied too.
Source: Patch notes 24 Jun 2025Every Stadium hero has example builds, sorted into early, late and flex items.
Source: Patch notes 24 Jun 2025
Hero draft
Stadium Competitive picks heroes in a draft since Season 18; Blizzard’s Stadium page lists banning and picking as part of it.
Source: Patch notes 26 Aug 2025 · Stadium pageBoth teams may pick the same hero.
Source: Patch notes 28 Aug 2025Picks are blind: both sides choose at once and are revealed together. The tank always picks in the fifth slot.
Source: Patch notes 6 Nov 2025
Stadium ranks
Stadium has its own ranks: seven leagues, from Rookie through Novice, Contender, Elite, Pro and All-Star up to Legend, each with divisions 5 to 1.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025Each role has its own Stadium rank, and there are no placement matches.
Source: Enter the Stadium: Climbing the RanksWins give Stadium Points. At launch a loss cost nothing in Rookie and Novice, a little in Contender and Elite, and from Pro on about as much as a win brought.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025Since Season 18 the points per match depend on your current and your expected rank, and a lost match still pays for every round you won.
Source: Patch notes 26 Aug 2025Groups are limited from Pro upward: Pro within 15 divisions, All-Star within 10, Legend within 5.
Source: Patch notes 26 Aug 2025A new season no longer starts everyone at the bottom: Contender starts in Novice, Elite in Contender, Pro in Elite, All-Star and Legend deeper in Elite (5, 10 or 15 divisions lower).
Source: Patch notes 14 Apr 2026Every Stadium win gives 10 Competitive Points.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025
Maps
Stadium uses shortened core modes: Control is a single round with faster capture, Clash uses three points and ends when a team holds two of them, and Push covers about half the usual distance.
Source: Patch notes 22 Apr 2025 · Enter the Stadium: Get Ready to BattlePayload Race was added as a Stadium map type in Season 18.
Source: Patch notes 26 Aug 2025
Sources
- Patch notes
- Blizzard’s patch notes of the days linked at each statement. 22 Apr 2025 · 14 May 2025 · 16 May 2025 · 24 Jun 2025 · 26 Aug 2025 · 28 Aug 2025 · 16 Sept 2025 · 14 Oct 2025 · 30 Oct 2025 · 6 Nov 2025 · 9 Feb 2026 · 14 Apr 2026
- Blizzard pages
- Enter the Stadium: Get Ready to Battle (published 14 Apr 2025) · Director's Take: Future Formats (published 15 Jul 2026) · Stadium page (read 24 Sept 2026) · Enter the Stadium: Keys to Victory (published 16 Apr 2025) · Enter the Stadium: Climbing the Ranks (published 17 Apr 2025)
- Hero values
- Overwatch fan wiki , CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 , as of 24 Sept 2026
- Texts
- Our own words. Every statement links the source it is based on; what no source describes stays open.