What are Stranded Spawns in Overwatch 2?

What are Stranded Spawns in Overwatch 2?
Images via Blizzard

Written by 

Harry Boulton

Published 

11th Apr 2023 16:53

Stranded Spawns are a new addition with Overwatch 2 Season 4, and they should help ease any frustrations you might have when trying to group up. Overwatch 2 games can very quickly become a mess when your teams spawns are split up, but with this new feature in the game things should hopefully get a bit easier.

So, all you need to do to find out all about the new Overwatch 2 Stranded Spawns is read the rest of this guide below, as we've got a full explainer waiting for you.

Overwatch 2 Stranded Spawns explained

Screenshot of Lifeweaver and BOB in Overwatch 2
Click to enlarge

There's no worse feeling in Overwatch 2 than being isolated in an old spawn room, watching your team inevitably lose a mismatched team fight as you slowly trundle your way back into the action.

However, the new 'Stranded Spawns' feature in Overwatch 2 should hopefully alleviate these painful moments, giving you a couple of options and also a bit of security in times like these.

Previously, losing or gaining a checkpoint would give your team a new spawn room, but if your death was poorly timed just before the checkpoint hit, you would spawn in the 'old' one and thus be separated from your team and left in an unsafe area near the enemy.

While nothing has changed in terms of where you will spawn in situations like this, Blizzard have made some additions that should hopefully help you get back to your team as quickly as possible.

With Stranded Spawns in Overwatch 2, the 'old' spawn room will remain active for seven seconds after the spawn swap, retaining its healing zone and preventing enemy players from entering.

You will be unable to switch your hero in this temporary spawn room, but you will have the option to teleport to the new spawn room with the rest of your team, which is extremely helpful for grouping up and saves any laborious journeys.

Will Overwatch 2 Stranded Spawns be in competitive?

Screenshot of Winston in camouflage in Overwatch 2 - not in a stranded spawn though!
Click to enlarge

Stranded Spawns will be making their way to all Overwatch 2 game modes including competitive, so you won't have to worry about this particular problem ever again.

While it won't prevent certain teammates from staggering their deaths or going off on silly solo lurks, it will hopefully increase the amount of times you are able to fight as a full team and thus improve the quality of your games.

So, that's all you need to know about the Overwatch 2 Stranded Spawns mechanic, so you can jump straight into your games now with one less thing to worry about. If you're wondering how to unlock Lifeweaver in Overwatch 2 though, make sure to check out this guide for all of the details.

Harry Boulton
About the author
Harry Boulton
Harry is a Guides Writer at GGRecon, having completed a Masters of Research degree in Film Studies. Previously a freelance writer for PCGamesN, The Loadout, and Red Bull Gaming, he loves playing a wide variety of games from the Souls series to JRPGs, Counter-Strike, and EA FC. When not playing or writing about games and hardware, you're likely to find him watching football or listening to Madonna and Kate Bush.
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