New Overwatch 2 avoid slot system explained

In Season 12, Overwatch 2 is finally revamping its avoid slots with a new priority list and expanding it with more slots.

Back in Season 10, Overwatch 2’s devs teased a slew of changes coming in the next few seasons, and one of the most hyped features was a reworked avoid slot system.

Expanding from a paltry three slots to an entire 15-person slot, complete with a priority list and more, it pretty much guarantees that you’ll be able to avoid certain players in your games.

So before Season 12 kicks off, here’s everything you need to know about the new avoid system.

Overwatch 2 avoid slots expand to 15 players

Expanding from the miniscule three slots, in Season 12 players will be able to avoid up to 15 players at a time.

Initially, when announced in April, the revamped system would only accommodate 10 avoid slots, but in between the reveal and release it looks like the devs decided to expand the slot even further.

Blizzard

You’ll now be able to avoid 15 players, being able to pin three of them.

So if there are any perky trolls, griefers, or generally toxic players you keep queuing up with because your avoid slots were already previously full, you’ll now have 15 slots to work with.

Overwatch 2 allows players to permanently avoid teammates

Additionally, you’ll be able to pin three players to permanently avoid.

These three players will be pinned at the top of your avoid list and will never be on your team, and they will never be unpinned unless you decide to do so.

Blizzard

Is there a one-trick Genji throwing your games? You can now perma avoid them!

As for the other 12 slots, you’ll be able to rank all 12 of them based on how much you don’t mind queuing with them on your team.

Just because a player is in one of the 12 slots doesn’t mean they’ll be perma avoided, as there is a chance you may have to queue with an avoided player from your 12 slots so the system can put you in a game. This is where the ranking system comes in handy, so you can prioritize who on the list you don’t want in your team.

However, Senior Systems Designer Gavin Winter explained that most players won’t have to deal with that as this feature is only there for top-ranked players.

Due to Master to Champion lobbies being so small, players will need to choose who they are most comfortable playing with as a compromise, but for the rest of us, there’s a good chance we’ll not be queued into our avoided players.

It’s important to note, whoever you put in the 12 avoid slots will be removed from the slots in seven days. So, if you genuinely never want to queue up against a player, you’ll need to pin them.