Overwatch is having a ball

Of all the possible heroes to join the Overwatch fray, I did not see this one coming.

Hero 28 has been revealed and unlike previous heroes, I don’t think anyone saw this coming. I mean, a hamster in a mech? Really?

Well, I guess it doesn’t come entirely out of left field since the defacto leader of Overwatch is Winston, a talking gorilla. In fact, Hammond, also known as Wrecking Ball comes from the same research facility as Winston. According to the Overwatch Wiki, they were pals.

I guess when you live in a confined space in outer space you are limited in the type of friends you can have.

What do we know about this little guy?

For starters, Wrecking Ball is the newest Tank in the roster. Like most tanks, he has 500 HP and 100 Armor. His primary weapons are Quad Cannons, and the second one is a Grappling Claw. His abilities include Roll, Piledriver, Adaptive Shield and Minefield. 

Roll allows Wrecking Ball to transform into a ball and increase maximum movement speed and this can be used in midair and you can still reload while in Roll.

Piledriver let you slam into the ground below to damage and launch enemies upwards. it has a 10-meter minimum cast height and knocks enemies 10 meters into the air if within impact radius.

With Adaptive Shield you create temporary personal shields. The more enemies nearby the more shields are generated.

Blow your opponents sky high with Minefield, which deploys a massive field of 15 proximity mines that explode on contact with the enemy. Wrecking Ball can regain ult charge while Minefield is deployed.

oh, and his death animation is pretty funny.

He is now available on PTR but as far as I can tell there is no official release date for him to be added to the game.

All in all, I personally think he is rather promising. With an interesting backstory and abilities, I’m looking forward to giving him a go to see what the wee guy is truly capable of.