Overwatch 2 is gearing up to welcome Season 4, which will introduce a new Battle Pass with expected new cosmetic content and an unseen support hero: Lifeweaver. Lifeweaver is expected to be a welcome addition to the popular hero shooter thanks to his unique gameplay style and toolkit.
In a recent interview with Blizzard Entertainment's Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie, Chonlawat Thammawan, and Kenny Hudson, the creatives talked at length about the new hero's abilities and role in the game. Lifeweaver is a support hero whose main role in combat is to assist their teammates. His primary fire is Healing Blossom, which involves charging and releasing a burst of healing to a targeted ally. Their secondary fire is Thorn Burst, an alternate weapon that allows them to launch a burst of projectiles to attack enemies.
In the interview, Kenny Hudson, hero design producer, mentioned that the idea of introducing an alternate weapon came from the need for Lifeweaver to have a tool to defend themselves against threats.
Lifeweaver has unique tools that set him apart from other support heroes. He can heal their teammates, but they can also do much more than that. Their first ability is Petal Platform, which creates a petal-shaped platform that elevates when an ally or enemy activates it. It is useful for traversing long distances in the air and reaching high areas of the maps.
His second ability is Vital Grasp, which allows Lifeweaver to pull a teammate towards their location and protect them during the journey. While these abilities offer new offensive opportunities, they also have the potential to be misused by players to troll their teammates. The Overwatch 2 development team mentioned that they have taken measures to prevent malicious actions.
Kenny Hudson stated that there is some control to prevent users from using Vital Grasp to pull their teammates off a cliff, which was a challenge during development. They also made sure that players always know when a teammate uses this ability on them through VFX, animations, etc.
Chonlawat Thammawan, senior technical artist for Overwatch 2, added that players can use mobility abilities like Tracer's dash and Moira's fade to escape Vital Grasp.
Lifeweaver also has a very interesting mobility power: Regenerative Step, which allows them to dash in a direction while healing themselves in the process.
For Lifeweaver's ultimate ability, he plants a tree that immediately heals nearby allies and provides constant healing while active. While its main function is to restore the health of allies, it can also be used to block the enemy's line of sight or hinder their movement. However, the developers confirmed that it can be destroyed and hacked.
Lastly, Lifeweaver's passive ability is to drop an item when they die that heals any player, including both teammates and enemies. Kenny Hudson commented that allies receive more health than enemies from this item.
"I don't know about the meta, but if I choose Lifeweaver over any other support hero it's because his gameplay has a lot of surprise elements. Lifeweaver can do many things that other characters in the game cannot do. When we tested this character, we often found new scenarios, new combos with Vital Grasp, and new interactions with Petal Platform and the Tree of Life (...) All those combinations are so unique that they motivate me to choose [this character]," commented Chonlawat Thammawan.
Like previous heroes, Lifeweaver will be unlocked through the free and premium Battle Pass. It will be available once Season 4 opens its doors on April 11.
But tell us, what do you think of this new hero's abilities? Let us know in the comments.
Overwatch 2 is now available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
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