overwatch New Hero Announced: Wrecking Ball!

[Starym 3,776]

 

The 28th Overwatch Hero has been revealed and he's... furrier and smaller than expected!

The 28th Hero has officially been announced! The guesses were somewhat on point as to who it will be, but Hammond wasn't quite the type of animal that was expected! The most resourceful rodent you'll ever see got himself some gear in Junkertown and is now going to go head to head with the rest of the Heroes. The little guy is, of course, a tank, and has massive mobility and some displacement abilities, but take a look at the full origin story, all of his abilities and background.

The champion revealed. pic.twitter.com/0Fdpg2iBcs

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) June 28, 2018

Wrecking Ball (source)

A resourceful tinkerer with remarkable mechanic skills, Wrecking Ball is rolling around the world seeking out his next challenge to overcome.

Name:	Wrecking Ball
Real Name:	Hammond
Age:	14
Occupation:	Mech Pilot, Mechanic
Base of Operations:	Horizon Lunar Colony (formerly), Junkertown (formerly)
Affiliation:	None

"Do not anger the hamster."

In one of the many experiments carried out at Horizon Lunar Colony, animals were given genetic therapy to assess their adaptation to extended periods of habitation on the moon. As an unexpected side effect, several of them exhibited exceptional growth in physical size and brain function. While most of the test subjects were gorillas or other primates, there were some exceptions, including a hamster named Hammond.

Like the others, Hammond's intelligence grew, and he became more curious about the world around him. Much to the puzzlement and amusement of the scientists, Hammond would frequently escape into different parts of the moon base. Though they'd always find him and return him to his cell, they never figured out the true purpose behind his nightly escapades. What they didn't know was that Hammond was busy teaching himself the skills of a mechanic, which would soon come in handy.

The colony was eventually thrown into chaos when some of the gorillas rose up against the human scientists and took control. Not all of the animals participated, however, and one of the gorillas, Winston, was making a plan to escape to earth. Hammond sensed his opportunity. He built a makeshift capsule and secretly hitched it to Winston's craft as the gorilla blasted off. As the two entered earth's atmosphere, Hammond broke off and landed in a different location: the wasteland of the Australian Outback.

Hammond modified his escape pod to enter the lucrative mech battle arena of the Scrapyard. Working his way up the ranks, "Wrecking Ball" went from contender to champion, though the pilot's identity remained a mystery to all. Gathering his winnings, Hammond was able to upgrade his mech enough to survive the dangerous trek out of the Junker-controlled Outback.

Now free to travel and do as he pleases, Hammond is exploring the world and finding new adventures along the way.  

QUAD CANNONS

Automatic assault weapons.

ROLL

Transform into a ball and increase maximum movement speed.

GRAPPLING CLAW

Launch a grappling claw to rapidly swing around the area. Enables high speed collisions to damage and knockback enemies.

MINEFIELD

Deploy a massive field of proximity mines.

ADAPTIVE SHIELD

Create temporary personal shields. Amount increases with more enemies nearby.

PILEDRIVER

Slam into the ground below to damage and launch enemies upward.
 

Wrecking Ball’s tinkering capabilities and iron-clad mech make him a formidable tank hero, capable of bowling through the front line of the opposition and causing mayhem in the back line. His primary weapon, Quad Cannons, are two sets of twin machine guns that shred enemies caught in their crosshairs. No team is too much for Wrecking Ball to engage against with his Adaptive Shield, which generates more health based on the number of enemies nearby. This shield makes him incredibly difficult to kill when he bulldozes into the fray and, once he starts to get low on health, also provides him the endurance to escape. The Roll ability allows Wrecking Ball to withdraw the mech’s robotic limbs, transforming it into a ball with increased movement speed. No obstacle can stand in Wrecking Ball’s way when he uses Grappling Claw, a short-range ability that grips the environment, letting him swing across terrain gaps or around corners to smash enemies. Grappling Claw also allows Wrecking Ball to reach top speed and ram into foes, dealing destructive damage and knocking them back. While airborne, the mech’s Piledriver ability causes Wrecking Ball to slam down from the air and knock his enemies off their feet.

When Wrecking Ball is at his strongest, he can use Minefield which flings mines onto the ground that deal a considerable amount of damage to enemies unfortunate enough to trigger them.

As the sixth tank hero in the Overwatch lineup, Wrecking Ball provides disruption while also being an aggressive bruiser that bullies the enemy’s backline, eliminating vulnerable heroes that are left unguarded. He excels at disrupting enemies’ positioning with his Roll and Piledriver abilities while also posing a serious threat if he’s left alone to train his Quad Cannons on key targets.

Wrecking Ball can confidently start team fights at any time by rolling into the enemy team and popping Adaptive Shield, which makes him incrementally more difficult to eliminate for each enemy nearby. If a fight is no longer going in his favor, Wrecking Ball can easily escape from the fray by using Grappling Claw to quickly swing back to the safety of his team. Minefield can prevent enemies from reaching a preferred location or can be dropped on top of them to cause an explosive burst of damage on all foes in a single location. He can also get the drop on his foes by using the Grappling Claw to swing over his enemies, showering Minefield on top of them, and then finishing with Piledriver to pull them into the mines for an explosive burst of damage.

Wrecking Ball is available for testing right now on the Overwatch PTR!

If you’d like to help us hamster—hammer—Wrecking Ball into fighting shape, all you need to do is roll your way onto the PTR, then head to our official forums to report your findings. Click here for more info.

 

[lChronosl 182]

Well, that is certainly something.

 

 

Also, what better nemesis to an genious rodent in a wrecking ball mech then an armored flying feline? Jetpack cat confirmed!

Edited June 28, 2018 by lChronosl

[DimensionDerper 26]

For some reason, the mech kinda reminds me of the Omnidroids from the Incredibles...

Please don't tell me I'm the only one who thinks this, right?

[Yridaa 490]

You know, I can at least somewhat suspend my disbelief when it comes to Winston. Primates are exceptionally smart (Koko knew more than a thousand words with sign language!) and with suspension of disbelief regarding some experiments and such could lead to a monkey rivaling human minds.

 

But a Hamster? This is too much in the "We did it because they're cute!" category for a game like this. You depict an omnic crisis bloodbath rivaling any genocide, setting the mood for a very serious background that Overwatch has, and then come up with a hamster in a ball.

 

Creativity scored 0 points today.

[Dejo93 984]

Ahem

 

[Arcling 872]

1 hour ago, Yridaa said:

You know, I can at least somewhat suspend my disbelief when it comes to Winston. Primates are exceptionally smart

True, Winston didn't seem that weird to exist in that world, all other stuff considered (like Symmetra's hard light). Intelligent hamster is more of a stretch, and now even jetpack cat wouldn't feel as weird :P Anyway, he looks fun to play, that swinging part might be quite hard to master though.

[lChronosl 182]

1 hour ago, Yridaa said:

You know, I can at least somewhat suspend my disbelief when it comes to Winston. Primates are exceptionally smart (Koko knew more than a thousand words with sign language!) and with suspension of disbelief regarding some experiments and such could lead to a monkey rivaling human minds.

Don't worry, at least he can't speak. Even Jeff says that would be completely ridiculous.

OW needed a good disrupter and zoner tank. I think his kit will really fit in the game.

Edited June 28, 2018 by lChronosl

[Valhalen 1,484]

And they said that adding Jetpack Cat was too stupid of an idea.

[Migol 425]

Is...is this Blizzard's reaction to people saying that Jetback cat would be too nonsensical?    They went the other way and turned the ridiculous factor up to 11?

[Morcalivan 86]

8 hours ago, Dejo93 said:

Ahem

 

I'm confused. Did I just watch a porno?

Or are you saying she should be more furry like a hamster?

[Hypersonic 113]

 

8 hours ago, Yridaa said:

You know, I can at least somewhat suspend my disbelief when it comes to Winston. Primates are exceptionally smart (Koko knew more than a thousand words with sign language!) and with suspension of disbelief regarding some experiments and such could lead to a monkey rivaling human minds.

 

But a Hamster? This is too much in the "We did it because they're cute!" category for a game like this. You depict an omnic crisis bloodbath rivaling any genocide, setting the mood for a very serious background that Overwatch has, and then come up with a hamster in a ball.

 

Creativity scored 0 points today.

Totally agree with you, this is simple just 'meh, we are not kids guys (or at least not so much)'.

Plus knockback again.. I hate.

[Dejo93 984]

3 hours ago, Morcalivan said:

I'm confused. Did I just watch a porno?

Or are you saying she should be more furry like a hamster?

You're overthinking it XD

This was just the first thing that came in mind when I heard what the hero is called 

[Asgrimyr 5]

15 hours ago, Yridaa said:

But a Hamster? This is too much in the "We did it because they're cute!" category for a game like this. You depict an omnic crisis bloodbath rivaling any genocide, setting the mood for a very serious background that Overwatch has, and then come up with a hamster in a ball.

I don't necessarily mind it being a hamster hero, but I think they missed a trick where they could've made a Rocket Raccoon-like character. I'm not really saying they should make an exact copy, but at least give him a bit of a mouth. We're talking about an intelligent creature capable of learning who spent a fair bit of time with the Junkers and you're telling me he doesn't have a bit of attitude?

I do agree that it's like they're trying to add a bit of cute into the game and it just doesn't fit in to the whole lore. In terms of the gameplay, I'm not sure I'm that fond of the swinging around. I like the idea of rolling in, throwing out some mines and cover fire, then use the 'grappling' line to lock someone down for a short period. That's my view anyway ?

Edited June 29, 2018 by Kurithas

[lChronosl 182]

Okay, the lore and design on him might be a little off, but the gameplay is awesome. Grappling Claw swinging around gives me Spiderman vibes, and I love new ways to transverse the environment.

[Badadada 184]

Well...there's a positive aspect to Hammond: he scares away all the toxic die-hard FPS fans from playing the game.

[Oxygen 446]

Who's ready for a Yordle City-beatdown?

[Seksi 208]

Love everything about this new hero so far, cute yet deadly, seems to be very mobile and able to do flashy plays, thrives on hunting the backline while rolling back and forth (pun intended) at high speed...its basically an offensive D.va!

Considering offensive D.va was my favorite playstyle even though the hero is designed to be defensive most of the time, this looks like great fun!

[FanOfValeera 253]

So, Winston/D.Va/WB/Lucio or Zen/Mercy/Widowmaker. D.Va can be replaced with another DPS, like Soldier:76 (falloff reduce could be a thing)

A new dive formation is born

[Orshova 31]

Reminds of the battleborn hamster mech, I forget his name. 

[shadowturnip 4]

18 hours ago, lChronosl said:

Grappling Claw swinging around gives me Spiderman vibes, and I love new ways to transverse the environment.

Yeah, I got Titanfall 2 vibes myself.

On 6/28/2018 at 3:44 PM, Arcling said:

Anyway, he looks fun to play, that swinging part might be quite hard to master though.

And in that game, I still haven't mastered grapple, but boy does it keep pulling me back into that game. It's sure got its hooks in me. I have trouble grappling with the reality that I may run out of puns. As long as I stay in the swing of things, I'l probably be fine though.

Jokes aside, the kit looks fun, even if looking at him makes me angry  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Plergoth 277]

I mean, technically, a jetback cat is still a bit dumb from a gameplay perspective since it would have an insanely small hitbox and quite high mobility. 

Also the dead birds being dropped off on your main menu would be annoying. 

[Weltenfeind 40]

Having played him on PTR he's a lot of fun, and doesn't actually feel out of place at all. It's good to see a tank requiring some (mechanical) skill.

[krapmyself 60]

Using the grapple hook ability to become an actual wrecking ball sounds like a lot of fun.

[Abom 31]

Is someone on the art or concept team a previous Carbine employee? This screams of Wildstar