New Hero First Look - Wrecking Ball

[chaud]

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

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.

[Femininity]

He's hilarious to play.

[rarhyx]

wat
WHAT?!

I thought jeff trolled hard

[telygroar]

I was sure about one of winston friend, the other one who has escapoed, but i doidnt think about hamtaro

[seleri]

I was hoping for a spider monkey but I am pleasantly surprised he is a hamster. I think for the first time I'm actually going to download the PTR so I can test him out.

[Deleted]

i love the d.va pose picture

[ryanmahaffe]

Bruh he's legit a Chua from Wildstar.

[seleri]

Bruh he's legit a Chua from Wildstar.

This was also my first thought when I saw him lol

[DeadmanWalking]

Most people are going to get very little value from his grappling hook outside of moving to higher places. I like his guns, he is a good shooter against pharah but I don’t see him doing much against brig. The good news is he doesn’t need to play close to fight brig.

[zito]

Most people are going to get very little value from his grappling hook outside of moving to higher places. I like his guns, he is a good shooter against pharah but I don’t see him doing much against brig. The good news is he doesn’t need to play close to fight brig.

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

[Darththeo]

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.

[DeadmanWalking]

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

Yeah I get that, what I mean is that his wrecking ball swing won’t get value from the swing because most people don’t have the special awareness and control to pull it off properly. Winston is easy, you click the button and face where you want to go. Hammond requires learning angles, arcs and map features.

[Sixnalia]

Kinda feels like Toby from Battleborn. Except Battleborn made intentional joke characters, and Toby was the "cute animal in a death machine" who utilized meta commentary about being in a video game.

It feels sort of out-of-place in Overwatch.
I can't think of any other characters they have fitting the "made as a joke" perspective, outside of Roadhog/Junkrat duo, but they had development and were meant to be Mad Max stereotypes.
Even then, they feel more serious than Wreckingball.

I dunno, it just feels off for an Overwatch character.

[DeadmanWalking]

I want to be able to turn off his squeaks. Nothing but annoying after 2 mins.

[Kaleredar]

While the character himself looks fun enough, the hamster aspect seems out of place. They easily could have fit a spider monkey into that mech instead... I could buy a spider monkey being brought to sapience... less so a tiny chibi hamster.

[Very Tired]

It's bigger! It's badder! Ladies and gentlemen it's too much for Mr. Incredible!

[DeadmanWalking]

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.

[Deleted]

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.

[Hisholyness]

is OW just hard pandering to kids now?

[Very Tired]

is OW just hard pandering to kids now?

I haven't played in a while. Is there a new battle royale mode now?