While Genji and Hanzo have been longtime mascots for Overwatch regarding the ninja characters, Overwatch 2 has introduced players to a new ninja in the form of the Shimada brothers’ childhood friend, Kiriko.

As of now, Kiriko is considered one of the most powerful support heroes in the game, but she is pretty tricky to master. If players aren’t careful, they can find themselves pretty easily picked off if they don’t know how to use her.

Kiriko Lore

In the Overwatch lore, Kiriko’s mother was the same ninja that trained the Shimada brothers Genji and Hanzo, and this resulted in Kiriko getting trained alongside them; this is also made apparent whenever Kiriko interacts with a Shimada whenever she gets teamed up with them during a match.

Kiriko’s mother may have been a skilled warrior. Still, Kiriko also had a close relationship with her grandma, who nurtured her healing abilities, teaching Kiriko how to harness the powers of the Kitsune/Fox Spirit (compared to the Shimadas, who were adept with dragons).

Read: Overwatch 2: How To Unlock Kiriko for FREE

Though Hanzo and Genji tend to be old-school ninjas when it comes to characterizations, Kiriko is more of a modern incarnation, with her leading a new group of new-age fighters. She also has that punk aesthetic that widens the gap between her and the Shimada bros.

Kiriko’s Abilities

Kiriko was introduced during the launch of Overwatch 2, and though it’s taken a couple of seasons, she has steadily climbed the ranks to be one of the game’s most effective support heroes. Not only does she heal pretty well, but her kunai ability can also deal great damage—making her a tough adversary when a high-skill player uses her.

The kit includes the following:

Healing Ofuda – Kiriko’s primary fire, which heals targeted allies.

Kunai – Kiriko’s secondary fire deals critical damage; it is good for getting headshots on enemies.

Swift Step – Kiriko can directly teleport beside an ally.

Protection Suzu – Like Bapitiste’s Immortality Field, Kiriko throws a protective charm that grants temporary invulnerability to allies. This can stop burst ultimates and cleanse teammates from negative effects.

Her ultimate, Kitsune Rush, has Kiriko summoning the fox spirit, providing a path that will increase speed and cooldowns for allies for a limited time. It’s considered one of the game’s most powerful ultimates.

Kiriko Tips

Like with every hero, the secret to mastering them always relies on how effectively you use their abilities. Kiriko’s kit makes her one of the most mobile support characters in the game, and it’s best to use that to your advantage.

Know How the Suzu Works

Regarding healing with Kiriko, aim isn’t an issue since her suzu automatically attaches to a player and starts to heal from that point. Without a player to heal, the suzu just flies forward and heals whatever comes to their path.

Some players don’t realize that the suzu changes color depending on who you’re healing. If the suzu has a target, it glows yellow. If the suzu is just flying a straight path, it glows blue.

Think Ahead of Where Your Team Will Be

Kiriko’s teleport ability is pretty nifty when healing faraway teammates or escaping a tricky situation. Still, the cooldown is pretty long, so you must be careful whenever you use it. It’s best to think ahead of where your teammates want to be during a fight rather than just teleporting beside them willy-nilly.

Sure, you could Swift-Step to save a teammate, but if you fail, you could end up in the same crosshairs, and you won’t be able to escape immediately.

One Shot, One Kill

While Kiriko’s kunai ability is effective, it’s not suggested that you chip away at enemies with them. At best, they should be used to provide final critical blows to enemies already on low health.

Some pros suggest that you aim your kunai at choke points, hoping to catch something. Since their projectile speed is slow, they don’t use faraway targets well, but they can be deadly nearby.

Properly Aim Your Kitsune Rush

There are good ultimates, and Kiriko’s Kitsune Rush, which some people say is the most powerful ultimate in the game. Sure, on the surface, it only makes your team faster, but that also increases their fire rate. This means they can deal more damage in a shorter amount of time.

When aiming for Kiriko’s ultimate, it’s always best to ensure the enemy team is in its direct path. Aim it too close, though; the enemy team can easily run forward to avoid its effects. You want to cast it in a distance where your team can easily enter it, and the enemies are just in their line of fire.

If you are curious about the ranks in Overwatch 2, this guide will give you a quick overview!

Overwatch the game may have kickstarted the hype of the hero shooter genre, and while the game is good fun for casual players, there is a special system for anyone looking to take the game seriously.

Since Overwatch 2 has its own Overwatch League with e-sports teams and everything, there is a competitive mode that allows any player to take part in, and there, they’ll find out just how well they rank compared to everyone else worldwide.

From the bottom rank of Bronze, players have the chance every season to duke it out match after match and try to earn their place in the Top 500 players of Overwatch 2. This opens up chances to get into e-sports or make a lucrative streaming channel. It’s all up to the player.

What is Competitive Mode?

While Overwatch 2 has multiple modes for players to engross themselves in, like Quick Play and Arcade, Competitive is specifically set in place for players to figure out their overall rank regarding their Overwatch 2 abilities.

The matchups for Competitive are so serious that you won’t be able to access the mode when you first install the game. To ensure that the mode is only being joined by seasoned players, the game must complete the First Time User Experience (FTUE) and win 50 matches before being able to play Competitive.

Guaranteed, 50 matches won’t ensure you’re a great player, but it proves that you’ve been at it for a while and that nobody will have to be screaming at you in chat for being so clueless when your team starts to lose.

What are the Ranks

Ranks are there to inform yourself and other players just where your skill tier is as a player. When first booting up Competitive, players will have no rank and must go through placement matches. You will have to either get five wins or 15 losses before you get your ranking and from that point, you can continue the climb as you keep playing Competitive.

Starting at Bronze, the ranks move on to Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, then Grandmaster. The top of the Overwatch 2 player crop is then put in the Top 500. This usually includes e-sports players and all kinds of personalities online who are quite adept in the game and have the numbers to prove it.

Though there was originally a skill reset for every season, it has been said that the developers have allowed players to keep their rank from the previous season into a new one. From that point, it will be up to the player to raise their numbers.

Rank Perks

The ranking system generally lets players know how well they are at Overwatch 2. However, the game also provides Competitive Points for participating in the mode. For every win, players earn 25 Competitive Points; each draw will earn a player 10 points.

There is also a reward system set for the end of the season. The higher the rank, the more points a player will receive. Rewards change from season to season, but the current rewards have been the most generous in Competitive’s history. Here are the numbers:

Bronze – 300 pts.

Silver – 450 pts.

Gold – 600 pts.

Platinum – 800 pts.

Diamond – 1000 pts.

Master – 1200 pts.

Grandmaster – 1500 pts.

Top 500 – 1500 pts.

Golden Weapons

While it’s very hard to earn Competitive Points, they only purchase one thing in the game: the Golden Weapon for a character. Each Golden Weapon is worth 3000 Competitive Points. These glorified trophies signify to other players that whoever wields them is very good with that character.

So if you get sniped or shot down by anyone with a Golden Weapon, you’ll know what you were up against.

Learn how to play Illari in Overwatch 2!

The new season of Overwatch 2 just launched with the Invasion event. Besides the long-anticipated story mode, players are also getting a new support hero in the form of Illari from Peru.

Illari has been getting a lot of buzz since she was released, and many fans want to get in on the “Last Child of the Sun.”

Last Child of the Sun

Illari hails from Peru and was a member of an elite group of fighters called the Inti Warriors, a.k.a. Children of the Sun. While the Inti Warriors had made good use of solar energy to heal, they could also use them for violence.

Illari was undergoing the procedure for her to be able to harness the sun’s powers like the rest of the group. Still, after a freak accident, the group was destroyed, and Illari became the last of their kind.

Unlike other characters in the game affiliated with groups like Null Sector, Overwatch, or Talon, Illari is considered a vigilante. It’s unclear what her role in the lore could be moving forward, but she could likely find herself in Overwatch’s ranks very soon.

Illari’s Kit in Overwatch 2

Illari may be a support hero, but she has been commended for being a very effective DPS team member. Her abilities include:

Solar Rifle – Illari’s primary fire. It sort of acts like Sojourn’s rail gun, but instead, it charges itself. While firing a fully charged shot is optimal, players can also spam the fire for lesser damage.

Solar Rifle (Alt Fire) – The alternate fire on the rifle acts as a beam that heals allies.

Outburst – Illari is launched in the direction she’s moving, and it also knocks back enemies. Holding a jump will also cause her to go higher.

Healing Pylon – Illari will put down a pylon that will automatically heal allies. It will also prioritize allies that have low health.

Illari’s ultimate ability is called Captive Sun, and it launches her into the air, where she can fire one explosive ball of solar energy. Any enemy hit with the ball is temporarily slowed, but if they are damaged while in the state, they will explode and be significantly damaged.

“Face the Sunrise!”

Not many support heroes can be considered effective when dealing damage. However, many players have been raving about how Illari manages to be great regarding DPS. Not only does she deal an ultimate that does great damage, but she can also scope out targets. This makes her perfect for any pesky Widowmakers attacking from across the map.

Read: Overwatch 2: How To Play Cassidy

So far, pros have been very particular about using her Healing Pylon. The pylon has a lot of range, and its placement is crucial to its effectiveness. Always place the pylon where your teammates can be affected by it, but it won’t be spotted easily by enemies—usually behind the wall and very high up.

It’s also important to be aware of how Illari’s weapons recharge. The primary fire charges automatically, and it’s always best to fire it when the charge is full; spamming the fire while it’s short on charge not only outputs less damage but also stops the weapon from fully charging.

As for the healing alternate fire, it’s best to keep the gun from overheating, as the charge could take a long time. Just heal with a steady beam, and make sure the meter doesn’t get to the end; spamming the alt-fire isn’t as effective and will hinder the charge.

Since Illari is still a new hero, players are still finding new ways to make her effective, and with Overwatch 2 constantly changing and making balances, we should expect things to change for Illari as well. But for now, these are the tips that pros recommend.

Though Overwatch 2 players know all about Overwatch coins and credit, the game has four kinds of currency, each with its own use. Though you can buy coins and easily grind for credit, one currency is harder to attain—Competitive Points.

What Are Competitive Points?

Competitive Points are a different game currency in Overwatch 2 that can only be used to buy Golden Weapons.

OW coins and credit can get players cool cosmetics like Legendary/Mythic skins, voice lines, and emotes. Golden Weapons are unique because they can only be truly attained by playing the game. That means you can’t get it through money or casual gaming—making it one of the game’s most unique trophies.

How Do I Earn Competitive Points?

You can earn Competitive Points by playing any kind of Competitive Mode. Originally players could earn 15 Competitive Points by winning and receive 5 points with a tie, but with the recent rework that came with Season 4, the number has been increased to 25 points per win and 10 points per draw.

The game also has a system that will reward players at the end of every season, depending on their rank. Here’s the tier list:

Bronze – 300 pts.

Silver – 450 pts.

Gold – 600 pts.

Platinum – 800 pts.

Diamond – 1000 pts.

Master – 1200 pts.

Grandmaster – 1500 pts.

Top 500 – 1500 pts.

Admittedly, it used to be harder to earn points in the earlier seasons of Overwatch 2. Before the 4^th Season, players in Bronze and Silver could only earn 65 and 125 points, respectively. Now the end-of-the-season rewards have been more than doubled, so it wouldn’t be as grueling to earn the points now.

Is There a Way to Get Them Easily?

Unfortunately, there isn’t any way to get the points easily; the only real way to earn points fast is to be good at the game, make constant wins, and ensure you’re in the higher tiers by the end of the season for the huge reward of points.

Of course, there are some services online that offer to farm Competitive Points for cash, but even then, you’ll have to put your money where your mouth is when you start getting matched up with players in higher tiers, and you’ll have to start pulling your weight; lest you get demoted.

In It to Win It

Even if you aren’t the best Overwatch 2 player, you can still earn a steady stream of Competitive Points if you keep playing the game constantly. The grind will be slow, but with the recent changes in Season 4, you can expect things to be sped up a little this time.

Besides, you’ll get better at the game with more time you put into it. If you’re serious about earning the points, though, it will help to specialize in specific heroes and research how to make them more effective in the field. Being a jack-of-all-trades player will be a tough hill to climb in Competitive, but I guess that’s what the Mystery Heroes option is for—if you want to do that kind of flex.

Hard Work Pays Off

With Competitive Points only being useful for obtaining a Golden Weapon, you could say that they are merely add-ons to the status of being a top-tier Overwatch 2 player. Admittedly, they don’t do much in gameplay, but brandishing one during a match is a big flex for other players who’ll know that the person they’re going up against is serious business.

It will certainly be worth it after all the time and effort you put into the game.

With Overwatch 2 becoming free, it’s getting harder for players to get new cosmetics. However, that doesn’t mean you have to spend money each time you want to try something different. What’s neat is that there’s an easy way to customize the color outlines for your and the enemy’s teams. Sometimes looking at the generic red and blue colors gets boring.

This feature was built for accessibility reasons, so players who are color blind could change the colors of the UI. Just leave it to the community to take such features and turn them into another way to customize your Overwatch 2 experience.

This guide will teach you how to change the UI colors in Overwatch 2!

Changing UI Colors

To change colors, in the middle of gameplay (preferably the Practice Range), access the Pause Menu:

Then go to Options:

Next, navigate to Accessibility:

Finally, go to Color Blindness:

From that point, you can change the Enemy UI and Friendly UI. Whichever UI you pick for your friends, it also changes the color of the HUD. That includes the color for abilities and ultimate charge.

Read: How To Get Golden Weapons in Overwatch 2

It is important to note the changes will only work after you exit and re-open a game. So don’t expect them to take effect immediately after you alter the settings.

If anything, the default UI for the game is already simple enough to understand, what with the red enemies and blue friendlies. Still, anyone looking to shake things up could find some fun changing the UI colors.

Conclusion

Admittedly, it has been harder to get new cosmetics since the game shifted to free-to-play, but you can still get some things for free. Though some skins may require you to dish out money to acquire them, some can be purchased with Overwatch 2 credits.

Not only do they buy alternate color skins for heroes, but some skins can also be purchased with credits earned in the Battle Pass. Even some old legendary skins are available, albeit they are locked behind some event restrictions.

While Overwatch 2’s free-to-play model has players paying actual money for cool cosmetics, one cosmetic signifies a good player ever since the first game—the Golden Weapon.

Out of all the cosmetics in the game, the Golden Weapons are the only ones that players have to play for to obtain truly; that’s why when you see a Widowmaker or Roadhog brandishing something in gold in the kill cam, you’ll know a pro took you out.

So How to Earn Golden Weapons in Overwatch 2?

Earn Competitive Points

The game has four currency types: Overwatch Credits, OW Coins, League Points, and Competitive Points. While you receive credits as long as you play the different options in the game, Competitive Points are only attainable by playing Competitive Mode.

For each win in Competitive, players will receive a reward of 15 points, and ties will get a player 5 points. By the end of the season, the game will reward you with points depending on which rank you get in Competitive. Here’s the ranking:

Bronze: 65 points

Silver: 125 points

Gold: 250 points

Platinum: 500 points

Diamond: 750 points

Master: 1 200 points

Grandmaster 1 750 points

Top 500: 1 750 points

Purchase The Golden Weapon at the Hero Gallery

Once you’ve gathered enough points—specifically 3000 Competitive Points—you can go to the Hero Gallery and select a hero of your choice. Select the Weapons tab at the bottom of the cosmetics list, pick the Golden Weapon, then spend points to unlock.

While you can buy a golden gun for any character with the points you’ve earned, players usually purchase it for their main. Then again, with a game like Overwatch 2, it’s always more helpful to know how to play a handful of heroes than to be proficient with one.

Read: How To Play Mei

Though unlocking the Golden Weapon mainly gives your main weapon a new sheen on the battlefield, some upgrades can also affect your hero’s other weapons; for one, buying the Golden Weapon for Ashe also turns her ultimate B.O.B. into a golden murder-bot.

Worth Its Weight in Gold

Though Golden Weapons in the game are purely cosmetic and have no value added to the gameplay, the difficulty it takes to obtain them alone makes them highly-valued in-game trophies. With each Golden Weapon costing 3000 Competitive points, you can see that the points obtained based on the ranking list will mean that you have to do a lot of grinding to get to 3000, and the fastest way to get there is just to be a good player.

Take note, you can still get Competitive points even if you rank at the bottom of the season, but at only 65 points at the Bronze level (and earning 0 points for every loss), you’ll need to go through more than nine years of Competitive matches to be able to earn enough points for a Golden Weapon—the game isn’t even that old yet.

Even players that rank in Gold and Platinum will probably have to play for a couple of seasons before they can unlock a Gold Weapon, and who knows how much time they’ll have to put in every week just to make sure they’re building enough Competitive Points to add to the Golden Weapons fund.

In Conclusion:

Regarding free-to-play games, players can always dish out the cash to get flashier cosmetics. Still, it’s great that the developers managed to keep a cosmetic in the game that reflects just how effective a player can be in a fight.

At least now, when you get killed by a character with a Golden Weapon, you’ll have a good idea of what you were going against—either a skilled player; or someone with ridiculous patience.

Ramattra is the latest tank to be added to the game and is considered the mirror opposite of one of the game’s healers, Zenyatta. Unfortunately, Ramattra doesn’t come with the game for free, and players must dish out some extra cash to get him.

Or do they?

With players who want to unlock Ramattra, the game does offer the option to get a starter pack for 1900 which includes a bunch of cosmetics and emotes; but you can also just buy the hero by himself for 900 coins. If you want to put in the work, though, you can just unlock Ramattra with his Hero Challenges.

What are Hero Challenges?

 Hero Challenges are an alternate way to unlock heroes besides the shop and the battle pass. They usually consist of challenges that players have to fulfill, with a huge chunk of the challenges requiring them to use their skills in the Practice Range.

Go to the hero’s Challenges menu through the hero gallery or Battle Pass to activate the challenges, then click Activate Challenges.

Take note, if you haven’t unlocked all the other heroes, the count could go to the hero whose challenges are currently activated, so it’s important to activate the hero of your choice to make sure your wins count for some other character you have your eyes on.

Unlocking Ramattra

To unlock Ramattra, there are a set of six challenges you have to fulfill, and they include:

Wins For Ramattra: Win 35 games queued as All Roles or playing Tank heroes in Quick Play, Competitive Play, or No Limits.

Practice Void Accelerator: Eliminate three bots with Void Accelerator in the Practice Range as Ramattra. 

Read: How To Play Mei

Practice Ravenous Vortex: Use Ravenous Vortex during Omnic and Nemesis forms in the Practice Range as Ramattra. 

Practice Pummel: Damage 2 bots simultaneously with Pummel during Nemesis form in the Practice Range as Ramattra.

Read: How To Play Genji

Practice Barrier: Absorb 30 damage with Void Barrier in the Practice Range as Ramattra.

Admittedly, the hardest challenge closer to grinding is winning 35 games, but any experienced player can probably get to that number in a week or maybe less. It’s quicker than having to earn him through the Battle Pass track.

Just remember that you have to be queued as All Roles or Tank.

Conclusion

All other challenges can easily be fulfilled in one sitting at the Practice Range. Even if you haven’t unlocked Ramattra yet, you can check him out during practice. I guess it’s the developer’s way of letting players try out the character to entice them to make the purchase eventually.

If you don’t have the time to grind as much, though, you can always dish out cash to unlock Ramattra for your hero roster.

Overwatch 2 is a far cry from what we got back in the first Overwatch, but Blizzard has admittedly been hard at work trying to make all the changes that would make the game feel less reliant on microtransactions and grinding.

Read: How To Play Winston

It’s always important to take note of the daily and weekly challenges, some of which are pretty easy to fulfill (like saying ‘Thanks’ to your healer). Keeping an eye on challenges helps you go up the progression track faster, and it will significantly put down your grind time if you’re trying to reach a specific number on the track.

Overwatch 2 is now available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4|5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Overwatch 2 has many great characters, but one of the most underappreciated ever since the sequel launched has been everyone’s collective ‘bae,’ Mei-Ling Zhou.

Categorized initially as a ‘Defense’ hero, Mei is a solid DPS with versatile abilities to heal herself and break up the enemy team. She’s one of the easier heroes to master, but it is easy to slip up when learning to play Mei.

Here are a few tips when mastering Overwatch 2’s literal ice queen.

1. Learn When to Put Down an Ice Wall

Mei’s Ice Wall has multiple uses, from blocking attacks to obstructing fields of vision. The best time to put up an ice wall is when you want to separate the enemy team. It doesn’t matter if it’s to lessen their ranks or separate the tank from a healer.

Read: How To Play Winston

Despite the usefulness of the Ice Wall, it’s also pretty easy to mess it up. Sometimes a Mei can end up trapping her team with an Ice Wall. And while it can be used to defend against enemy ultimates, it’s also possible that you can block your own team’s ultimate if you didn’t communicate with them beforehand.

2. Snipe with Her Alternate Fire

Overwatch 1 players will remember that Mei could freeze enemies in place with her primary fire. Now the game has settled with increasing the damage while being able to slow down enemies. The secondary fire, though, is mostly intact, and it’s always suggested that players learning how to play Mei practice how to make good use of it.

It’s said that Mei’s alt fire moves faster than Hanzo’s arrows, so they can be effective for sniping against enemies. Note that it does have a ‘casting time’ of 0.4 seconds, so you’ll have to work around that. When you master it, your Mei will be a formidable foe to enemies nearby.

3. You Can Cancel Your Cryo-Freeze

One common mistake that Mei players are said to make is that they always wait for their Cryo-Freeze to complete its entire run before running off. While getting the most healing out of your ability is great, enemies can gang up and predict your next move.

If anything, you can always cancel your Cryo-Freeze mid-cast and scurry off to safety before the enemy team gets you. You’ll probably have a better chance of surviving by getting away from the enemy than facing them head-on by yourself with a larger amount of health.

4. Freeze! Don’t Move!

Though the immediate instinct is to cast Mei’s ultimate the moment they see the enemy team is together; expert players know to cast it when the enemy is too busy to think of a move once the ultimate is triggered.

Read: How To Play Genji

Cast Blizzard when the enemy team is engaged. Then use your primary fire to slow them down and speed up the freezing process. Once they’re all frozen, you can strategically snipe everyone unfortunate enough to get caught in your trap.

You must cast Blizzard in an open space. Even if enemies fall into the affected area, the ultimate doesn’t go through obstacles like walls or bridges.

Conclusion:

While not the most mobile of heroes, Mei’s various abilities make her a good independent hero who could hold her own against a couple of enemies without needing a healer or tank nearby. Experienced players who know how to play Mei know she’s good for distracting and confusing the enemy, and a great Mei is certainly a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

Play as Mei on Overwatch 2, now available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4|5, and PC.

If Tracer is the poster girl for Overwatch, then Winston is the game’s narrative center. Though Winston is used in every promo to contextualize where we are in the lore, he’s also one of the more effective heroes in the game.

Mastering Winston isn’t always easy, and PlayerAssist is here to help you brush up on your Harambe skills to make you the most effective monkey in your team. Here’s a guide on how to play Winston:

1. Use Him to Take Out Flankers

Winston is admittedly not a hero that deals the most damage (like Roadhog), but his mobility and weapon make him a problem for any flankers in the enemy team.

Read: How To Play Doomfist

Use Winston’s Tesla cannon to attack highly mobile heroes like Genji and Tracer, who zip and jump around the battlefield; it also helps that Genji can’t deflect Winston’s primary fire.

Also, use your mobility to get at far-away snipers like Widowmaker, Ana, and Hanzo. Winston has enough health, so snipers can’t one-shot him, and taking out snipers would be a huge help for your teammates.

2. Practice Winston’s 3-Point Combo

Winston may not be the hero with the most damage, but expert players have discovered a hack to give him some extra damage when he starts to engage the enemy team.

We know Winston deals damage when he lands, but Overwatch 1 players discovered they could melee enemies right before Winston lands to do extra damage and cancel the animation. With Overwatch 2, the new combo now has Winston charging up his secondary fire and firing it before he lands, followed swiftly by a quick melee.

Admittedly, the combo is tricky to master, but once muscle memory kicks in, the combo can take away almost half of the HP of the more squishy heroes in the game (i.e., Tracer). It’s a huge help for players figuring out how to play Winston.

3. Don’t Forget Your Alternate Fire

Overwatch 1 players may be familiar with how to play Winston. Still, it’s easy to forget that he has a secondary fire now that you can charge up and attack enemies from far away.

Read: How To Play Genji

Though Winston’s Tesla Cannon is most effective with nearby enemies, you can use your alternate fire to poke at enemies before they get melee distance. Don’t forget that the secondary fire is also relevant to the 3-point combo I discussed earlier.  

4. Learn How to Use Your Bubble

Another One of Winston’s signature moves is his Barrier Projector which puts up a shield bubble for 8 seconds. While the immediate instinct is to stay inside the bubble for protection, expert Winston players know it’s best used to ‘trap’ nearby enemies.

Since enemy fire can’t get through it, having the enemy inside the bubble means that you can cause damage to them while they helplessly try to get out of the bubble. The point is just to ensure a shield between you and the enemy team.

On another note, Winston’s Tesla Cannon can go through some shields like Reinhardt and Sigma, so use that to your advantage.

5. Primal Rage is Not a Killing Move

Though the general idea for ultimates is to inflict massive damage on the enemy team, Primal Rage has a surprisingly low damage output, which leads some to believe that this move is more on self-preservation and distraction rather than elimination.

When Winston activates Primal Rage, he gains a massive amount of health, and he’s suddenly able to knock back enemies far away; when the ultimate ends, all your abilities are refreshed, so you can immediately escape if needed.

Use your Primal Rage to immediately gain health in the middle of a skirmish and quickly displace the enemy team. Some players use the ultimate to move any pesky enemy hero trying to perform their ultimate on their team. This should also effectively throw off heroes in places with holes and ledges, like Ilios.

In Conclusion:

While some heroes in the game may be difficult to use, Winston remains a good beginner tank, but he is one of the most tricky to master. He may not have the best damage output, but his mobility keeps him a big problem for the enemy team, especially for flankers and snipers. Keep moving and value your bubble when you’re learning to play Winston.

Play as Winston on Overwatch 2, now available for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4|5, and Nintendo Switch.

Genji is probably one of the more popular characters to come out of Overwatch, but besides all the ‘I need healing’ memes, he’s ranked as one of the more difficult heroes to master on the field.

In this quick guide on how to play Genji, we’ll get into the character’s abilities and how to make him a more effective member of the team that won’t have your teammates begging for you to switch back to someone easier to use.

1. Take Note of What He Can and Can’t Deflect

Genji’s deflect ability is very useful in a fight, especially when deflecting some high-level damage from characters like Bastion. Still, some things can and can’t be affected by the ability. For one, Genji can surprisingly deflect attacks like Zarya’s ultimate as well as Mei’s, but he can’t push back D. Va’s incoming exploding mech or any kind of beam (which comes from characters like Moira and Winston).

2. Use Genji’s Dash Ability

Genji’s dash ability is very useful for closing the distance between enemies. It can also help get out of tight spots. Still, it does have an interesting perk. It immediately cools down when you use it to eliminate a player or assist in elimination.

Read: How to Play Doomfist in Overwatch 2

Make sure to use dash on enemies on low health to ensure you can eliminate them and skip the cooldown. Abusing the ability is essential when learning how to play Genji.

3. ‘Shotgun’ Enemies with Your Alternate Fire

Genji’s primary firing method is shooting three Shurikans in a single line. He also has a secondary method where he shoots three in a horizontal line.

Use the secondary fire mode when you get close to an enemy, and it will act as a heavy-damage shotgun. Some suggest always shooting one secondary fire before doing an ability to ensure maximum damage against your target.

4. Team Up with a Mercy or Ana

Though DPS heroes tend to hog all the credit, it’s essential to team up with the right support, and Genji plays most effectively with healers that don’t have to aim too hard when they heal him—enter Mercy.

Have a Mercy follow you on a battlefield while damage-boosting your abilities, and you’re sure to become an unstoppable killing machine.

If Mercy isn’t your thing, Ana and her Nano Boost ultimate are always fantastic when paired with Genji’s Dragon Blade Ult. Just don’t make it too hard for your Ana to heal you when you’re jumping around the battlefield; maybe it would help to memorize just where all the health packs are.

5. Keep Moving!

When characters are highly mobile, like Tracer or Doomfist, it’s implied that they should zoom around the battlefield, getting in and out of sticky situations; it’s not any different with Genji.

With Genji, you should string together your moves to inflict as much damage as possible on a group of enemies before dashing off to cool down your abilities and heal yourself. Once you master all your movements, you can even take down hard-to-reach enemies like Pharah, usually up in the air.

In Conclusion:

Though Genji initially feels like a clunky hero, he becomes fun once you get used to his kit. He remains one of the OG Overwatch heroes, and his mobility and damage keep making him a very useful asset on the battlefield.

While many heroes have gotten reworked with the shift to Overwatch 2, Genji has surprisingly had minimal changes throughout the game. Of course, we should expect things to change from time to time, but as of now, this guide is great for anyone starting on how to play Genji.

Play as Genji in Overwatch 2, now available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4|5.