Overwatch match sabotaged by hilarious tiny Winston shield mechanic

Former Overwatch League pro Philip ‘ChipSa’ Graham couldn’t believe what he saw when a tiny version of Winston’s Barrier Projector appeared during a match.

Shields are key in Overwatch, and Winston’s bubble can be one of the most effective for shutting down other heroes ultimates.

However, during a match on Blizzard World ChipSa ran into a bizarre mechanic, that you might mistake for a bug or glitch if you didn’t know better.

A Winston shield for ants?

While watching a replay of a match on Blizzard World, ChipSa somehow spotted glowing area just by the point. 

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a Winston shield that had shrunk down to an adorably tiny size.

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“What is this?” the streamer asked. “Wait, are you f**king kidding me, why is the bubble tiny? What the f**k is this?!”

You’d be forgiven if you thought this was a bug or a glitch, but it’s actually an intended mechanic that has to do with Echo, not Winston.

How the tiny Winston bubble came to be

When Echo activates her ultimate, she turns into a selected enemy hero and can use all of their abilities as well. However, those abilities disappear as soon as she turns back.

To make this work, Blizzard devs programmed abilities like Winston’s bubble, to shrink down to a useless and hilarious size until they expire.

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So ChipSa, after copying Winston had put down a shield to block Cassidy’s ultimate just before turning back. But, instead of protecting him, it just shrunk down when he reverted to Echo — getting him killed by deadeye, and giving the rest of us one of the funniest Overwatch clips we’ve seen in a while.