Blizzard Entertainment has released Overwatch‘s 32nd hero, Echo, in the game’s public test realm on PC. Echo will be Overwatch‘s last character until the sequel, according to director Jeff Kaplan.
Although a DPS character, Echo is a robot programmed to perform multiple combat roles. Her ultimate ability allows her to transform into a targeted enemy character and gain their abilities.
Echo was created by deceased Singaporean scientist Dr. Mina Liao, with the aim of developing an adaptive robot that can mimic behaviors through observation. Much of Echo’s behaviors resemble Liao’s.
“Echo is sort of a Swiss Army Knife of an Omnic,” Kaplan told IGN Nordic. “You can compare Echo to maybe a Kite, in the way she moves and dashes through the sky. This makes her hard to hit for some characters, but will be countered by Hitscan heroes.”
An overview of Echo’s abilities is as follows:
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Tri-Shot (Primary Fire) – Echo fires 3 shots at once, in a triangle pattern.
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Sticky Bombs (Secondary Fire) – Echo fires a volley of sticky bombs that detonate after a delay.
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Flight – Echo surges forward quickly, then can fly freely.
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Focusing Beam – Echo channels a beam for a few seconds, dealing very high damage to targets with less than half health.
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Duplicate (Ultimate) – Echo duplicates a targeted enemy hero and gains use of their abilities
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Glide (Passive) – Echo can glide while falling.
Kaplan added that there’s a “big list” of support and tank characters in development for Overwatch 2.
We’ll update our readers when Echo is available on consoles.
[Source: IGN]
