Overwatch 2’s Illari is a silent killer with the sun at her back

New Overwatch 2 hero Illari has me excited and scared in equal measure. Arriving with the discharge of Overwatch 2 Season 6, this Peruvian sun-slinger is among the most offensively succesful members of the Overwatch 2 assist squad but. With a robust therapeutic pylon that frees her as much as ship devastating strikes on the enemy staff, and an attacking final that may devastate a whole enemy staff, she’s an ideal match for the brand new Flashpoint mode and a terrifying opponent to face within the multiplayer game.

PCGamesN had the chance to check out Illari in recreation forward of her announcement, and likewise attended a roundtable to speak about her design with the Blizzard staff. The youngest hero to affix the Overwatch 2 roster, Illari is a assist with lethal injury potential, and may depart her staff within the care of a therapeutic turret that constantly delivers single-target bursts of therapeutic to whichever allied hero close by has the bottom well being.

Hero designer Piero Herrera tells us the staff wished “a very offensive assist that doesn’t overlook about [her] teammates, and that’s how the Therapeutic Pylon got here to life.” He provides that, whereas Illari’s secondary hearth (a therapeutic beam just like Moira’s however with a shorter, faster-charging tank) could be very highly effective, the pylon is designed to be her major supply of therapeutic. Its vary is corresponding to that of Lucio’s space of impact – the picture under exhibits the best bot inside vary, whereas the left sits simply exterior of it.

Whereas the turret is doing its work, Illari can decide off her opponents together with her lethal Photo voltaic Rifle. The first assault fires a long-range shot that then has to recharge to return to full energy. At full cost, you’ll deal 75 injury – hearth off one other shot as quickly as you may and that drops to only 25, however wait a second (about one second to return to full cost, displayed by her on-screen reticle) and also you’ll be again to full energy.

That makes Illari doubtlessly devastating within the arms of gamers which can be capable of ship exact crits with a measured rhythm, capable of demolish 200-health characters in simply a few well-placed pictures. When you have to complement your pylon’s therapeutic, the Photo voltaic Rifle’s secondary hearth lets her high off her allies shortly. It solely has about three seconds of juice, however will recharge its tank in the identical period of time following a small pause, making it ideally suited for these panic moments.

Subsequent in her package is Outburst, a brief sprint that may knock again close by enemies. Maintain down bounce and also you’ll get a little bit of top, too – don’t anticipate Echo-like mobility, nevertheless it’ll get Illari up onto the usual top of ledge you’ll discover round quite a lot of management factors.

Rounding issues out is Illari’s final, Captive Solar – the primary final for an Overwatch 2 assist that’s purely targeted on attacking the enemy staff immediately. Hovering excessive into the air with 4 seconds of flight time, Illari fires out a ball projectile that explodes upon influence, dealing injury to all enemies hit and putting a glowing debuff on them, moreover indicated by a solar image above their head. You’re compelled to leap up at the beginning, although holding crouch will largely mitigate this should you’d quite keep grounded.

The Captive Solar debuff slows enemy motion for a number of seconds, and in the event that they take sufficient extra injury throughout this time then the cost detonates, dealing huge injury to the goal and people round them. From my testing, the preliminary influence offers 50 injury, with a complete of 100 injury dealt inflicting the explosion to go off, which then offers an additional 100 injury – and this could trigger a sequence response if it hits one other enemy nonetheless affected by Illari’s final, devastating any groups who group up too tightly.

The power to place your therapeutic turret someplace enemies can’t see it provides Illari a defensive potential akin to that of Symmetra, the place your staff can maintain down a chokepoint with a continuing supply of passive top-ups. The turret’s greatest weak spot appears to be that as a result of it all the time targets the lowest-health close by hero with each pulse, it struggles a little bit to handle when a number of members of your staff drop low concurrently.

It does, nevertheless, make her extremely well-suited to Overwatch 2’s new Flashpoint mode, which might finest be described as 5 barely shorter rounds of Management unfold throughout one large map. Make it onto level first, and Illari can drop her turret in a covert location – it’s fairly cumbersome, nevertheless it’ll stick with any floor and its vary is nothing to smirk at, that means it can provide you an enormous benefit should you’re capable of arrange early.

From there, Illari can dangle again, staying close to sufficient to high up allies who fall dangerously low whereas trying to decide off any fragile enemy helps together with her long-range rail gun. If the enemy staff makes an attempt to group up and push in, her final punishes this with the wrath of a thousand suns – or maybe one significantly offended one.

“She’s there to heal, however typically she has a little bit of an angle about it,” narrative designer Joshi Zhang tells us. Senior character artist Rakan Khamash calls Illari “A number of enjoyable on the subject of continuous motion,” however notes that you simply shouldn’t be too tempted by her means to go all-in on DPS – she’s nonetheless a assist first, in any case.

I’m equal components in love with and afraid of Illari’s package. She’s already threatening to rival Zen, Ana, Bap, and Kiriko for me as an all-time favourite Overwatch 2 support hero, however she guarantees to be a terrifying sight on the enemy staff. I’m already trying ahead to seeing one of the best gamers get hands-on together with her – the clips are going to be ridiculous.

Whereas her Photo voltaic Rifle and the flexibility to shortly reposition with Outburst are positive to ship us some memorable moments at excessive stage, Illari’s Therapeutic Pylon, together with the sheer effectiveness of her final at clearing out groups who don’t unfold out in response, imply she’ll probably change into a terror within the decrease ranks as properly. A brand new daybreak has risen on Overwatch 2, and the Solar shines on Illari.

Overwatch 2 Illari skills

Listed here are Illari’s skills in Overwatch 2 – notice that numbers are taken from testing on the preview check server, and should change for the ultimate model.

Weapon: Photo voltaic Rifle

• Main hearth: Lengthy vary auto-charging rifle.
  • Injury: 75 (charged) scaling all the way down to 25 at minimal cost.
• Secondary hearth: Medium vary therapeutic beam that consumes photo voltaic vitality.
  • Main cost pauses whereas firing.

Potential 1: Outburst

• Launches you within the route you’re shifting, knocking again enemies. Maintain bounce to go greater.
• Cooldown: 7 seconds.

Potential 2: Therapeutic Pylon

• Deploy a pylon that heals allies.
• Cooldown: 8 seconds, 12 if destroyed.
• Whole Well being: 150 (75 well being, 75 shields).

Final: Captive Solar

• Fireplace an explosive ball of photo voltaic vitality. Enemies hit are slowed, and explode after taking sufficient injury.
• Injury: 50 for preliminary explosion, 100 upon detonation.

See for your self the place Illari falls on our Overwatch 2 tier list, and ensure you’re updated on the newest Overwatch 2 maps together with newcomers Suravasa and New Junk Metropolis.