Overwatch is one of the most important systems in CS:GO. It helps to keep the game safe from cheaters, with the community itself able to review cases. Overwatch works like a court jury, with a majority being able to decide whether another player was cheating or not, and punishing them accordingly. If you don’t have it, you might want to know how to get Overwatch in CS:GO. Here’s how!

A CS:GO Overwatch case with an inverted hitbox hack. Credit: xx77ian77xx on Reddit

Valve doesn’t just give Overwatch to any player. The CS:GO rates of Investigators to regular players are pretty low, and there are a series of requirements you must meet before being given CS:GO Overwatch permissions. These requirements aren’t exact, but are given based on a few factors:

• Competitive wins
• Account age
• Hours played
• Skill group
• Low report count

It’s an important task, so Valve ensures they get the right players on board. Once you’re in, you’re deemed an Investigator by Valve. You must remain active in-game to keep Investigator status. If you lose your rank, you’ll be stripped of the title until you return to the game.

Although all of the above factors are considered, many players have reported that the best way to become an Investigator is by simply playing games at a level around Gold Nova Master or above. If you don’t qualify, you may just need to get better at CS:GO before you’re given access.

Okay – you’ve learned how to get Overwatch in CS:GO, and you’re ready to review some cases. What now?

In CS:GO, you’ll see a shield icon in the main menu. This means that you have an Overwatch case to evaluate. From here, you’ll watch eight rounds worth of CS:GO, before making your judgment on the player, dubbed “The Suspect” in-game for anonymity. You can see everything, including player X-rays to determine if there are any wall hacks or not.

Once the case is reviewed by players across the CS:GO ranks, the system will then tally up the votes. If every Investigator comes to a unanimous verdict, it’s case closed. However, if enough Investigators give an “Insufficient Evidence” verdict, then the case is thrown out. It’s not a perfect system by any means, but can still be a good way to remove plenty of cheaters from CS:GO.

The rewards available for learning how to get Overwatch CS:GO cases and successfully completing them are admittedly small. For every correct case, you accrue points that determine how accurate you were in your decisions. Get it wrong, and you’ll lose points. Eventually, you’ll begin to receive XP rewards when you get cases correct. The amount of XP you earn depends on your Overwatch Investigator Score, determined entirely by the accuracy of your cases. You can collect this reward at the end of matchmaking games.

The other reward is the knowledge that you’re helping to clean up the game. If you want to learn how to get Overwatch CS:GO cases, chances are you have a vested interest in removing cheaters. There’s nothing more frustrating than playing against a blatant cheater, and having the chance to change that is a blessing. Plus, some of the CS:GO Overwatch clips are pretty funny. You feel for the players having to play against someone shamelessly hitting cross-map wallbang headshots, but they’re often so brazen it crosses over into funny.

There you have it – pretty much everything you need to know about how to get Overwatch in CS:GO. It’s not a perfect system, as opposed to a more strict anti-cheat. But as an additional check in place, it serves a solid purpose in CS:GO.