The subsequent hero coming to Overwatch 2 isn’t precisely new. Gamers acquired a glimpse of him, an Omnic activist generally known as Ramattra, greater than three years in the past, on the conclusion of an Overwatch Archives occasion known as Storm Rising. That occasion’s cliffhanger reveal of a menacing Omnic teaming up the villain Doomfist lastly paid off on Friday on the Overwatch League Grand Finals, when Blizzard Leisure revealed the brand new tank-class character coming to Overwatch 2 subsequent month.
Ramattra will be a part of the Overwatch 2 roster on Dec. 6, debuting alongside the sport’s second season. He’ll be the sport’s eleventh tank character, and can deliver a singular mechanic to the tank group: Ramattra has two varieties, a regular Omnic type and a hulking second type, known as Nemesis.
In his commonplace Omnic type, Ramattra battles utilizing a employees that fires projectiles and may create a barrier to guard his crew. However when Ramattra hulks out, utilizing a capability on a cooldown, he turns into a big brawler able to highly effective melee assaults that may strike concern into “squishies” on the opposing crew. Overwatch builders described Ramattra’s transformation as “scary” and “menacing,” turning him from a reasonably standard-sized hero into one of many recreation’s largest. That become his extra aggressive Nemesis type makes him deadlier, but it surely additionally makes him a a lot greater goal for assaults like Ana’s sleep dart or Zenyatta’s orb of discord.
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Picture: Blizzard Leisure
However Ramattra will provide tank gamers new gameplay alternatives, letting them determine between defending their crew with longer vary assaults and obstacles, or aggressively main the cost into battle. His punches, whereas in Nemesis type, can pierce by way of obstacles, lead hero designer Alec Dawson mentioned, offering counters to “bubbles” from heroes like Winston and Zarya.
Blizzard didn’t reveal an excessive amount of about Ramattra’s means package or his stats throughout a press briefing on Thursday, and as a substitute centered on the Omnic’s narrative place in Overwatch’s world.
In keeping with Blizzard’s official origin story, Ramattra was constructed as a battle machine for the Omnic Disaster, however he put down his weapons, in search of tranquility alongside Zenyatta. For a time, Ramattra adopted that peaceable path earlier than in the end main Null Sector, and combating for the survival of his individuals by any means needed.
“Omnics and people have tried to coexist, however as you’ve seen within the lore, that has not been going nicely for them,” lead narrative designer Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie mentioned. “Ramattra is bored with ready and has grown impatient. He has fashioned this group with some allies to battle for the liberty of the Omnic individuals and win their security at any value.”
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Picture: Blizzard Leisure
Like Kiriko, it appears like Ramattra will roll out to gamers through Overwatch 2’s battle move. Gamers who pay for the premium model of that move will get him instantly, whereas different gamers might want to stage up the free model of the move to unlock him. Requested whether or not Blizzard plans to alter the required battle move stage — which was 55 for Kiriko — for Ramattra’s launch, artwork director Dion Rogers deferred, saying that the Overwatch crew is repeatedly evaluating its plans. “It’s a continuing dialog for our crew,” Rogers mentioned.
Ramattra will arrive in season 2 alongside a brand new map, one which builders mentioned has unspecified ties to the brand new hero. Extra heroes, together with a brand new support-class character, are deliberate for Overwatch 2 in 2023.