Overwatch fans have had to put up with months of speculation, but Blizzard has finally buried the rumours and revealed the game’s latest Hero: Ana.
Ana, whose codename is “Sombra”, offers an interesting twist on the Support and Sniper classes. Her backstory hints at her being Pharah’s mother, who was supposedly killed but has since mysteriously returned to battle once again.
She’s an interesting character: she has an attack range this pits her up against the likes of Widowmaker and Hanzo, while her healing powers could see her competing with Mercy and Lucio for sheer Support effectiveness.
What I love most about this character is the balancing act is demands from the player: her sniper rifle doubles as both a deadly rifle as well as a healing tool that can boost a teammate’s health from a distance.
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I also see her being incredibly useful for taking down powerful tank characters, as well as Torbjorn’s turrets and Bastion’s sentry mode: her tagging ability marks enemies of interest so that teammates know exactly where the opposition is located. The marker can also prevent enemies from healing themselves, which as you can see in the trailer can be particularly useful against Roadhog and his self-healing ability.
There’s more: her sleep dart can put enemy players to sleep temporarily, which could be particularly devastating against Heroes that are about to unleash their Ultimate.
I appreciate Blizzard’s intention here to expand the Support and Healing class. Hanzo and Widowmaker are particularly devastating when used by skilled players, and as such having a Hero that can directly challenge them from a distance adds some much-needed variety and strategy to the process of taking them out. Overwatch’s lack of healing heroes has also needed to be addressed since launch, so I’m happy that they’ve finally added a fourth character there.
Check out her trailers below.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/TE0CXgpNxG0[/youtube]
[youtube]https://youtu.be/XbzRwssqMtU[/youtube]