Introduction

Winston is a tank class hero, this means he has high HP and high sustain, but with little to no damage output. This is fine, because it's not his job to do damage. Winston's job is to push back enemies, so the team can push the objective. It can be quite difficult to do his job. That's mainly because of team compositions. This is why Winston is mainly a strategical pick rather than an insta-lock. I will be reviewing this later on in the article, but first I will introduce Winston's abilities and how to use them effectively.

Tesla Cannon is Winston's primary weapon. The weapon shoots short electrical charges toward enemy heroes, as you could probably guess by the name. The 'Tesla Cannon' can and will fire many electrical charges at multiple enemies. Getting enemies into a tight corner or space all packed together is very much needed for Winston to do massive damage. The best part about his 'Tesla Cannon' is that aiming isn't quite necessary as the charges seem to lock onto enemies. All you need to make sure of is to look towards them and just hold down the firing button. It may seem like a lot, but with Winston having 60 damage per second he can easily be outdamaged by most squishy heroes. His DPS combined with only 100 rounds in the magazine that only fires 20 rounds every second, he becomes more of a feather duster than a damage dealing hero. This is why the best strategy to use is to get up close and personal, push the enemy back from their position and help capture the objective.

Jump Pack is Winston's escape and engage ability. With only a 6 second cooldown timer with this ability it means that Winston can quickly engage an enemy hero and then jump out if he's fighting a losing battle. The ability is best used when engaging an enemy that is too far away for you to hit with your 'Tesla Cannon'. It's not just an escape and engage ability, the ability also deals damage. If you land on or near enemy players you will deal 50 damage to them. This is enough damage that it shouldn't take long to kill them with your 'Tesla Cannon'. However, like previously stated picking your engagements smartly is key. You aren't going to be jumping into a Reaper and hoping to survive because that's silly. Jumping into a Widowmaker though, that's what you want to be doing. More on this in a later section.

Barrier Projector can be used to stop enemies from shooting at you. It's as the title states, a barrier. The barrier stops projectiles and is a great way of keeping yourself alive while dealing damage. The barrier has 600HP and is a mobile ability. You can place the barrier almost everywhere on the map and even on a payload to stop yourself from getting shot while pushing. However, it only lasts 13 seconds and can be destroyed by enemy fire. This is why picking your engagements is again, key. Jumping into a group of 3 enemies, then placing down the barrier won't do much as their damage output will be high enough to break it easily. Jumping into a Hanzo or a Soldier 76 who are alone, however is what you want to be aiming for. You can safely shoot enemies from inside the barrier and they can't do anything about it. In order for them to damage you they have to enter the barrier itself. But you can just run out of the barrier and they can't shoot you from inside it. This becomes a wild game of cat and mouse of who can keep who in the barrier. Most of the time, Winston should win because he can shoot through the barrier itself. Your teammates can also shoot through the barrier and have it protect them, so placing it on the payload while moving it can be a very effective way of keeping them alive.

Primal Rage is the ultimate ability that makes Winston turn from a scientist, into a monkey. This ability is great fun to use. While it remains fun to use it's also effective for you and your team to use as well. If the enemies seem to be pushing you and the objective back, 'Primal Rage' will come into play. By quickly pressing Q, Winston unleashes his anger and becomes insanely hard to kill. He also drops all of his equipment and resorts to using his fists to swing at the enemies and take them down on the spot. The initial ultimate hit increases his HP by +500 giving him a whopping 1000 total HP. His attacks now do 40 damage per hit with a "swing" rate of 1.8 a second. This makes Winston an incredibly hard to kill target. The best way to use this ability is to push back the enemies when they're dug in deep. If you jump and swing at them, they will try and run to avoid it. 'Primal Rage' is also best used when Winston is low HP as it both restores and increases his HP to 1000 to stay alive for longer. When the ability ends, Winston's HP also returns to the base 500 even if it was lower before activating.

Winston activates his 'Primal Rage'

Counter guide

There are some heroes that can be absolutely devastated by Winston and others that can annihilate his HP in an instant. Here are a few that you can counter easily and effectively.

Genji has a deflect ability that can deflect projectiles. However, Winston doesn't shoot projectiles. He shoots tesla. This means that Winston can shoot a Genji while he is deflecting and it will still hit him. This makes Genji an easy target for Winston players. Because of Genji's low HP and inability to kill tanks, taking him out will be no problem.

Widowmaker is not a good close range hero. Although she has her assault rifle, Winston can bring her down before she has a chance to react. The best way to take out a Widowmaker is to leap onto her position. This deals 50 damage already meaning that she only has 150HP left. After that, the normal reaction will be for her to use her 'Grappling Hook' to escape. But Winston's jump pack only has a 6 second cooldown. Jumping after her will be no problem and taking her out from there will be easily done.

Hanzo can be a difficult one. His arrow spam combined with his 'Scatter Arrow' ability means he can deal massive damage when up close. But then again, Winston has his 'Barrier Projector' which means that dancing around it makes him almost invincible against a Hanzo. Just make sure you time the barrier correctly and ensure that you are the one winning the dancing duel. If played correctly, you will easily win the duel.

Did someone say, peanut butter?

Mercy is another difficult hero to counter. Not because she has massive damage, but because she's always with someone. If you catch a lone Mercy she is a very easy hero to kill. But if she's with someone else then it can make the kill harder. Try and use your 'Barrier Projector' and target the Mercy alone. Ignore her companion as she will just keep healing him more than you can damage. Once you've killed her make a quick escape with the 'Jump Pack' and you should be fine. Remember that taking out Mercy's is key for the victory, so try and focus her as much as you can.

Remember with all of these heroes. Try to pick them out one by one. Do not try and attack a large group. Winston may have high sustain, but he can't survive forever.

Conclusion

Winston is a very strong hero and should be picked on most teams if the enemies have any of the above heroes. He can take them out without much hassle because of his 'Barrier Projector'. Picking one versus one duels is going to keep you alive longer, but sometimes that isn't possible. Pick your fights and you should be on the road to victory.

Thank you very much for reading.

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