By Andrew Dodson on March 2, 2017 at 2:58pm
After a lot of speculation, Blizzard dropped the reveal of the new "Overwatch" hero today with a short story video, a developer update and an updated website with all the juicy details.
Orisa (who is definitely giving me some Baymax from 'Big Hero 6' feels) is 'Overwatch''s new tank and people are already calling her the weird love-child of Bastion, Symmetra and Soldier 76, and she indeed does have a lot of abilities that makes it easy for that comparison to be made.
There are two abilities that I find to be most interesting in Orisa's arsenal. First is her 'Fortify' ability, which covers her in a liquid-metal type of skin and lets her charge into dangerous situation with an armor boost and an immunity to any movement-slowing effects. This will make her a great counter to trap rooms full of Symmetra turrets or against Mei and her ice gun or Blizzard ultimate. The second is the 'Halt!' ability, which fires an orb that can be detonated to slow enemies at range and pull them closer together. That ability alone has great potential to help set up team ult combos, or at the very least, pull squishy characters away from cover and into the line of fire. It's not clear yet if 'Halt!' will be able to pull a Bastion in turret mode, but if so, Orisa will definitely come to be a solid counter against the them.
Her ultimate ability, 'Supercharger', is a device that she can throw down to give a damage boost to all nearby teammates. Definitely an ability that will come in handy when trying to hold down a point against a strong push.
And, onto future speculation, if you watched Orisa's story intro, you learn that her original form was destroyed by Doomfist in an attack at the Numbani airport (with Efi Oladele 'creating' her after the attack). So, I think it's safe to assume that Doomfist is still on the way.
No word yet on when exactly Orisa will arrive officially, but she is currently playable on the PTR servers.
Orisa's Overwatch Page
