Overwatch Releases New Hero Echo

When Overwatch released in 2016, it made waves in the industry and conquered the gaming market for some time. Although it has lost some ground in terms of relevancy in the scene, Blizzard’s constant updates have kept the game alive almost 4 years after its release. One of the most exciting updates is the introduction of new heroes. A few days ago, Blizzard released their 32^nd character Echo.

Echo is the 11^th new character added since the game’s release and in the lore of Overwatch, is a project from Overwatch’s founder Dr. Mina Liao. Liao was a scientist who worked at Omnica Corporation and inadvertently helped created the Omnic Crisis that spurred the Overwatch’s foundation. Echo was a result of continued work in AI even after the Omnic Crisis, with Echo’s mannerisms and behaviors learned from observing Liao as she worked on the robot.

Gameplay wise, Echo feels completely fresh amongst the other characters. A DPS character, Echo’s primary fire is a tri-shot, sending out 3 shots at once. Her abilities include Sticky Bombs that stick onto an opponent or an object, Flight which gives a smoother Pharah-like jump pack and Focusing Beam that looks like Moira’s ultimate ability, but deals more damage if the enemy health is less than 50%

Her ultimate is called Duplicate, which lets the Echo player copy completely a character on the enemy team. Echo players will gain access to the duplicated characters full arsenal and will gain quickly gain ultimate charge for that duplicated character. For example, if an Echo player duplicates a Soldier 76, they will get access to Soldier 76’s weapons, run, and Tactical Visor ultimate. Echo can’t die when in duplicate; if it dies when in duplicated form, it just returns to Echo form.

Players are already testing out Echo on the PTR. Most seem to be having fun and calling her “broken.” We will see how Echo changed the Overwatch meta once it gets released on the main servers. Regardless, it’s good to see Blizzard continuing to add new and unique mechanics to their game.