After weeks of teasing, Blizzard has revealed the newest character for the Overwatch roster. Built by the previously introduced 11-year old genius Efi, Orisa is a robotic tank that focuses on protecting allies.
Live now on the Overwatch PTR, Orisa is meant to work as what Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan calls an “anchor tank.” Currently Reinhardt is the only other anchor tank, and Blizzard thought it was the perfect time to introduce another character that could fill a similar roll. Orisa can activate a Protective Barrier, a half circle shield she can place on the ground out in front of her and her team. At the same time she also has Fortify, an ability that allows her to ignore stuns and knockbacks when it is active.
Meant to also have plenty of offensive capabilities, her Fusion Driver weapon is a rapid-fire cannon and has one of the longest-range attacks for any tank in the game. Meanwhile, her ability Halt operates as a smaller, shorter-duration graviton surge, pulling enemies out of place. And finally, her ultimate, Supercharger, gives a damage buff (similar to Mercy’s ability) to all allies in line of sight.
Beyond the dramatic effect another Reinhardt-style tank is likely to have on the game, Orisa is notable for being a part of the game’s contemporary lore. It turns out Doomfist, the person everyone expected to be the next hero, is in fact a villain. Following an attack on the Numbani airport in which Doomfist destroyed a number of OR15 mechs with little to no effort, the public lost faith in the robotic police force. Efi however, decided to rebuild and reprogram one of them, creating Orisa. In the timeline of the game, the newest hero is actually only one month old.
“As Orisa starts her career as a guardian, she has much to learn about the world and her functionality,” her description on the Overwatch website reads. “But as long as she is guided by Efi’s boundless optimism and her own growing sense of honor and duty, Orisa stands ready to protect Numbani and her creator at any cost.”
There is no firm word yet on when the robotic guardian will make the leap to the full game, but as we learn more about Orisa and the future of Overwatch, keep checking back here on Gamespresso.