Winter Soldier Guide: How to Play, Tips and Tricks & Matchups

My Credentials

I am a Celestial player who primarily plays Invisible Woman as a main. I also main Peni Parker for a Vanguard and Squirrel Girl for a Duelist. I also study top level streamers, tournaments, and data published by first and third party sources to help deliver the most accurate information I can.

Basic Ability Guide (For Beginners)

You can find a bulleted list of the character's abilities in game under their character tab. This portion of the guide will cover the same info, as well as some extra information and tips that the game doesn't clearly outline. If you already have a basic grasp of the character, skip to the next section for more advanced tips.

Winter Soldier's abilities all tie in with his primary weapon, Roterstern. This 3 shot hand gun fires explosive rounds. By explosive, it simply means the rounds can attack your main target and an opponent behind them if they are very close together. This won't happen too often, so it's mainly a 3 shot weapon. It reloads relatively quickly, but the weapon has synergy with his abilities.

He has a passive ability called Ceaseless Charge that lets you automatically reload each time you use an ability. It also grants bonus hp to ability uses, but we will get into that in a moment. This passive is what really makes this character shine. You can skip the need to reload this powerful weapon by instead dealing more damage.

Winter Soldier has 3 abilities that give him a range of options:

Troopers Fist is an dash plus uppercut that pulls nearby opponents into it's path. The dash attack does 25 damage, and the uppercut does an additional 65 damage. This is perfect for closing the gap on an evasive opponent to finish them off. In an emergency, you can use it as a way to dash behind cover. Thanks to your passive ability, you also gain 50 bonus hp on activation and automatically reload your weapon!

Tainted Voltage is a projectile that you can fire that does 55 damage on impact. Any enemy hit will also gain a 35% movement reduction for 2 seconds. This move is great for finishing off a fleeing opponent. If the damage doesn't kill them, they get slowed down and you auto reload to finish them off. It has quick 6 second recharge time with 2 charges, so you can use it often without worry of needing to reserve it. Thanks to that passive ability again, you get 30 bonus health and a full reload on activation. For a more niche usage, the ability can knock down flying opponents, allowing you to take them out easier.

Bionic Hook is a grapple attack that you can fire to reel in an opponents. You charge the move for up to 4 seconds, and the range it reaches depends on the length of the charge. At immediate usage, it can reach up to 10 meters. If you charge the full time of 4 seconds though, it can expand its reach to 20 meters. The first opponent it hits will immediately be pulled toward you and receive 15 damage. Like the other abilities, your passive will give you 30 bonus health and instantly reload your weapon. You want to use this grapple to single out important targets. That can be a fleeing opponent, someone who needs to be separated from a healer, or the healer themselves if you get a good angle. It has an 12 second recharge time, so you can use it often, but be a little more reserved with it than your blast.

For Winter Soldier's ultimate, he slams the ground with his bionic arm in a move called Kraken Impact. On activation, you soar into the air and hover with a target radius you can attack. Once chosen, any opponent inside will take damage and receive a "mark of culling". Basically what this means your opponent get the last 15% of their health bar restricted, and if their hp dips to that mark, they die. If any opponent dies while marked, Winter Soldier gets to use his ultimate... AGAIN! You can do this over and over until either you die, you fail to kill a marked opponent before the mark expires, or the 7 second window to reactivate the ultimate expires. If you hear someone in game screaming "AGAIN!", you know Winter Soldier is getting some value from his ultimate.

How to Play

Winter Soldier is a good front line to mid dps. You will often stick near your team, but you can easily stray away to confirm kills. You want to aim for lower base health targets that you can easily take out. You will have a harder time against tanks, but healers and most dps will struggle against you.

His hook is a big tool you can combo with his uppercut to force an opponent away from their team. As soon as you snag your opponent, do a quick turn during the animation, then immediately use the uppercut. This will let you push them in the direction you turn to. You would use this to bring a tank into your team and push them into a corner, or simply make sure a dodgey opponent can't get away.

If an opponent is trying to run away, use your voltage projectile to kill confirm. It has a wider range than your bullets, so it's easier to land the hit. With 2 charges that both reload your weapon and give bonus health, it should be fairly easy for you to keep pressure on them until you can lock in the kill.

Once you can farm enough hits, his ultimate ability can easily turn the tides of any match. Ideally, you want to hold onto it until the enemy healers have already used their ults. It's near impossible to get value from your ultimate if a healer's is active. When the moment is right, you want to target your first hit on a low hp or weak enemy. That should make it easier to kill confirm quickly, letting you get your ultimate recharged. If possible, target someone who is near other opponents so they all take some damage, making follow up ults more effective!

Tips and Tricks For Gameplay

Winter Soldier's ultimate ability can be reset if a marked opponent dies by any source. That means you don't have to be the one to land the killing blow to use your ultimate AGAIN! Enemies instantly lose their mark if you die, so don't be afraid to let your team help confirm some kills.

For another ultimate ability tip, you don't have to select your target immediately. You will actually hover in the air for a few seconds, allowing you a chance to properly aim. Use this to your advantage if this is your second + time using it. The opponents are already marked, so let your team damage them some more. Even if they lose their mark while you're in the air, they will get a new one when they get hit again. Essentially, taking your time can sometimes give you and your team more value from the ability by extending the time they are marked.

For a final ultimate ability tip, ANY enemy kill counts as a reset for you. This includes Loki Clones and freshly revived enemies. If you want to keep enemies running while your ultimate keeps returning, target the Loki Clones you see one by one. Each time will give you a 7 second window to use another ult, followed by a 2-3 second window to choose your target. Stalling can let more opponents return to battle, netting you continuing value from the ability.

Use Winter Soldier's abilities often. Don't just shoot and spam abilities when you get into trouble. Single out players to separate from the group and use your abilities to ensure they stay separated.

Ideally you want to be close quarters with opponents, hence why you have a grapple and a dashing uppercut. Get in close and aim for those headshots to make a huge impact. Since abilities reload your gun, you can really maximize your accuracy by shoving that gun barrel right in their face after pulling them in.

If opponents are sticking together and hiding behind shields and walls, its okay to stay back and fight at a distance. You just need to keep shooting. Build up your ultimate by landing hits, then use it on the team to give your team a chance to break them apart.

Utilize your projectile like a damaging reload. It recharges quickly, and the ability finishes faster than a regular reload. This will let you keep serious pressure on opponents while reserving those higher cooldown abilities.

Need a quick escape option? You can use your uppercut as a dash to quickly move behind cover!

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• High skill ceiling ultimate
• Grapple can snatch dodgey opponents
• Can counter flying characters

Cons:

• Requires high precision
• Difficult for new players to pick up
• Tanks can survive his shots, feeding enemy healer ultimates

Matchups