As you can see from our lists, having a 240Hz monitor is pretty much mandatory according to the professionals and Blizzard themselves, since 240Hz monitors have been used as the official OWL monitors ever since the inaugural season.

There is some variance in what model the individual players prefer, though most of the Overwatch League players gravitate towards the monitors that are used on the stage.  What could be interesting to people who aren't that familiar with competitive gaming is that not a single pro player is using a 60Hz monitor. That's because they'd be putting themselves at a severe disadvantage by going for a regular 60Hz panel.

240Hz monitors update the picture on your screen 240 times a second. This gives you explicit advantages when compared to regular monitors:

• You get a smoother image that makes it easier to track fast moving objects
• The game looks and feels faster and more responsive, making it more natural to control and easier to react quickly

If you want to go more in-depth on the subject you can always read our full guide but suffice it to say that we wouldn't see all pros (across all analyzed games) using high refresh rate monitors if it were just a placebo or something like that.

With so much going on in an average Overwatch team fight and super fast moving characters such as Genji and Tracer being common Overwatch is definitely a game where you'll want all the frames you can possibly get.

In season 1 the stage monitors on the OWL stage were the ASUS ROG Swift PG258Q monitors, but since the start of Overwatch League's season 2 in 2019 the stage is outfitted with HP OMEN's X 25, which is a 240Hz monitor complete with G-Sync and a 1ms reponse time. You can check out more about this monitor (and other top Overwatch monitors) in our Overwatch monitor guide.

It makes sense for OWL pros (who make up the majority of our analyzed professionals) to practice on the stage monitors, so the OMEN is currently the most used monitor in the pro scene, though the ASUS ROG Swift PG258Q (the former stage monitor) is still being used by over a tenth of OW pros. It also offers a 240Hz refresh rate, as well as a 1ms response time and lots of bells and whistles to give you an upper edge ingame, so if you're considering a top-end gaming monitor for OW and you want it now we can definitely recommend that. Another option in the 240Hz range is BenQ's XL2546, which we've reviewed here.

OMEN by HP is the clear winner here. They're the monitor sponsor of the Overwatch League and as such it's only natural that most professionals practice on their display.

Both ASUS and Zowie are known for their high quality gaming-focused monitors so it's not so strange to see them both appearing on the desks of a lot of professional players.

Nowadays finding the right gaming mouse is all about finding what's right for you. It has always been that way (shape, feel, and weight have been important gaming mouse characteristics since forever) but technology has come to the point where almost all newly released mice (from reputable brands) contain a flawless sensor.

Without having to necessarily worry about the internals of a mouse you can freely pick one out that suits your grip style, has all of the features that you want, and so on. For Overwatch you don't really need a complicated mouse. There is no need to have a gazillion side buttons, nor do you need a ton of extra functions on the mouse itself.

Our data learns us that most Overwatch professionals prefer their mice simple: a set of two side buttons, a scroll wheel, and that's it. That's not surprising for an FPS game, but what is something that's interesting to us is that a lot of OW pros are opting for a wireless mouse. About 43% of our analyzed professionals are using a wireless mouse, which is something that was completely unthinkable just a couple of years back. It just goes to show how far wireless technology has really come. Playing with a (proper no-latency) wireless mouse really is an experience unlike anything else so it's not that surprising that more and more gamers are switching over.

About a fifth of Overwatch pros use the Logitech G Pro Wireless, though a lot of players who were using the G Pro Wireless have been switching to the G Pro X Superlight these days.

It makes sense too; the G Pro Wireless is an incredibly attractive package with a nice shape, configurable side buttons (making it a truly ambidextrous mouse), a flawless sensor, rechargeable battery and Logitech's state of the art wireless technology.

Logitech has always been the most used manufacturer in the Overwatch world when it comes to gaming mice, and this gap doesn't seem to be closing any time soon.

Zowie's various offerings are being used by about a fifth of the Overwatch pros, with the trusty EC2 being the most represented Zowie rodent and the other models sharing about equal pieces of the cake.

The keyboard is often an overlooked part of a setup, but a solid mechanical keyboard certainly has its advantages. Every analyzed Overwatch pro uses a mechanical keyboard, so it can be argued that investing in one is essential for high-level play.

Overwatch doesn't need many extra buttons or macro keys, and that's evidenced by the fact that the two most used boards are TKL (tenkeyless) keyboards, meaning that they don't have an extra numpad on the side of the board.

This is handy mostly because your keyboard takes up way less space on your desk, leaving you with way more mouse real estate, and it also vastly increases the portability factor. The desks on the stage of the OWL might be spacious enough to accommodate a full size keyboard but this isn't necessarily the case for the teams' practice rooms, and with players having to run about with their gear multiple times it's only logical that many players opt for a smaller form factor.

Not a single pro uses a rubber dome keyboard; mechanical keyboards have become the standard for almost all games, and there's a reason for that. Mechs are simply way more pleasant to use and offer a variety of features which can enhance your gaming experience, such as anti-ghosting to make sure that all of your key presses are registered properly. If you get a nice and good quality keyboard it'll last you years and years as well. They're pretty easy to maintain and clean so if you do decide to invest in a nice keyboard that has all the features that you want you'll be good to go for years to come.

The Logitech G line of peripherals is tailor-made for gamers. Lots of companies claim that, but with Logitech it seems to ring true. Their G Pro mice are the de facto standard Overwatch mice, and the  Logitech G Pro Mechanical Keyboard takes the first place as that other desk peripheral.

The G Pro Keyboard is a fairly straightforward board: it's got a plain black chassis, fairly neutral font, and no extra (and, for Overwatch, ultimately useless) features that increase the size and heft of the keyboard. It's a great choice if you want a no-nonsense mechanical board for gaming.

A while ago Logitech released the G Pro X Keyboard which uses the same chassis as the G Pro Keyboard but it has their new GX switches and is hotswappable.

Although Logitech leads the way in most-used Overwatch keyboards there are still great alternatives from competing brands. Razer only seems to make one keyboard according to the OW pros, with the Blackwidow line being by far the most used Razer board in the Overwatch pro scene.

After that we've got a whole lineup of Corsair's models, and brands like CM and ASUS round out the list.

What's interesting here is that, when compared to most other games that we've analyzed, a fairly large amount of pros opt for 'niche brands' such as Leopold, Das Keyboard, and Ducky. These companies are lesser known in the mainstream gaming scene, but they also produce great products as you can see in our review of the Ducky One 2 Mini.

As with any FPS game, audio is extremely important in Overwatch. It’s essential to hear where that Junkrat tire is coming from or whether or not that enemy flanker is above or below you.

Overwatch's overall sound is incredibly well designed, and using the audio in the game properly can really elevate your game. We can't really count the amount of times where we called out the position of an enemy to our team by using sound alone, so getting a headset that accurately and clearly delivers the ingame sounds to you is of crucial importance in this game.

You don't really need a headset combo; it's just as good to get a nice set of cans and an external mic, but if you're traveling a lot or don't want to muck about with cables too much you can definitely get some great combo headsets.

The sound category is one where Logitech doesn't take first place with one of their G products but that's not a real surprise as the Cloud II is one of the most often recommended mid tier gaming headsets.

HyperX's Cloud lineup has long been lauded as a great line gaming headsets, offering plenty of bang for the buck, and the second version of their popular set takes first place here. Other variations (such as the Revolver) are also being used, but the majority of Cloud users still seem to stick with the 'OG' set of cans.

The Cloud II features a comfortable and sturdy design with a detachable mic, a choice between synthetic leather and velours pads and a great sound and mic quality for the price, as well as the option to go for 7.1 surround sound ingame.

HyperX , Sennheiser, and Logitech are practically tied, and these three companies offer a variety of headsets ranging from super basic beginner models to full-featured behemoths, so you'll find plenty of products to your liking with both of these manufacturers.

The Sennheiser models are on the pricier side, but you do get a great sounding headset from a company that's been doing audio since 1945, and a great mic to go with it as well. The fact that Sennheiser are in the top three in the audio department further emphasizes the importance of sound in Overwatch.

A lot of people ignore their mousepad a bit but that's definitely a mistake. While it's possible to perform on pretty much any good mousepad there are major differences between different surfaces: you've got pads that are dedicated to control, you've got pure speed pads, ...

It's therefore a good idea to spend some time trying to figure out what pad might be good for you. If you feel like you're 'overflicking' your targets a lot you can look at more control-oriented products, for example.

What is for sure is that you will want a good mousepad. Playing on just your desk will not only destroy your mousefeet real fast but it can also cause problems with tracking and it just isn't as consistent as using a surface that's made for gaming.

The mousepad category is yet another one where Logitech takes the cake. The G640 makes sense as the number one pad too. It's an inoffensive pad with a middle-of-the-road glide, thickness, and just the right size. It doesn't really specialize in anything but perhaps that is what draws so many people to it.

Following the G640 we've got another really well known pad in the form of the Zowie G-SR. Contrary to most other pads in the top 5 this does specialize in one thing, namely control. The G-SR is one of the slowest cloth pads out there so if you're looking for something to rein you in a bit that's a fantastic choice.

Rounding out the top five we've got three other 'usual suspect' pads but what's interesting is that, compared to other games, quite a few Overwatch pros opt for niche brands such as Artisan. We also see this with keyboards, for example, so it's cool to see that the Overwatch pros take their time to scope out everything that's available to them before committing to a product from the usual big brands.

We mentioned Artisan as a niche brand that's used by a bunch of pros, but of course the most represented brands are still the big ones. Logitech does the familiar thing and takes the first spot, with SteelSeries and Razer following behind them after a rather sizeable gap.

The aforementioned Artisan pads are on the desk of about 5% of Overwatch pros, which is definitely an impressive stat for a brand that most competitive gamers probably won't even have heard of.