If you’ve ever been deeply involved in an Overwatch battle without ever realizing that half your team died 15 seconds ago, we highly recommend enabling Overwatch 2’s new setting. (opens in new tab)It’s the unique sound that plays when a teammate dies, and turning it on has already saved my bacon many times.
The sound itself will be familiar to Overwatch veterans. A short, blaring emergency siren that effectively says, “Oh my god, back up, oh my god.” Alarms have been used in Overwatch for years to signal the death of teammates, but only in his time-limited PvE events. You can now use it in PvP, but it’s off by default and easy to miss in the settings menu.
Blizzard gave this setting an apt name “Play a sound when an ally is defeated”It’s at the bottom of this first page of audio settings.
Once turned on, you can basically stop worrying about the kill feed forever. I’m amazed at how quickly the death alarm improved my reactivity. I was able to stay fully focused on my purpose and the person I was treating, and never had to retreat when a teammate died. I could understand something immediately. A useful new word of warning has slowly spread among friends and associates, and now everyone is issuing death warnings. This harsh, obnoxious noise is pretty sweet.
This is the alarm in action, showing Soldier 76 repeatedly jumping off a cliff (sound on).
You may be wondering about a similar setting above the teammate death alarm, “Play a sound when an enemy is killed”. It does what it says on the tin, but honestly, it’s barely audible. It’s a unique sound, but either it’s too quiet or your brain drowns it out. That’s fine with me — I’m more concerned with teammate notifications anyway.
