Overwatch 2's new healer has a giant railgun powered by the sun
Overwatch 2's has a second railgun character now, but instead of a DPS like Sojourn, she's a support who harnesses the power of the sun.
Illari is Overwatch 2's new hero coming this Thursday with the launch of season 6, and she seems to be built for strong damage output, similar to supports like Zenyatta and Kiriko. Instead of purely healing like Mercy, Illari slots into the hero shooter's widening definition of support—which often demands a balance of DPS and healing.
The Peruvian healer's abilities are a little tricky to decipher from the trailer released today, but I think it's safe to say she'll operate similarly to other damage-and-healing supports, with a primary offensive attack and one or two ways to heal allies.
Here's Illari's abilities based on what I could see in the trailer:
- A primary fire that shoots a beam of sun energy to deal damage
- A leap ability to reach high ground
- A healing drone that sticks to walls
- An ultimate that launches her into the air and lets her shoot an explosive ball of energy
It's possible that healing drone is the crux of Illari's healing kit, but it's more likely she has one more ability not shown in the trailer, perhaps a secondary fire on her gun similar to Baptiste and Ana.
Overwatch 2's sixth season, Invasion, will also bring a battle pass themed around the evil Null Sector robots you might've fought in its previous PvE missions. There are a variety of skins shown in the trailer, including a customizable Mythic skin for everyone's favorite senior healer, Ana. The sniper support is now a robot sniper support with a white faceplate and no eyes. Evil robot Ana isn't my jam—I prefer Cabana Ana—but maybe it's yours.
Invasion includes a list of new modes and maps coming to the game including:
- Three story-based co-op PvE missions for $15
- A co-op PvE event mission that takes place in King's Row
- A multi-capture point mode called Flashpoint
- New Junk City and Suravasa maps for Flashpoint
- Singleplayer hero mastery missions to practice skills with select heroes (coming next month)
Overwatch 2's annual Anniversary event will also return to line up with the launch of the sequel last October. In the past, Anniversary events marked the return of limited time Arcade modes from previous events, so maybe I'll get another chance to play Battle for Olympus.
In a blog post last week, game director Aaron Keller teased some of the balance changes coming in season 6. Armor will now cap out at a 50% damage reduction, which should make sturdy tanks much easier to handle when they're in your face. Lifeweaver, the support hero released in Season 4, will have "more survivability" and his healing tree ult will give up to 100 extra health to allies if they're already topped off.
Overwatch 2 season 6 goes live this Thursday and coincides with its launch on Steam.