Powerful Overwatch exploit gives attackers a huge advantage before the round even starts

Brad Norton
Overwatch widowmaker gameplay

A powerful new Overwatch exploit on the Hollywood Hybrid map allows players to pick off a number of enemies before the round even gets underway.

When it comes to Hybrid maps in Overwatch, teams start at different points on the map. For Defenders, they’re able to set up anywhere near the first objective. For Attackers, they have to sit around in the spawn room until it’s time to go.

This is how it’s always been in the Hybrid game mode as the brief window allows for a fair fight. Though a new game-breaking exploit on one particular map is bucking that trend and giving one side a major advantage.

Attackers are able to glitch through the spawn room itself to access a bugged part of the terrain. While here, long-range heroes can then start damaging enemies before the countdown timer ends and the spawn doors open.

“Be aware. Hollywood Attackers can currently kill you from spawn,” Reddit user ‘curved_trout’ shared in a May 9 post. The accompanying clip shows Widowmaker lining up shots from across the map before the attacking phase begins.

While not everything functions as you would expect here, one well-placed shot was still able to wipe out an opposing Support. Seconds before the round kicked off and Baptiste found himself heading back to the Defender’s spawn, far away from the objective.

Thus, ahead of the first proper team fight, Attackers already found themselves at a 6v5 advantage due to the exploit.

Even with a Mercy on their side, the Baptiste was unable to be resurrected. Due to the timing of the kill, other abilities were off-limits. Similarly, the kill didn’t charge up Widowmaker’s Ultimate whatsoever.

Overwatch King's Row gameplay
From King’s Row to Eichenwalde, it’s worth being cautious of this exploit across all Hybrid maps moving forward.

Supposedly, this issue is present not just on Hollywood, but other Hybrid maps too, according to other players in the comments. As Blizzard is yet to address the bug, perhaps due to a number of critical issues in the Overwatch 2 Beta, there’s no telling when this might be resolved.

For the time being, you’ll have to avoid line of sight with opposing spawn rooms. You never know when a Widow might be scoped in looking for a kill before the round even gets underway.

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About The Author

Brad Norton is the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. He graduated from Swinburne University with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and has been working full-time in the field for the past six years at the likes of Gamurs Group and now Dexerto. He loves all things single-player gaming (with Uncharted a personal favorite) but has a history on the competitive side having previously run Oceanic esports org Mindfreak. You can contact Brad at brad.norton@dexerto.com