Disruption is the name of the game for Overwatch’s Wrecking Ball

wrecking ball hammond name

Overwatch’s newest hero, the hamster-mech combo Wrecking Ball, is all about disrupting the enemy team. His unique movement makes him highly mobile, and his adaptive shield ability pulls him forward into the fight – much more than Overwatch’s existing tank characters. 

The term ‘disruption’ comes up whenever Blizzard talks about the fuzzy little guy’s role on a team. In a recent roundtable interview, hero designer Geoff Goodman talked about how Wrecking Ball works.

“I expect we’ll see some similarities to the way D.Va and Winston are played, as far as diving in deep goes,” Goodman said. “[Wrecking Ball] has a lot other interesting things to the way he plays than D.Va or Winston. For example, Winston can jump in and put down his barrier, but if he does that alone against the whole team, that barrier doesn’t last very long, and he doesn’t have another escape unless you can wait for his jump to come back.”

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It’s another story entirely for Hammond, whose adaptive shields get more powerful the more enemies are nearby.

“Wrecking Ball has adaptive shields which mean he can pretty much tank the whole team,” Goodman said. “If he hits everybody with that thing, it’s so much health that he’s basically the only hero in the game that can legitimately go 1v6. At least temporarily.”

Between the adaptive shields, his piledriver ability, and quick movement, Goodman says Wrecking Ball will prove useful against tough, stacked defenses – the kind that tend pile up on the payload with a Reinhardt and Orisa creating a “tough nut to crack.”

Goodman says he’s interested to see how Wrecking Ball performs in pro play, where Blizzard anticipate him getting picked with D.Va and Winston, creating a tank-heavy dive tactic.

“The thing about Wrecking Ball is that he’s super fun and interesting, and very powerful, but he has some pretty strong counters,” Goodman said. Those include McCree, Brigitte, and Mei, who all can stop him dead in his tracks.

“His only escape is moving away really quickly,” Goodman continued. “So if you can freeze him just a little bit, it’s going to be a big problem [for him].”

Wrecking Ball is currently available on the Overwatch PTR.