A trailer has just released showing off the new Overwatch hero – a medic sniper who’ll patch you up from a distance, or maybe just shoot you. Who knows.
Everything else we know about new Overwatch heroes over here.
Blizzard recently teased something sniper-related on Twitter, as we noted. They released the schematics for an advanced sniper rifle that’s kitted out for a medic, but it was made clear it wasn’t for Mercy.
It’s for Ana Amari, you see. She’s Pharah’s mum and she likes shooting things from really far away. Here’s how she plays:
Here’s what all of her cosmetics look like – skins, sprays, golden gun, the lot:
Meanwhile here’s her backstory:
For those interested, she’s no 60 years old and works as a Bounty Hunter, according to her official hero page. She was second-in-command to Soldier: 76, Jack Morrison in those days, before the fall of Overwatch. Widowmaker shot her in the face during a rescue mission, hence the eyepatch. Despite a cronic lack of evil forces in the game, she’s resolutely a goodie, protecting her country of Egypt from “forces that would destabilize it” and wanting to protect her family, most notably Pharah.
Ana’s going to hit the public test region today, according to Blizzard. Here’s a complete rundown of her abilities:
- Her “Biotic Rifle” first long-range darts that either heal allies or deal ongoing damage to enemies.
- She also has a Biotic Grenade, which hurts enemies and heals allies. It also places a buff on allies increasing their healing received for the next few seconds, and a debuff on enemies, making them impossible to heal for the same period.
- She also has a medium-range stun, the sleep-dart. Any damage dealt will remove the stun.
- Her ultimate is called Nano Boost, and gives faster movement, extra damage and resistance to enemy attacks.
While you wait to play, here’s the history of how Blizzard hinted at this new character.
Exactly when Ana Amari first showed up isn’t precisely known, with her in-game hints stealthily patched in and discovered over a lengthy period. However, her first ‘leak’ came in Gamespot’s three-part video series about the making of Overwatch. At various points through the video, a sniper scope can be seen on a design screen that doesn’t match Widowmaker’s.
In the same series, we at one point see the hero selection screen showing an unfamiliar sniper in the support section, though they are clearly using Widowmaker’s pose. Blizzard have said in the past that they’ll often use other character’s animation rigs for when they aren’t positive how a character will work out, so as not to waste assets if they don’t go ahead. It’s also worth pointing out this character appears to be towards the start of the support section, and each section is ordered alphabetically.
Blizzard also teased something sniper-related on twitter. They released the schematics for an advanced sniper rifle that’s kitted out for a medic – Ana Amari’s eventual weapon. However, in the exchange shown between Torbjorn and Mercy, Overwatch’s current medic seems dead against the weapon, being all nice and everything. See the exchange below:
[ARCHIVE] Communications Records of Ziegler, A. – Overwatch File 00231 – Security Classification: CONFIDENTIAL pic.twitter.com/lLAxTL2DhO
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) 6 July 2016
The Brazilian version of that very same tease also surfaced, but look in the top left corner – it’s another name: A. Amari. If you compare the scope on these two images to what was seen in the Gamespot video above, you’ll notice the similarities.
A few days after this was posted on Twitter, we had our final reveal.