New Hero First Look: Wrecking Ball
Blizzard has shared a preview of the new hero, Wrecking Ball.


Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
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

Wrecking Ball's Story
"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.

Ability Overview

  • 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.

Combat Mode Engaged
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.

Rolling Out
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.
This article was originally published in forum thread: New Hero First Look - Wrecking Ball started by chaud View original post
Comments 86 Comments
  1. Hisholyness's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Very Tired View Post
    I haven't played in a while. Is there a new battle royale mode now?
    kek 10chars
  1. DeadmanWalking's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Hisholyness View Post
    is OW just hard pandering to kids now?
    Again, they are pandering to everyone. Asians, grown women, kids, anime fans all love cute characters.

    This game tries to pander to everyone. You are an edgelord? Reaper. You like snipers with big butts? Widow. You like Counterstrike? Soldier. Like the butcher? Roadhog. Like the Joker? Junkrat. Anime fan? D.Va.

    They make one character that kids, women, asians and anime fans will like for cuteness sake and you guys are all of a sudden like, "OMG they only want to sell to kids from now on! Holy shit burn down the chapel! From now on nothing but Chibi's!!!!"
  1. Wondercrab's Avatar
    Yes. More of this. Hammond seems by far the goofiest and most mechanically creative character released so far, and I love it.
  1. Kathranis's Avatar
    "What is this kiddy stuff? Is Blizzard just pandering to kids now? You'd never catch me playing a game for kids. I'm too mature for that."
    - An immature kid, probably.
  1. Leih's Avatar
    • Plays game with crazy genetically modified hamster in a big mech
    • "This shitty cartoon shit pandering to kids, what is this immature rubbish"

    • Plays game with cartoon monkey who eats peanut butter, an anime cyborg ninja, a knight in shining armour, a tiny cute gamer girl driving a mech, a guy who is literally a cowboy and a little cute chinese girl with a freeze ray.
    • "This is fine. I'm a grown up."
  1. Dwarfhamster's Avatar
    Hamster brethren, arise and overthrow the hairless pinkskins!
  1. Zeph76's Avatar
    Kids want edgy, cool stuff. So if any character is "pandering to kids" it's probably Genji, Hanzo, Reaper, Widow etc. It's like that "Horde is the grown up faction" kids used to say back in the day while making their 8th Blood Elf character.
    Hammond is one of the most mechanically creative characters I've seen in this game. And since we already know the lore allows hyperintelligent animals, this should be fine. Now they better make Mama Hong next, or an Ilios based character.
  1. Firefall's Avatar
    Okay but can we have jetpack cat now if this isn't too "out there?" They nixed jetpack cat for being too ridiculous and said Winston was the benchmark. We know nothing about jetpack cat, but come on. I want it rofl. Preferably if it is not even a hyper intelligent cat, just average-human level with sentience enough to operate the jetpack.
  1. Skorpionss's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dhru View Post
    I think when the managment saw the average age of their player base they expected more kids so this is why this thing will come to the game. 8-17 years kids will force their parents to buy this game.
    Just to be clear here.
    You have to always remember Activison/Blizz is a profit oriented company.
    yeah, no. I'm 28 and just about to re-install the game after about a year break to play this fluffy ball of death. My point being that older people can enjoy silly stuff just as much, we're not all edgy like you seem to be implying.
  1. Theoris's Avatar
    I like him already.
  1. Honik's Avatar
    Another knockbacks and stuff... Doomfist and Brigitte got another member of the team
  1. Baladeur's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Darththeo View Post
    Honestly ... Hammond is the first hero that I am not remotely excited for after seeing the reveal. I welcome another tank to the fold, but honestly, I just don't like this design. I think an Omnic as Wrecking Ball would have fit better in universe and Hammond being something else entirely ... but this is what we get.
    So, it seems the only thing bothering you is the fact that he is a hamster. An omnic with the same kit and hitbox would be juuuust fine.

    Quote Originally Posted by Darththeo View Post
    Ana was interesting because she was the first new hero. Sombra appeared to be a character I wanted to see more of and still do. Orisa was a surprise and Doomfist is something I wanted for a while. Moira seemed interesting and Brigitte seemed like fun to play. This seems like some five year old's idea for a Hero to me. He doesn't even look like he belongs in the game. It doesn't look fun to me and is definitely not my style of play.
    Hm. He has one of the funniest, if not the funniest kit accross all heroes. And besides being super funny to play, it's also the most original kit so far, even heroes like Doomfist or Brigitte aren't this different from the rest of the cast. (Grappling hook physics itself is a whole new type of gameplay) While feeling that the hamster belongs (or not) into overwatch lore, claiming it's stupid 5 year old gameplay is 100% biased because you simply don't like the fact that he is a hamster. The exact same kit but with an omnic inside the wrecking ball and you wouldn't claim "this looks stupid".
  1. DeadmanWalking's Avatar
    My problems with Hammond are;

    His swinging mechanic doesn’t make much physical sense as you grapple a column and then spin around it while your cord clips through it for infinite rotation without the worry of your cord getting short from wrapping. Also I would like to see some ability to control the length of the hook during the swing so you can avoid hitting walls or extend to hit a specific target. I know that may be impossible to code but I would still like to see it.

    He runs around with his head sticking out of the top which is about as dumb as a Star Trek Enterprise with its control deck on the top outside of the ship. You don’t need windows when you can literally have cameras every few feet on the outside of the ship and you are just asking to get easily vented into outer space from one hit. Hammond sticking his head out of an armored tank is dumb because one bucket could make his face a mist of red. I mean give him some kind of bullet proof glass bible or forcefield... something. It is like wearing a suit of bullet proof armor but no helmet because you don’t like how it gives you helmet hair and then your head gets blown off.


    Give me the option to turn off his squeaks. I also don’t like the Robot voice, it is too low toned and I can’t gear what he is saying while going ham on the core.
  1. RuneDK's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Baladeur View Post
    So, it seems the only thing bothering you is the fact that he is a hamster. An omnic with the same kit and hitbox would be juuuust fine.



    Hm. He has one of the funniest, if not the funniest kit accross all heroes. And besides being super funny to play, it's also the most original kit so far, even heroes like Doomfist or Brigitte aren't this different from the rest of the cast. (Grappling hook physics itself is a whole new type of gameplay) While feeling that the hamster belongs (or not) into overwatch lore, claiming it's stupid 5 year old gameplay is 100% biased because you simply don't like the fact that he is a hamster. The exact same kit but with an omnic inside the wrecking ball and you wouldn't claim "this looks stupid".
    The character looks out of place to me...and not because he's a fucking hamster. Considering I know how messed up that is considering characters like Winston are in the game...something about the character doesn't scream overwatch to me....I'm glad mechanically he's original...it still seems out of place for OW. Time will tell if he's a good or bad addition to the game though.
  1. Steelangel's Avatar
    As a Chua main on WS, I will never play a different Overwatch character again.

    Mondo lives.
  1. Venziir's Avatar
    .... I can't be the only one who was suddenly reminded of Boo, the majestic, giant space hamster!? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFzWbbNO_Ic
  1. Projectmars's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by zito View Post
    He's an initiator. He swings in does a ground slam and harasses/ annoys the enemy while your team picks people off.

    This guy tanks by literally being annoying and triggering people into attacking him. I don't know if Jeff and crew are secretly genius for making such a tank style or they just wanted to be evil bastards
    It's kinda what Winston and D.Va do already though, just more extreme. Think of it like Teemo in LoL's hidden passive.

    Quote Originally Posted by Darththeo View Post
    Honestly ... Hammond is the first hero that I am not remotely excited for after seeing the reveal. I welcome another tank to the fold, but honestly, I just don't like this design. I think an Omnic as Wrecking Ball would have fit better in universe and Hammond being something else entirely ... but this is what we get.

    Ana was interesting because she was the first new hero. Sombra appeared to be a character I wanted to see more of and still do. Orisa was a surprise and Doomfist is something I wanted for a while. Moira seemed interesting and Brigitte seemed like fun to play. This seems like some five year old's idea for a Hero to me. He doesn't even look like he belongs in the game. It doesn't look fun to me and is definitely not my style of play.

    And with him being a tank, that's adding more to my belief that Reinhardt maybe killed off. Left playable, but there is another "tank" to fill Overwatch 2.0 potentially.
    Wrecking Ball isn't an omnic though, it's a Mech with an AI. They seem like they would be kinda similar, but I think the main difference is that Wrecking Ball's AI is more designed to assist Hammond operate the mech rather than think for itself on the level Bastion, Orisa, and Zen does.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dhru View Post
    You have to always remember Activison/Blizz is a profit oriented company.
    You could probably say that about every company, tbh.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kathranis View Post
    "What is this kiddy stuff? Is Blizzard just pandering to kids now? You'd never catch me playing a game for kids. I'm too mature for that."
    - An immature kid, probably.
    "Hammond is too silly. Give me a cat flying around in a jetpack" - People who hate Hammond, probably

    Quote Originally Posted by Firefall View Post
    Okay but can we have jetpack cat now if this isn't too "out there?" They nixed jetpack cat for being too ridiculous and said Winston was the benchmark. We know nothing about jetpack cat, but come on. I want it rofl. Preferably if it is not even a hyper intelligent cat, just average-human level with sentience enough to operate the jetpack.
    To be a bit more fair... Jetpack cat would likely either be a balance nightmare or play extremely similar to Pharah. It makes a bit more sense when you look at it from that issue.

    Quote Originally Posted by RuneDK View Post
    The character looks out of place to me...and not because he's a fucking hamster. Considering I know how messed up that is considering characters like Winston are in the game...something about the character doesn't scream overwatch to me....I'm glad mechanically he's original...it still seems out of place for OW. Time will tell if he's a good or bad addition to the game though.
    Wrecking Ball was mentioned in some of the posters about the Scrapyard on Junkertown though, not sure if any of them had shown an image of it or not though.
  1. Mormolyce's Avatar
    At the moment I am at 50% "awesome!" and 50% "...does this mean no jetpack cat ever?".
  1. Onikaroshi's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by DeadmanWalking View Post
    This guy naturally gets hosed by reaper, and his grappling hook mechanics are very odd, don't behave as expected with any kind of physics. I expect players to figure out where they can go and grapple and spin in one spot non-stop for sheer annoyance factor.

    A good counter to enemy mine fields is to get height and then slam down for aoe dmg, his aoe is quite wide and should take out most mines.
    TBF reaper naturally counters most tanks, he had some time where he failed at it, but the's pretty high up there on tank killing again.
  1. DeadmanWalking's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Onikaroshi View Post
    TBF reaper naturally counters most tanks, he had some time where he failed at it, but the's pretty high up there on tank killing again.
    Not saying Reaper shouldn’t counter him, just stating that he does.

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