New Overwatch Hero Ana Hits Public Test Servers

Blizzard has just announced the latest hero set to join Overwatch’s existing 21 playable heroes, none other than Ana. Those who follow the lore of Overwatch will know her better as Ana Amari, one of the founding members of the Overwatch organization as well as the mother of rocket launcher-wielding hero, Pharah. The reveal wasn’t just a trailer and snippet of lore either, but alongside the reveal of Ana, Blizzard also announced a new patch for the Overwatch Public Test Realm (PTR) that along with a number of tentative balance changes would also make Ana herself playable.

In the game, Ana will fill the role of a healing support, wielding a sniper rifle as her primary weapon. Instead of charging and aiming for headshots like fellow sniper Widowmaker, Ana’s rifle will fire rounds that heal allies they hit and apply a damage over time effect to enemies, although there is no bonus damage for headshots. Complimenting this is a biotic grenade, dealing a small amount of damage to enemies in its blast radius and healing, while also rendering enemies incapable of healing and increasing the healing received by allies. Her final regular ability is a tranquilizer pistol that puts any enemy hit to sleep (even if they are using their ultimate) although they awaken when hit. Finally, her ultimate ability bestows one ally with a sizable boost to damage, speed and defense for a limited time, which can be devastating when applied at the right time.

Ana’s reveal may not come as a surprise to many, with fans online collecting evidence both in-game and from the background of interviews with Blizzard. All of the evidence they found pointed towards the next hero being a healing sniper who goes under the codename of “Sombra”. While Ana is not explicitly Sombra, one of her skins features the glowing face-mask many associated with Sombra from an in-game file.

For those looking to jump into the action with Ana, she is available on the PTR for Overwatch now, accessible by changing the game region to PTR: Overwatch in the Battle.net client. Full patch notes for the PTR can be found here, with an array of buffs and nerfs also on the cards for the existing roster which could shake up the popular team compositions used in the game.