Critical hit is a property that allows a weapon or ability to deal bonus damage under certain conditions. Most commonly critical hits are caused by headshots, though a few heroes have additional methods of dealing critical hits.

Headshot

Headshots are critical hits caused by most - but not all - weapons and some abilities upon hitting an opponent's head hitbox. Weapons that fall under the Melee or Beam categories are incapable of dealing headshots.

Generally, a headshot gains a 2.0x damage modifier, meaning that they deal double the damage of a bodyshot (for example, Cassidy's Peacekeeper deals 70 damage to the body, but 140 damage to the head against a non-bruiser hero). Some weapons do, however, have a differing multiplier:

• Sojourn's Charged Shot, Illari's Solar Rifle and Juno's Mediblaster have a 1.5x headshot modifier.
• Widowmaker's Widow's Kiss (ADS) has a 2.5x headshot modifier.

Genji's Deflect and Echo's Duplicate inherit the property from the original hero's weapon or ability.

Some abilities, such as Ramattra's Block and Wrecking Ball's Roll, can partially hide or completely disable the hero's head hitbox, preventing them from taking the bonus critical damage. They are still vulnerable to other forms of critical damage, however.

List of weapons, abilities, and perks that can headshot

Hero	Weapon / Ability	Official description	Headshot multiplier	Details
Ana	Headhunter Headhunter	Biotic Rifle can crit enemies.	2	Major Perk
Ashe	The Viper The Viper	Semi-automatic rifle.	2
	Take Aim (ADS) Take Aim (ADS)	Hold to zoom in, increasing damage and accuracy but slowing rate of fire.	2
Anran	Zhuque Fans Zhuque Fans	Hand fans that shoot fiery projectiles.	2
Bastion	Configuration: Recon Configuration: Recon	Mobile, with a lightweight and highly accurate weapon.	2
Baptiste	Biotic Launcher Biotic Launcher	Three-round burst gun.	2
Cassidy	Peacekeeper Peacekeeper	Accurate, powerful revolver.	2
	Silver Bullet Silver Bullet	Peacekeeper's secondary fire is replaced with a piercing shot that inflicts bleeding. Combat Roll and Deadeye reset its cooldown.	2	Damage over time is unaffected.
D.Va	Fusion Cannons Fusion Cannons	Automatic short-range spread weapons.	2
	Precision Fusion Precision Fusion	Press Reload to reduce Fusion Cannons' Spread by 75% for 3 seconds.	2
	Light Gun Light Gun	Automatic weapon.	2
Domina	Photon Magnum Photon Magnum	Medium-range beam that culminates in a high impact shot.	1.5, hitscan shot only	Hitscan shot only.
Doomfist	Hand Cannon Hand Cannon	Short-range weapon with spread. Reloads automatically.	2
Echo	Tri-Shot Tri-Shot	Fires 3 shots at once, in a triangle pattern.	2
	Duplicate Duplicate	Become a copy of the targeted hero. They cannot swap heroes for the duration.		Depends on the duplicated hero's weapon.
Emre	Synthetic Burst Rifle Synthetic Burst Rifle	Three-round burst weapon.	2
	Synthetic Burst Rifle (ADS) Synthetic Burst Rifle (ADS)	Three-round burst weapon.	2
Freja	Revdraw Crossbow Revdraw Crossbow	Rapidly fire automatic bolts.	2
	Take Aim Take Aim	Slow down your momentum to take aim with a high speed explosive bolt. Using Quick Dash refreshes Take Aim.	2
Genji	Shuriken Shuriken	Throw an accurate burst of 3 projectiles.	2
	Shuriken Alt Fire Shuriken Alt Fire	Throw a fan of 3 projectiles in an arc.	2
	Deflect Deflect	Deflect incoming projectiles towards the direction you are aiming and block melee attacks.		Depends on deflected projectile.
Hanzo	Storm Bow Storm Bow	Hold to charge then release to launch arrows further.	2
	Storm Arrows Storm Arrows	The next 5 arrows ricochet and fire instantly at reduced damage.	2
	Sonic Arrow Sonic Arrow	Reveals enemies for a short time upon impact.	2
	Frost Arrow Frost Arrow	Press Reload to ready an explosive frost arrow that slows enemies by 35% for 2 seconds.	2
	Dragonstrike Dragonstrike	Launch a deadly Dragon Spirit that devastates enemies it passes through.	2	Only initial arrow before turning into AoE.
Hazard	Bonespur Bonespur	Fire a burst of spikes.	2
Illari	Solar Rifle Solar Rifle	Long-range auto charging rifle.	1.5
Jetpack Cat	Biotic Pawjectiles Biotic Pawjectiles	Mid-range projectile spread that heals allies and damages enemies.	2 paw shots only
Junker Queen	Scattergun Scattergun	Pump action shotgun.	2
Juno	Mediblaster Mediblaster	Burst fire weapon that heals allies and damages enemies.	1.5, damage only
Kiriko	Kunai Kunai	Thrown long-ranged projectile.	2
Lifeweaver	Thorn Volley Thorn Volley	Rapidly fire a spread of projectiles.	2
Lúcio	Sonic Amplifier Sonic Amplifier	Sonic projectile launcher.	2
Mauga	Incendiary Chaingun Incendiary Chaingun	Automatic weapon that ignites enemies on repeated impacts.	2	Damage over time is unaffected.
	Volatile Chaingun Volatile Chaingun	Automatic weapon that deals critical damage to burning enemies.	2
Mei	Icicle Icicle	Long-range icicle launcher.	2
Mercy	Caduceus Blaster Caduceus Blaster	Automatic weapon.	2
Mizuki	Spirit Glaive Spirit Glaive	Throw a spinning blade that impacts enemies and rapidly dealing damage.	2
Orisa	Augmented Fusion Driver Augmented Fusion Driver	Automatic heat-based weapon.	2
Ramattra	Void Accelerator Void Accelerator	Fire a stream of projectiles.	2
	Void Surge Void Surge	Void Accelerator periodically releases a burst of 6 additional projectiles during continuous fire.	2
Reaper	Hellfire Shotguns Hellfire Shotguns	Short-range spread weapons.	2
	Dire Triggers Dire Triggers	Use (RMB) to fire a volley with long range accuracy from both Hellfire shotguns.	2
Roadhog	Scrap Gun Scrap Gun	Short-range spread weapon.	2
	Scrap Gun Alt Fire Scrap Gun Alt Fire	Medium-range projectile that explodes into the weapon's short-range primary fire.	2
	Whole Hog Whole Hog	Damage and knock back enemies in front of you.	2
Sierra	Helix Rifle Helix Rifle	Automatic assault weapon. Shoots in a spiral pattern, gaining accuracy with sustained fire.	2
	Tracking Shot Tracking Shot	Marks an enemy. Helix Rifle shots automatically track marked enemies.	2
Sojourn	Railgun Railgun	Rapid firing projectiles that generate energy on hit.	2
	Charged Shot Charged Shot	High impact shot that consumes stored energy and pierces enemies.	1.5	Can also headshot during Overclock.
Soldier: 76	Heavy Pulse Rifle Heavy Pulse Rifle	Automatic assault weapon.	2	Can headshot also during Tactical Visor, but auto-aimed shots are always bodyshots.
Sombra	Machine Pistol Machine Pistol	Short-range automatic weapon.	2
Torbjörn	Rivet Gun Rivet Gun	Slow firing, long-ranged weapon.	2
	Rivet Gun Alt Fire Rivet Gun Alt Fire	Inaccurate but powerful short-range weapon.	2
Tracer	Pulse Pistols Pulse Pistols	Short-range automatic weapons.	2
Widowmaker	Widow's Kiss Widow's Kiss	Automatic assault weapon.	2
	Widow's Kiss (ADS) Widow's Kiss (ADS)	Hold for long-ranged sniper weapon.	2.5
Wrecking Ball	Quad Cannons Quad Cannons	Automatic assault weapons.	2
Zenyatta	Orb of Destruction Orb of Destruction	Energy projectile weapon.	2
	Orb of Destruction Alt Fire Orb of Destruction Alt Fire	Charge to release more projectiles.	2

Ability Criticals

Some weapons and abilities can deal critical damage to enemies without needing the weapon to land on an opponent's head hitbox. However these weapons/abilities typically require some condition to deal critical damage instead. Like headshots, these instances generally deal double damage compared to a normal hit.

• Anran's Fan the Flames deals critical damage against burning targets, doubling the base damage it deals, as well as the burning damage the target takes.
• Domina's Sonic Repulsors deals critical damage with the Power Move perk when pushing an enemy into Barrier Array.
• Reinhardt's Earthshatter deals critical damage when it hits an enemy in melee range, but it functions slightly differently than other critical hits, dealing an additional instance of 150 damage instead of multiplying the base damage.
• Mauga's Overrun deals critical damage and knocks down any enemies it lands directly on.
• Mauga's Volatile Chaingun can deal headshots as normal, but can also deal critical damage to any hero, object or barrier that is burning, even if they don't have a head hitbox.
• Sombra's Virus deals critical damage on hacked enemies and objects, doubling the initial damage but not the damage over time.
• Vendetta's Palatine Fang and Soaring Slice deal critical damage with the overhead strike.

Critical damage mitigation

In addition to general damage reduction effects, there are currently two effects in the game that can specifically mitigate damage dealt by critical hits. The bruiser sub-role passive grants a 25% reduction against critical hits. This reduction stacks additively with general damage reductions and counts toward the 50% damage reduction cap. Additionally, Orisa's Fortify ignores all sources of critical damage. However, ability criticals are not effected by either of these.

Media

Trivia

• In game modes that restrict all damage to headshots only, some heroes and deployables may not deal any damage whatsoever (like Symmetra, Moira, turrets, and B.O.B.), while others may become immune to damage (like Hammond, Bastion, turrets and barriers).

References

v · d · e Gameplay
Playlists	Unranked Competitive Play Stadium Arcade Custom Games Missions Training
Maps	Assault Clash Control Escort Flashpoint Hybrid Push
Heroes	Ability Health, Armor & Shields Melee Movement speed Passive ability (Global) Perks Ranged Roles (Sub-Roles) Ultimate ability Weapon
Mechanics	Channeled Damage modification Deployables (Barrier) Environmental kill Critical hit Healing Health pack Overtime Projectile Respawn Spawn Room Status effect Transformation
Systems & Content	Achievements Avoid as Teammate Battle Pass Challenges Cosmetics Elimination Feed Endorsements Events Loot Box Map Voting Matchmaking On Fire Penalties Ping Play of the Game Player Progression Quick Play: Hacked Scoreboard Tips Workshop
Other	Common Terms Patch Notes
Removed features	Sudden Death Card Medals Looking for Group Map Pools Priority Pass Assault Hero Mastery Hero Mastery: Gauntlet Hero Missions Talents