Fansided

Overwatch: New hero Ana is about to be a game changer

By Christine Wang Dickson

Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment /
facebooktwitterreddit

Still not convinced that a mom in her 60s who snipes people to heal them will make a good addition to the Overwatch team? Get ready, because you are about to be convinced.

Earlier this week, Blizzard announced it’s newest Overwatch hero: Ana. Along with the announcement came the details of Ana’s backstory. To summarize quickly, Ana is actually Pharah’s mother. She was assumed dead when she was shot by Widowmaker during a mission. But Ana is not only alive, she is ready to do some shooting of her own.

People who have access to the public test servers have already been able to play as Ana, and they have been reporting back both their experiences and some pretty interesting information.

First off, here is a detailed list of Ana’s abilities with their descriptions, taken straight from the game:

  • Biotic Rifle – Long-range rifle that heals allies and damages enemies (Note: This rifle can be used both scoped and un-scoped.)
  • Sleep Dart – Fires a dart that puts enemies to sleep
  • Biotic Grenade – Throws a grenade that heals and increases healing on allies, while damaging and preventing healing on enemies
  • Ultimate: Nano Boost – Increases an ally’s speed and damage, while reducing damage taken

Just from looking at her abilities, it’s clear that Ana will be a unique support character with her own place in future team strategies. But what’s not immediately apparent is just how valuable Ana can be when she’s wielded by a skilled player.

Toward the end of the video that first announced Ana’s existence, there’s a scene where McCree creeps up behind Ana and triggers his ultimate. But before he has a chance to pull the trigger, we see Ana spin around and put him right to sleep with her Sleep Dart. Essentially, Ana was able to stop McCree’s ultimate.

Think for a moment how valuable it would be to have a character who could stop an enemy’s ultimate cold. Could Ana be that hero?

Eurogamer’s Chris Bratt had similar thoughts, and he decided to find out for himself. Which ultimates are capable of being stopped by Ana’s Sleep Dart and which ones are not?

Answer: Ana is able to interrupt a pretty decent amount of ultimates, although a few require extremely good timing. Notably, the video shows that the Sleep Dart stops the following heroes immediately:

  • Pharah – Ana puts a stop to her daughter’s tantruming right quick, and the best part is the zinger Ana has prepared in response to Pharah saying, “Justice rains from above!” After shooting Pharah down, Ana says, “I think justice could use a little nap.” BOOM, roasted.
  • Genji
  • McCree
  • Reaper
  • Soldier 76
  • Bastion
  • Torbjorn – Putting him to sleep stops not only the character, but also forces his turret back down to regular power.
  • Roadhog
  • Winston

The following ultimates can only be stopped if Ana shoots the hero mid-animation:

  • Hanzo – He needs to be hit just as he starts to pull back his arrow. The Sleep Dart also only stops the ultimate momentarily, as the charge of his ultimate is unaffected. If Hanzo is able to survive the nap, he’ll be able to fire his ultimate as soon as he’s back up.
  • Junkrat – His ultimate can be stopped if he’s hit just as he’s pulling back to wind up the tire. And unlike in Hanzo’s case, Junkrat’s ultimate charge will drop in percentage afterwards, preventing him from being able to use it immediately upon recovering.
  • Reinhardt – If he’s shot just as he’s about to bring down his hammer, his ultimate can interrupted. However, the ultimate’s charge does not take a hit.
  • Lucio – If he’s shot just before he drops the beat, his ultimate interrupted. But similar to Hanzo and Reinhardt, his ultimate’s charge remains full.

There are ultimates that Ana is unable to stop or interrupt, usually because they either happen instantaneously or because they come in projectile form.

  • Tracer
  • D.Va
  • Mei
  • Widowmaker
  • Zarya
  • Mercy
  • Symmetra
  • Zenyatta – Nothing effects him while he is in his transcendent form.

In the end, out of the 21 heroes on the roster, Ana’s Sleep Dart can negatively effect 13 of their ultimates. That comes out to 62% of Overwatch characters, and 100% guaranteed frustration from the opposing team.

I guess this middle-aged mom is about to be a game changer.

For more gaming coverage, please visit our hub page.

Home/Entertainment