You may have already seen this amazing Winston clip at the hands of a pro.

Or this logic-defying clip from the Winston god himself, Miro.

Here is another Miro moment for good measure.

If you are familiar with the competitive Overwatch scene, than these big plays shouldn’t come as a surprise. But, to those unaware, Winston's competitive viability has been slowly rising since his Barrier Projector and headshot hitbox reduction buffs. Just recently at APEX, it became clear that Winston was the most meta defining hero, often replacing Genji in dive compositions. This means, the era of discrediting Winston as a “no aim, no brain” Hero is rapidly coming to a close. Here are some of the most important things to realize about Winston and how to best play him.

Mechanical expertise and judgement are key

The sign of an amateur Winston player are reckless dives that over prioritize Tesla Cannon AoE damage. The simplicity of Winston’s design has given him a bad reputation amongst the majority of players, most of whom can’t help but propagate the incorrect all-in style of play. On the contrary, the most effectively Winston play revolves entirely around excellent judgement on when to dive the enemy's backline and using Barrier Projector and Primal Rage to survive for as long as possible. The wrong dive quickly leads to a dead Winston.

Important Winston strategies include:

- Using Jump Pack to break enemy formation.
- Saving Barrier Projector after Winston is already taking damage, ensuring the enemy waste shots.
- Maximizing Jump Pack burst damage with melee animation canceling.
- Providing distractions that allow allied Genjis and Tracers to deal max damage.
- Denying Ana heals with Barrier Projector.
- Knowing key flanking positions that ensure Winston’s escape after a dive.

These techniques and many more transform Winston from a linear dive Hero to one of the most challenging to play. Gong "Miro" Jin Hyuk, Lunatic-Hai’s star Winston player, covers all of these techniques in his video guide and is a must watch for any aspiring Winston player. Another helpful guide comes from Félix "xQc" Lengyel of YIKES!, who posted an excellent tutorial video on how to best min-max Winston DPS potential.


Winston counters current top Heroes.

This comical moment from APEX shows how effective Winston can be at cornering and killing backline heroes.

Soldier: 76, Tracer and Genji all have a hard time against a skilled Winston that can chase them down and, eventually, kill them. Ana fares a bit better against Winston, but is still heavily threatened by his ability to Jump Pack directly on top of her the moment Sleep Dart has been used. As these heroes become more popular in competitive play, Winston becomes more and more useful. Winston also enables teams to utilize dive compositions that look to quickly eliminate the enemy's backline. The power of this dive composition is directly tied to Winston’s ability to threaten the enemy backline while, simultaneously, taking the attention away from his allied flankers and DPS heroes.

Winston’s counters aren’t popular picks.

Winston was previously less valuable because of how powerful triple tank compositions were. However, as they fall out of favor, his biggest weakness becomes less of a liability. In addition, the February nerfs to Roadhog, one of Winston’s biggest counters, has created an environment perfect for skilled Winston players to take advantage of. His other most natural counters, Reaper, Mei and, to some extent Bastion, rarely see competitive play and rarely warrant a mid-game switch just to counter Winston. Reapers recent PTR buffs (Wraith Form reloads instantly) may make it a little easier to consistently threaten Winston, but that has yet to be tested. In the meantime, Winston will continue to Jump Pack over squishy healers and interrupt their healing without much fear of dying.


How is your Winston?

Do you play Winston often, or are just aware of his competitive strength? Let us know in the comments section your favorite Winston techniques or possible counters to his current role in dive compositions! After all, imagination is the essence of discovery!

Disclaimer : The following article was written freely based on the author's opinion, and it may not necessarily represent Inven Global's editorial stance.