How to Unlock Winston: Changes, Skins, and Abilities

Winston is a Tank hero in Overwatch 2. Read on to learn more about Winston, their weapons and abilities, their patch notes history, their backstory, and more!

Winston Latest Buffs and Nerfs

May 5, 2022 Patch Notes

Winston Patch Notes (May 5, 2022)
Tesla Cannon	・Secondary fire ammo cost: 20 > 12

Winston Hero Profile

Basic Information

Winston (Winston)
	Role	Tank
	Ranking
	Total HP	・ 550 ・ 350 (Base Health) ・ 200 (Base Shields/Armor)
	Voice Actor	Crispin Freeman
	Nationality	N/A
Affiliations	Lucheng Interstellar (formerly), Overwatch

How to Unlock

Unlocked by default.

Winston Weapons and Abilities

Winston Main Weapon

Tesla Cannon	Primary Fire
	Damage: 5.76
	Description: Electronic frontal-cone weapon.
	Secondary Fire
	Damage: 15 (minimum charge), 50 (maximum charge)
	Description: Hold to charge, release to fire focused electricity.

Winston Abilities

Jump Pack	Type: Ability Cooldown: 5 secs Damage: 50 on landing
Effect: Leap forward into the air. Landing on an enemy damages them.
Barrier Projector	Type: Ability Cooldown: 12 secs Duration: 8 secs Shield: 800
Effect: Deploy a protective energy dome.
Primal Rage	Type: Ultimate Duration: 10 secs Damage: 40 per melee Heal: 500 temporary health
Effect: Gain immense health, but you can only leap and punch enemies.
Role: Tank	Type: Passive
Effect: Reduces knockbacks received. Less ultimate generated by healing and damage received.

Tips and How to Play

Cancel Jump Pack into Quick Melee

You can increase Winston's damage output with Jump Pack by using your Quick Melee right before landing. This damage adds up with each Jump Pack you use, so always keep this tip in mind.

Dip In and Out of Barrier Projector

When fighting enemies with Winston, improve your survivability by using Barrier Projector and repeatedly moving in and out of its dome. Doing this allows you to get hit less while maintaining your damage output, as Barrier Projector blocks your opponents' shots while letting yours pierce through.

Use Jump Pack Before Primal Rage

We recommend using Jump Pack before using Primal Rage, as the former's cooldown refreshes as soon as the latter activates. Jump Pack's cooldown also refreshes after Primal Rage ends, so make sure to activate it right before leaving the transformation.

Activate Primal Rage to Regain Health

Because Primal Rage instantly sets Winston's combined health and armor to 1050, you can use it in near-death situations to keep yourself alive and potentially turn the tide against your foes.

Contest Objectives with Primal Rage

Primal Rage's high-knockback melee attacks and reduced Jump Pack cooldown make it perfect for protecting and contesting objectives. Use this ability to shove enemies away from Payloads and Control Points, and don't hesitate to activate it from your spawn point to reach crucial locations faster with its quick-to-recover Jump Pack.

You can also use Primal Rage's forceful melee attacks to push enemies out of abilities like Baptiste's Immortality Field or focus down a key enemy target by repeatedly slamming them into walls and corners.

How to Counter

Focus Fire on Winston

Winston has high health and great mobility so it can be hard to finish him off, especially when supported by a great healer. One way to get rid of him quickly is to focus fire on him with high DPS heroes like Sojourn or D.Va, as well as Soldier:76. Getting close to him with reaper is also viable but take note that Winston deals high damage at close range.

Moira can also be a great way to deal damage to Winston, especially when he deploys his shields. Moira will be able to damage Winston using her Biotic Orb.

Winston Hero Counters

Winston Skins

Base Game Skins

Hero Skins
Explorer (Legendary)	Frogston (Legendary)	Safari (Legendary)
Undersea (Legendary)	Desert (Epic)	Horizon (Epic)
Atmosphere (Rare)	Banana (Rare)	Forest (Rare)
Red Planet (Rare)

League Skins

Hero Skins
Atlanta Reign (Epic)	Boston Uprising (Epic)	Chengdu Hunters (Epic)
Dallas Fuel (Epic)	Florida Mayhem (Epic)	Guangzhou Charge (Epic)
Hangzhou Spark (Epic)	Houston Outlaws (Epic)	London Spitfire (Epic)
Los Angeles Gladiators (Epic)	Los Angeles Valiant (Epic)	New York Excelsior (Epic)
Paris Eternal (Epic)	Philadelphia Fusion (Epic)	San Francisco Shock (Epic)
Seoul Dynasty (Epic)	Shanghai Dragons (Epic)	Toronto Defiant (Epic)
Vancouver Titans (Epic)	Washington Justice (Epic)

Event Skins

Hero Skins
Catcher (Legendary)	Gargoyle (Legendary)	Specimen 28 (Legendary)
Werewolf (Legendary)	Wukong (Legendary)	Yeti (Legendary)
Ancient Bronze (Epic)	Blizzcon 2017 (Epic)	Overwatch Contenders (Epic)
Tactical (Epic)

Winston Cosmetics

Victory Poses

Heroic (Common) Base Game	Beast (Rare) Base Game	Glasses (Rare) Base Game
The Thinker (Rare) Base Game	Medal (Rare) Summer Games Event	R.I.P. (Rare) Halloween Terror Event
Toast (Rare) Winter Wonderland Event	Sparklers (Rare) Lunar New Year Event	Peanut Butter (Rare) Archives Event

Voice Lines

Hero Voice Lines
Curious	“Curious.” Base Game
Oh Yeah!	“Oh yeah!” Anniversary Event
...Excuse Me?	“Ha Ha Ha Ha...Oh, excuse me.” Base Game
Don't Get Me Angry	“Don't get me angry.” Base Game
Get A Load of This!	“Get a load of this!” Base Game
How Embarassing!	“How embarassing.” Base Game
I Do Not Want A Banana	“No, I do not want a banana.” Base Game
Natural Selection	“Natural selection.” Base Game
No Monkey Business	“No monkey business.” Base Game
Peanut Butter?	“Did someone say peanut butter?” Base Game
Sorry About That!	“Sorry about that!” Base Game
The Power of Science!	“The power of science!” Base Game
We Have A Problem	“Houston, uhm, we have a problem.” Base Game
Oh, It's On!	“Oh, it's on!” Summer Games Event
Playtime's Over	“Playtime's over.” Summer Games Event
Why is it so Warm?	“Why is it so warm? Well, the earth is tilted on its axis thanks to a planetary collision 5 billion years ago.” Summer Games Event
A Full Moon?	“A full moon? Stay away from me!” Halloween Terror Event
Boo!	“Boo!” Halloween Terror Event
Ooh, Scary	“Ooh, scary.” Halloween Terror Event
This is Not A Costume	“This is not a costume.” Halloween Terror Event
I'm A Party Animal	“I'm a party animal.” Winter Wonderland Event
I...Got You Something	“I...uh, got you something.” Winter Wonderland Event
Mount Gorilla, Moon Gorilla	“Mountain gorillas thrive in colder climates. As a Moon gorilla, I could use a jacket.” Winter Wonderland Event
Party Mode Engaged	“Party mode engaged.” Winter Wonderland Event
Delightful Get-Together	“What a delightful get-together.” Lunar New Year Event
Moon Sweet Home	“Moon sweet home.” Lunar New Year Event
Red and Green	“For red fire works, use a strontium compound. Green, try Barium.” Lunar New Year Event
That Was Awesome	“That was awesome!” Lunar New Year Event
To the Moon and Back	“To the moon and back.” Lunar New Year Event
Have You Seen My Glasses	“Have you, uhm, seen my glasses?” Archives Event
I Have the Right Stuff	“I have the right stuff.” Archives Event
Primal Punch!	“Primal Punch!” Archives Event
Can't Keep A Good Ape Down	“Can't keep a good ape down.” Anniversary Event
I've Got Nothing To Hide	“I've got nothing to hide.” Anniversary Event
It's My Time to Shine!	“It's my time to shine.” Anniversary Event

Emotes

Hero Emotes
Heroic Base Game	Laughing Matter Base Game
Monkey Business Base Game	Peanut Butter Base Game
Roar Base Game	Sitting Around Base Game
Shadow Puppets Halloween Terror Event	Hello, My Name Is Winter Wonderland Event
Twist Anniversary Event

Winston Story

Pre-Omnic Crisis

Winston is a scientist and a genetically engineered gorilla. In his early years, he had shown the most promise among his peers and was put in the care of Dr. Harold Winston where he learned, observed, and assisted.

Unfortunately, the other gorillas revolted and killed the scientists. Winston took on his caretaker's name and fled to earth where he found Overwatch.

Joining Overwatch

As he came down to Earth he joined Overwatch, an organization that he shared the same heroic ideals with. He partook in missions as well as became a research; developing Tracer's chronal accelerator.

Fall and Seclusion

As Overwatch fell, many of its member either died or went into hiding, Winston himself retired to his lab in Watchpoint: Gibraltar. There he would spend his days researching and developing technology.

Overwatch Recall

After Talon agents along with Reaper attack his lab, Winston decided to recall Overwatch agents across the globe with Tracer being the first to answer his call.

Zero Hour

With Mei and Tracer on tow, the three defended Paris from Null Sector. Being outnumbered by the Omnics, they were saved by the their suprise back-up consisting of Reinhardt, Brigitte, Mercy, Echo, and Genji.

Overwatch 2 Related Guides

List of Heroes

Heroes Tier List

Tank Heroes

Junker QueenNEW
D.Va	Orisa	Reinhardt	Roadhog
Sigma	Winston	Wrecking Ball	Zarya
Doomfist

List of All Tank Heroes

Damage Heroes

SojournNEW
Ashe	Bastion	Cassidy	Echo
Genji	Hanzo	Junkrat	Mei
Pharah	Reaper	Soldier: 76	Sombra
Symmetra	Torbjörn	Tracer	Widowmaker

List of All Damage Heroes

Support Heroes

KirikoNEW
Ana	Baptiste	Brigitte	Lúcio
Mercy	Moira	Zenyatta

List of All Support Heroes