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by Published on 2023-04-04 06:18 PM

A Deep Dive into Lifeweaver - Overwatch's Newest Hero
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
He’s witty, kind, and always looking to lift those in need—sometimes literally.

Hailing from Thailand, Lifeweaver is characterized by his love and respect for nature as well as his advanced biolight technology. This groundbreaking technology is woven throughout his abilities, and it plays a pivotal role in the healing and utility aspects of his kit.

Lifeweaver has a unique playstyle that introduces a few new mechanics into the game, so let’s take a walk through his kit and how he was developed. His final look is the result of a culmination of many different teams, including various concept art, hero design, and narrative. One of these pieces features an older physician who drew healing energy into his hands and blasted it into his allies, a bit like Moira’s Coalescence.


We ideated further based on these concepts and landed on something that offers an all-new playstyle to the game while also expanding our support class.

Healing Blossom

Healing Blossom is Lifeweaver’s first primary fire (more on that in a bit). With this weapon, he charges a luminescent flower and sends it to his allies. The longer he charges the blossom, the more healing it provides.

Healing Blossom was the starting point for this kit, and from there, we built out his other abilities. Our goal with Lifeweaver was to create an accessible support hero who is viable in many different scenarios and skill levels. Healing Blossom is soft target-based, like Brigitte’s Armor Packs, and we feel this ability enables players across the board to find value in his kit and playstyle.


Thorn Volley

His alternate primary fire is called Thorn Volley. With this weapon, he fires biolight thorns at enemies in a scattered pattern. While mainly intended as a form of defense, Lifeweaver can deal a decent amount of damage with Thorn Volley as well.

You’ll get the most value out of Lifeweaver by healing your team, but his weapon has relatively high damage for a support hero. Keep in mind, you will be unable to heal your allies while using Thorn Volley, so be aware of your surroundings and manage these two primary fires wisely!

For those playing against Lifeweaver, don’t underestimate Thorn Volley when rushing him. As Lifeweaver says: “Thorns in the face are an inconvenience.” He isn’t wrong.

Petal Platform and Rejuvenating Dash

Petal Platform is Lifeweaver’s secondary-fire ability. He throws a pod that blooms into a flower-like platform upon landing. Whether ally or enemy, anyone stepping on the platform causes it to elevate, and it will remain airborne for a certain amount of time.

Anyone using the platform can launch themselves high into the air by timing a jump right as the platform reaches maximum height. It won’t quite be as tall as Baptiste’s Exo Boots, but enemies and allies alike can use the platform for a well-timed super jump thrust into the air!

Petal Platform was the most challenging ability to lock down in development, and it was iterated many times. We landed on the platform mechanic because it adds something to the support lineup that we’ve only ever seen with Mei’s Ice Wall, adding a new verticality consideration for players beyond map design or heroes that can launch themselves into the air.


Use Petal Platform to get away from enemies, or to enable your allies. If you have a Bastion who wants to post up somewhere, Petal Platform can get him there quick! Or maybe you want to lift your ulting Cassidy with the hope of getting more Deadeye kills.

Lifeweaver is a team player who loves collaboration. There are so many ways to support and enable your team with this ability, and we’re excited to see how players use Petal Platform in creative ways!

Rejuvenating Dash lunges Lifeweaver in his traveling direction while lightly healing himself. This ability will look and feel like Hanzo’s dash, so we baked it into his kit to give him mobility and self-sustain.

A well-timed jump at the apex of his Petal Platform will launch you into the air. Pair this ability with Rejuvenating Dash to cover a fair amount of distance both horizontally and vertically.

Life Grip

Life Grip envelops an ally in protective biolight and pulls them to Lifeweaver’s position. While an ally is within Life Grip, they are invulnerable to all damage.

The inspiration for this mechanic came from many places, as we’re sure some of you have been on the unhappy end of an enemy Roadhog hook, but we wanted to ideate on a friendly pull between allies. Our challenge was to conceptualize what an ability like this would look like in Overwatch. We tried it out in our internal playtests, and the team had a lot of fun with it.

Before you ask, we’ll clear this up now: you can’t disrupt an utling ally with Life Grip!


This ability speaks to him as a protector and healer, but it also lends some insight into his personality and perspective. Lifeweaver is cool, confident, and he has the best intentions for anyone he encounters. Even though he’s doing the right thing in his mind, there can be consequences to pulling your teammate out of position. Use Life Grip (carefully!) to save teammates and enable them to stay in the fight.

Tree of Life

For his ultimate ability, Lifeweaver places a large biolight tree that pulses with healing energy. This tree provides cover for your team, meaning you can’t shoot, be shot, or pass through it. The developer responsible for the concept describes it as, “Healing Bob meets Mei’s Ice Wall.”

How a hero is developed can vary—sometimes their look and feel inspire their abilities, and sometimes it’s the other way around. In Lifeweaver’s case, his ability kit was built out before his personality, lore, and aesthetic. Tree of Life is what shaped his character into the nature-loving supporting hero you will meet in-game.

Lifeweaver’s ultimate filtered through a few iterations, including a healing Earthshatter-like ability— which was super cool, but not super useful. We also tried a healing totem, but it wasn’t quite right for him.



It was around Arbor Day when his ultimate started to come together. Trees were already on the team’s mind. The original Tree of Life gave its life to allies, withering over time. It was incredibly poetic but not very intuitive or clear on the battlefield. This ability, however, morphed into the final Tree of Life that’s currently in-game.


”Look at us. We’re amazing.”

Whether you’re playing as, against, or with Lifeweaver, he brings something new and exciting to the game through his mechanics, playstyles, and perspectives. Whether he’s raising his teammates up with his Petal Platform, pulling them to safety with Life Grip, or sustaining their health with Healing Blossom—Lifeweaver is a well-rounded support who adds massive sustainability and utility to his team.

We look forward to seeing how you combine his abilities with those of other heroes, and the ways he will save teammates from the brink of death.

________________________

Lifeweaver saunters into the support line up on April 11 at the beginning of Season 4. Grab your Premium Battle Pass to unlock him instantly or try him out in the training room, custom games, and the limited-time game mode, B.O.B. and Weave.
by Published on 2023-04-04 04:39 PM

New Support Hero - Lifeweaver Gameplay Trailer
Blizzard has introduced the next hero for Overwatch, Lifeweaver.

by Published on 2023-03-31 05:27 PM

Overwatch 2 WIP VERY SERIOUS Patch Notes - March 31, 2022
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Overwatch 2 WIP VERY SERIOUS Patch Notes – DRAFT – DO NOT PUBLISH

DEVELOPER NOTE – TEST PATCH

These changes are only being applied to Arcade Mode for the moment, because Aaron Keller claims he can convene with Pachimari, and they told him to make this patch. He only plays the new arcade modes, so he shouldn’t notice otherwise.

HERO UPDATES

General

Dev Comment: Veteran players have an advantage over newer ones when it comes to voice line recognition. In order to level the playing field, we’ve written and recorded new Ultimate voice lines for every hero.

To help players learn these new callouts, we’ve also increased the amount of Ultimate charge retained when swapping heroes.

  • All heroes have new Ultimate Voice Lines.
  • Keep 50% of Ultimate Charge when swapping heroes.

Role Passives

Damage:

Dev Comment: It’s frustrating when you dive the backline by yourself and get no healing, especially when your team’s support heroes are busy respawning. This change should help keep you alive, at least.

Heal 50 health on elimination.

Tank:

Dev Comment: Tank heroes are the raid bosses of teams. You should be fairly rewarded for defeating them, right?

  • Gain Ultimate charge 10% faster.
  • The hero that gets the final blow on a tank gains a significant amount of ultimate charge.

Support:

Dev Comment: It’s tough to stay alive when flankers are about. This change should even out the odds a bit when you get ambushed. Please don’t use this offensively.

Gain 30% increased movement speed for 4 seconds when reaching low health.

Tank

Doomfist

Dev Comment: The empowered Fist can also level a skyscraper or open a glass jar in a single attempt.

  • Seismic Slam
    • Can be empowered by Power Block.
    • Damage increased from 50 to 75 when empowered.
    • Enemies hit by the shockwave are launched into the air.

D.Va

Dev Comment: It turns out the beams used to destroy projectiles also really hurt when used on people.

  • Defense Matrix
    • After deflecting a projectile, Defense Matrix deals 30 damage to enemies within its area of effect over 1 second.
    • Defense Matrix killing blows grant an additional 5% Ult Charge.

Junker Queen

Dev Comment: Junker Queen yells so loud she damages the eardrums of her foes. Don’t worry though, it’s still a “friendly shout of encouragement” for her allies.

  • Commanding Shout
    • Applies a bleed to enemies in range when activated.

Orisa

Dev Comment: It is believed that the threat of Orisa’s aerial body slam is the biggest crime deterrent in Numbani.

  • Javelin Spin
    • While in the air, Javelin Spin pulls Orisa forward in her facing direction.
  • Fortify
    • Increases falling speed and deals damage in an area when Orisa lands on the ground.

Ramattra

Dev Comment: Ramattra is a lot more effective when he’s in Nemesis Form, so he’ll stay like that until everyone has suffered as much as he has.

  • Omnic Form
    • Disabled.
  • Nemesis Form
    • Ramattra is now always in Nemesis Form.
    • Bonus armor decreased from 225 to 125.
  • Void Barrier
    • Moved to Ability 1.
  • Block
    • Now has a 1 second cooldown when disengaged.

Reinhardt

Reinhardt Comment: I COULDN’T CHARGE THE ENEMIES THAT WERE IN THE AIR SO I ASKED TORBJORN TO HELP ME OUT. NOW I AM THE ULTIMATE CRUSHING MACHINE, EVEN IN THE SKY!!!

  • Charge
    • Now grants flight. Hold Jump to float up and Crouch to go down.
    • Steering increased by 33%.

Roadhog

Dev Comment: In order to further align Roadhog as a tank who punishes bad positioning, we’ve increased the range of Hook to make all positioning bad positioning.

  • Hook
    • Range increased by 50%.

Sigma

Dev Comment: Gravitic energy is quite potent. If it’s strong enough to lift a giant rock, it can lift anyone.

  • Accretion
    • Enemies hit by the impact are knocked back and experience low gravity for 4 seconds.
    • Cooldown decreased from 10 to 8 seconds.

Winston

Dev Comment: Winston!

  • Winston?
    • Winston!

Wrecking Ball

Dev Comment: Wrecking Ball unleashes his signature moves that made him the Champion of the Scrapyard battle arena.

  • Grappling Claw
    • Maximum speed is temporarily increased when bouncing off walls.
  • Minefield
    • Mines slowly move toward nearby enemies.

Zarya

Dev Comment: Gravity gravitates. That’s just science!

  • Graviton Surge
    • Moves towards Zarya after deploying.
  • Particle Cannon
    • Self-knockback on secondary fire scales with Energy level.

Damage

Ashe

Dev Comment: In order to be more accurate to the fantasy, Dynamite fire now spreads between players.

  • Dynamite
    • Fire spreads to nearby enemies up to 4 times.

Bastion

Dev Comment: Bastion downloaded a software update, upgrading “Configuration: Assault” and allowing it to simulate his old "Configuration: Tank” .

  • Configuration: Assault
    • While active, Tactical Grenade has a 0.5 second cooldown.

Cassidy

Dev Comment: Cassidy can dodge anything using his cat-like reflexes. It’s a bit rough on his spine, though.

  • Combat Roll
    • Now costs regenerating stamina instead of having a cooldown.
    • Dodge all damage when Combat Roll is active.
    • Ammo reloaded decreased from 6 to 2.

Echo

Dev Comment: Echo now uses more of her fingers when shooting enemies.

  • Tri Shot
    • Now fires 2 additional projectiles.
  • Damage per projectile decreased from 17 to 12.

Genji

Dev Comment: Spamming a voice line for healing finally does something after everyone else has tuned you out!

  • Sometimes Genji heals himself when requesting healing.

Hanzo

Dev Comment: Hanzo spent many years mastering the bow and geometry to pull off this feat. It DEFINITELY has nothing to do with magic.

  • Storm Arrow
    • Storm arrows ricochet toward the Sonic Arrow.

Junkrat

Dev Comment: Junkrat was a bit careless when packing his grenades so now they spill out of his pockets whenever he knocks himself back.

  • Total Mayhem
    • Drop grenades when launching yourself with Concussion Mine

Mei

Dev Comment: We noticed a decrease in Mei players helping their team “group up” in spawn with Ice Wall. This is core to Mei’s gameplay, so we added additional ice pillars to help facilitate it.

  • Ice Wall
    • Spawns more pillars and has slightly different configurations.

Pharah

Dev Comment: Rocket Jump? Sounds dangerous. But it is a viable means of travel when you can’t afford enough fuel.

  • Rocket Launcher
    • Rockets deal no self-damage and have increased knockback.
  • Barrage
    • Pharah can be knocked back while Barrage is active.
    • Barrage rockets now have self-knockback.
  • Hover Jets
    • Fuel decreased by 33%.

Reaper

Dev Comment: After getting shot one too many times, Reaper no longer poses in place before teleporting despite it looking very cool.

  • Shadow Step
    • Movement is no longer locked after confirming a teleport location.

Soldier: 76

Dev Comment: Why leave it on the ground when you can keep it in your pocket instead?

  • Biotic Field
    • Now attached to Soldier: 76 when activated.

Sojourn

Dev Comment: Sojourn hasn’t been performing quite up to our expectations after reducing her one- shot potential. To remedy this, we’ve added a very fair stun to her kit .

  • Power Slide
    • Now impacts enemies dealing 75 damage, launching them upward, and knocking them down for 1.5 seconds.

Sombra

Dev Comment: As a safety measure, the Translocator will forcibly separate solid objects that have been teleported into each other. Unfortunately, this process is also quite painful.

  • Translocator
    • Now deals 120 damage in an area at the teleport destination.
    • Projectile speed increased from 25 to 40.
    • Cooldown decreased from 10 seconds to 6 seconds.

Symmetra

Dev Comment: It turns out there was a setting on Sentry Turrets that let’s them immediately target enemies when thrown! Symmetra estimates this change increases their efficiency by 32.33%…repeating, of course.!

  • Sentry Turret
    • Turrets can now target enemies while in-flight.
    • Turrets have 60% damage resistance before sticking to terrain.

Torbjörn

Dev Comment: We noticed that Torbjorn relies a little too heavily on his turret to deal consistent damage, so you won’t believe this one simple balance change that fixes that and makes him 1000% overpowered!

  • Overload
    • Now also causes Rivet Gun and Forge Hammer to ignite enemies, dealing 30 additional damage over time.

Tracer

Dev Comment: Tracer now leaves a vacuum when she Recalls into the past. We are pretty sure this is how time travel works and will be taking no questions.

  • Recall
    • Pulls in nearby enemies when activated.
  • Pulse Bomb
    • Arming time increased from 1 second to 2 seconds.

Widowmaker

Dev Comment: Poisonous bullets don’t work as quickly as normal ones do but at least there’s more room for counterplay.

  • Widow’s Kiss
    • Critical hits deal their damage over 3 seconds as poison.
    • Widowmaker can see poisoned enemies through walls.

Support

Ana

Dev Comment: Turns out whatever is in those syringes hurts a lot more when applied to the forehead.

  • Biotic Rifle
    • Can now headshot enemies.

Baptiste

Dev Comment: Rumor has it that Baptiste is the record holder for both high and long jump.

  • Exo Boots
    • Jumping with Exo Boots has more horizontal distance, scaling with the charge amount.
    • Hold Jump after using Exo Boots to keep bouncing.

Brigitte

Dev Comment: Whip Shot now whips YOU! Works better if you say, “wheeeeee” while flailing about.

  • Whip Shot
    • Brigitte is pulled towards the flail head.

Kiriko

Dev Comment: Kanezaka is a big town and Kiriko has lots of protecting to do. This change should help her get to where she needs to go in a timely fashion, especially during rush hour.

  • Swift Step
    • Range increased from 35 to 350m.
    • Cooldown now scales with distance traveled.

Lucio

Dev Comment: We were alerted that Soundwave was able to knock back entire heroes but couldn’t do anything to projectiles. We’ve corrected this logical inconsistency

  • Soundwave
    • Now deflects projectiles.
    • Cooldown decreased from 4 to 3 seconds.

Mercy

Dev Comment: Our stats show that the “Battle Mercy” playstyle isn’t as common as we hoped. Here’s a small change that should nudge her damage potential in the right direction.

  • Caduceus Blaster
    • Ammo increased from 25 to 125.
    • Projectile speed increased from 50 to 125.

Moira

Dev Comment: You know that random Orb that killed you from across the map? That was 100% intentional. Biotics Orbs follow Moira’s every command, though they only understand “Stop” and “Go.”

  • Biotic Orb
    • Pressing the ability input while Biotic Orbs are active causes them to stop or start moving.

Zenyatta

Dev Comment: Zenyatta calls this technique the “Flying Kick,” but since he’s always floating should it just be called “Kick”?

  • Snap Kick
    • Launches Zenyatta in his facing direction when used in the air.
by Published on 2023-03-21 07:32 PM

PachiMarchi is back with a new game mode and challenges!
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Everyone's favorite alien onion, Pachimari, is back with its own in-game event! Pachimari is the cute, cuddly, and collectible plush toy which first appeared in the Hanamura arcade's crane games. Login to Overwatch 2 now and complete event challenges to earn Pachi-themed cosmetics and play in an all-new arcade game mode featuring Pachimari itself!

It's time to CATCH-A-MARI!

To kick things off for PachiMarchi, we’re bringing an all-new 3v3 “elimination-confirmed” game mode to Overwatch 2, Catch-A-Mari. Like Team Deathmatch, teams will coordinate to stay alive and defeat their opponents, but each time an opponent is eliminated, a Pachimari toy will drop from their hero. The team who got the elimination needs to collect that Pachimari in order to score a point. If an opponent grabs it first, they prevent the other team from scoring!

You'll be in a Pachi-collecting frenzy as you compete on the arena maps of Blizzard World, Kanezaka, and Downtown Busan, along with a new event-themed layout on Hanamura! All hosted by Pachimari's number one fan, Roadhog!

Collect cute Pachi-themed cosmetics!

During the event, you'll have the chance to earn new cosmetics playing Catch-A-Mari along with your favorite unranked, competitive, or arcade game modes! This includes all-new Pachimari Icons depicting some of your favorite Overwatch Heroes, along with a Pachimari name card and a mischievous new weapon charm!

Complete six of the event challenges and you'll get the Pachimari Roadhog Epic Skin, back for a limited-time, along with a whopping 80,000 XP for your Season 3 Battle Pass—the most XP EVER for an event in Overwatch 2! Hurry and catch these collectibles before the event ends on April 4.


Log in today through the end of the Pachimarchi event to receive a free special "Hogimari" player icon! If you’re looking to catch-up with your Season 3 Battle Pass, you’re in luck, as we have another double XP weekend starting on Friday, March 24 as well! Hope to see you in-game and go CATCH-A-MARI!

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