After its initial release, two new heroes have been added to the Overwatch roster. Ana and Sombra joined the ranks in July and November of last year respectively. Today, Blizzard Entertainment revealed the 24th hero coming to Overwatch and the first introduced in 2017. Players now have a chance to meet and preview Orisa on the public test realm.
Orisa is a defense robot designed by the young Efi Oladele in Overwatch lore. The 11-year-old built Orisa using scrap pieces of OR15 units after Numbani was attacked by Doomfist, destroying a squad of OR15 robots there to protect the city. According to the official announcement , Orisa is built to protect and is still learning how to function.
“Orisa is the sixth tank to join the Overwatch lineup, and much like her programming, her gameplay is engineered around protection. She’s built for making a stand with her entire team, and her abilities are geared toward protecting and enabling a group of nearby allies.”
Equipped with a cannon, Orisa damages enemies with her Fusion Driver that she can continually fire. While using the Fusion Driver, Orisa’s movement is slowed. With her Fortify ability, Orisa will momentarily gain immunity to effects that move her like Reinhardt’s Charge or Pharah’s Concussive Blast.
Catch up with robotics prodigy Efi Oladele and meet her newest creation: Orisa!
Learn more @ https://t.co/JCSkZJGOzc pic.twitter.com/v9voQEVQR3
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) March 2, 2017
With her Halt ability, Orisa can slow enemies down then pull them toward a small graviton charge. Orisa also comes equipped with a Protective Barrier that she can deploy on the ground to protect allies behind it. Finally, Orisa’s Ultimate ability, Supercharger, lets the guardian robot summon a drum that buffs the damage dealt by nearby allies. Each of these abilities can be previewed now on the PTR or on the character overview on the Overwatch website.
“Orisa serves as the central anchor of her team, and defends her teammates from the frontline with a protective barrier. She can attack from long range, fortify her own defenses, launch graviton charges to slow and move enemies, and deploy a Supercharger to boost the damage output of multiple allies at once.”
In the latest developer video, which can be viewed below, game director Jeff Kaplan describes how the team decided to implement Orisa. The sixth tank character is being added to Overwatch to fill a needed role. As Kaplan describes it, D.Va and Winston are disruptive and mobile while someone like Roadhog exploits positions.
However, many teams rely on one tank type in particular with Reinhardt, described as an “anchor tank.” This type of tank basically anchors the entire team with his positioning and powerful barrier. Orisa is expected to be another “anchor tank” for teams giving allies a new tank to position around during fights.
Orisa is available to play on the public test realm right now alongside a few changes to Overwatch . Players concerned with the latest Bastion changes should note that his Ironclad passive damage reduction is lower than it is on the live server right now. Instead of a 35 percent reduction of damage in Sentry and Tank modes, Bastion only receives a 20 percent reduction. A few other hero changes and bug fixes are also part introduced on the PTR, and players can read the tentative patch notes on the Overwatch website for a full overview.
Although Orisa and the upcoming changes are only on the PTR right now, Overwatch just updated with a new feature earlier this week. The Game Browser is available now letting players share their custom games with their community. As the Inquisitr reported, custom games can be tailored with new and existing options like lowering cooldowns, disabling abilities, increasing move speed, and many more. Custom games even offer experience , now giving Overwatch players a new way to level up and earn loot boxes.
[Featured Image by Blizzard Entertainment]