'Overwatch' Christmas Update: Mei's Snowball Offensive brawl tips, tricks and guide

The new seasonal Winter Wonderland update infused the world of Overwatch with holiday cheer and cute new cosmetic items. But the new brawl, Mei's Snowball Offensive — which at first seems like it's going to be a cheeky romp through the snow — is actually the most stressful and difficult game mode Overwatch has implemented in a long time.

Overwatch fans are already responding online with a mix of excitement and frustration.

Putting aside the worrying implications of 12 Mei clones fighting to the death in a Hunger Games-style arena, the new brawl really should be all about having fun. And as any good competitor knows, you can only have fun when you're winning. Here are some tips and tricks to help you do just that.

Overwatch: Rules for the Mei's Snowball Offensive brawl

Before we get too far into the details, let's go over the basic rules of the game first:

1. Every match takes place on the Ecopoint: Antarctica map.

2. Everyone plays as Mei.

3. Everyone's gun shoots a single snowball, and you have to manually reload at one of the snow piles scattered around the map.

4. A single hit from an enemy snowball will eliminate you.

5. Once you're eliminated, you stay down until the next round.

6. The first team to win three rounds wins.

Overwatch: Tips and tricks for Mei's Snowball Offensive brawl

OK, all caught up? Here are some tips that should help you out, based on my personal experience.

1. Don't fire your snowball inside the spawn point for fun before a match. It won't reload automatically once the brawl starts. Learn from my mistakes.

2. Snowballs travel at an arc, so you'll probably have to aim a little higher than your target, like you would with Hanzo.

3. Similarly, since the snowballs travel slowly, you have to anticipate your target's movements and shoot a few steps ahead of them.

4. A modified ultimate ability that gives Mei unlimited ammo for a brief period.

5. Mei maintains her ult charge between rounds, so don't waste it at the end of a round if you don't yet need it.

6. If a character has a snowflake above their head, that means they have a snowball ready to go.

7. You can interrupt an enemy Mei from reloading by placing an ice wall beneath them, which will put them out of reach of the snow pile.

8. Mei's footsteps are nearly silent, so feel free to stalk your prey and get close before shooting them. Hitting a target from afar is pretty tricky, because of the aforementioned snowball arcing.

9. Use the ice wall ability to create safe zones for yourself while you reload.

10. If you're closing in on a target, you can use the ice wall ability to block your enemy from leaving an enclosed space.

11. There are four sprays you can earn for completing certain tasks in Mei's Snowball Offensive:

Snowcree: Unlocked by killing an enemy from 25 meters away.

Snowhog: Unlocked by killing three enemies while they're reloading.

Snowmei: Unlocked by winning a game of Mei's Snowball Offensive without losing a single round.

Snowreaper: Unlocked by killing four enemies in a row without missing.

Good luck! Maybe some day you'll be as good as Reddit user tatui, who uploaded this clip of their ridiculously long kill streak.

More Overwatch news, updates, tips and tricks

For more on Overwatch, check out the full patch notes for update 2.01, read our guide to checking your Overwatch stats, look at our list of the best gender-bent Overwatch cosplay, read the story of how a bunch of Redditors got an unexpected Arabic lesson after debating Bastion's gender and read up on the new Oasis map on the PTR.