After a longer-than-usual incubation period, Overwatch’s 24th hero Orisa is live on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. She won’t, however, be playable in Overwatch’s competitive playlist for one week; you’ll find her instead in Quick Play, Arcade, and Play versus AI.
Related: Orisa guide: Strategy, tips, and tricks
Orisa, an anchor tank, was created by 11-year-old genius engineer Efi Oladale after Doomfist attacked her home city of Numbani. Using scrapped OR15 shells, Oladele pieced together a guardian built to protect the people of Numbani. And the result is unlike anything we’ve seen before in Overwatch, as Orisa is a quadruped hero—not unlike a centaur—with a long-range projectile canon.
Controlling enemy positioning is one of Orisa’s core strengths, along with being a protector on her Overwatch team. Her abilities support her team, setting up allies for major plays.
Fusion Driver
Orisa’s fusion driver is an automatic projectile canon that shoots 12 rounds per second. With 150 ammo, her magazine size is huge—especially compared to a DPS hero like Soldier: 76, who holds 25 ammo. This allows Orisa to shoot wildly into enemy groups. Shooting into the opposite team as Orisa does put her at risk, given that her movement speed is decreased while shooting. Reload speed for the robot hero, which sits at 2.5 seconds, also leaves Orisa vulnerable to enemy attacks.
Halt!
Like a miniature version of Zarya’s graviton surge, Orisa’s Halt ability sends out a graviton charge that slows enemies and pulls them into its realm. The graviton charge must be activated by the same action used to deploy it. Players will want to think of Orisa’s Halt! ability similar to how they would use Zarya’s graviton surge. It’s got the potential to be used with ally ultimates, but can also push players off maps and pull players away from life-saving health packs.
Use Orisa to create openings for your team to attack, pulling enemies out of position and optimizing your team for big impact. It’ll require coordination with your team, but has the potential to be game-changing.
Fortify
Using Orisa’s Fortify applies a 50 percent damage reduction and makes her invulnerable to action-impairing effects for just four seconds. While it may seem like a short amount of time, it’s certainly enough to stop plenty of hero abilities. In fact, when timed correctly, Orisa’s Fortify will not only stop a Reinhardt’s charge, but it’ll also stun the fellow tank hero and knock him down 170 damage.
Pharah’s concussive blast and Orisa’s Halt will also have no affect on Orisa using Fortify. Ana’s Sleep Dart won’t put her to sleep either, but it will damage Orisa a bit. Likewise, she won’t be affected by stun, knockback, or slowdown from Lúcio or Pharah boops, Reinhardt’s Earthshatter, Symmetra’s Turrets, Winston’s Primal Rage melee attacks, Zarya’s Graviton Surge, Mei’s freezing blaster or Blizzard, Junkrat’s mine or trap, D.Va’s booster boop, Roadhog’s hook or Whole Hog knockback, and McCree’s Flashbang. She will, however, take damage from all of these.
Protective Barrier
Orisa’s barrier shields allies similarly to Reinhardt’s shield, but it’s stationary. Thrown out as a projectile, Orisa’s barrier has 900 health and a duration of 20 seconds. The barrier’s cool down begins once it’s deployed. You won’t be able to place two barriers at the same time, but this does allow for barriers to effectively be replaced as it gets more and more damaged.
Because her barrier can’t move, it’s not a replacement for Reinhardt. Likely, we’ll see Orisa and Reinhardt used together, instead of seeing Orisa as a direct replacement for Reinhardt.
Supercharger
Heroes within a 25 meter radius—and in Orisa’s line of sight—have their damage rates increased by the Supercharger ultimate. Essentially, it’s a drum strapped to Orisa’s back that she slams down to the ground when it’s deployed. Damage output from heroes within radius is 50 percent for 15 seconds, should they stay within reach.
It’s an item that enemy teams can destroy, however, by knocking down its 200 health to nothing. Protecting the drum is important in getting the full potential supercharging power. Orisa’s supercharger also has some interesting ultimate stacking ability: Partnered with Ana’s Nano-boost, affected heroes will get a 100 percent damage boost.
Orisa’s just been created by Oladele; she’s a new hero in Overwatch’s lore. We’re getting to know her as she’s getting to know Overwatch’s world. Though she’s been on the PTR for weeks, Orisa’s official introduction to players begins today. As for how she’ll impact the Overwatch meta, we’re sure to know soon.
