Blizzard Entertainment promised that all additional maps and heroes for the wildly popular Overwatch will be patched in as free content, and they’ve started to deliver, fresh off the rollout of competitive mode. Speculated to be the mysterious “Sombra” for weeks, Blizzard revealed the first new character will be Ana, a support-class sniper.
Ana is Ana Amari – a founding member of Overwatch, Strike Commander Jack Morrison’s second-in-command, and mother of Fareeha “Pharah” Amari. She was presumed dead for years, after a run-in with Widowmaker.
In truth, Ana survived that encounter, despite being gravely wounded and losing her right eye. During her recovery, she wrestled with the weight of a life spent in combat, and she chose to stay out of the world’s growing conflicts. However, as time passed, she realized she could not sit on the sidelines while people threatened her city and the innocents around her.
Rated as a 3-star difficulty character (one of the hardest to play), Ana wields a biotic rifle, loaded with darts. These darts can either restore health to her allies, or deal damage to her enemies. Much like Widowmaker, Ana is also equipped with a scope.
She also wields a sidearm that can fire sleep darts, which render the enemy unconscious – however, any damage will wake them.
Ana’s biotic grenade can heal allies caught within its radius. Instead of dealing damage to enemies, it prevents them from being healed for a few moments. An ideal strategy would be to take out the opposing team’s Mercy or Lucio during this time.
Ana’s final power is a nano boost – when used on an ally, it increases their speed, damage, and defense. A Reinhardt or Reaper, or even a Bastion, can do tremendous, team-killing damage when using their ultimate while powered up.
Ana is currently only available for PC players within the Public Test Region, with no word of a release date for console players. Thus far, she seems to be a pretty big hit, and it’s a promising start to the parade of post-release characters.