New Overwatch Hero Wrecking Ball is a Hamster - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 July 2018 / 3,358 Views
Blizzard Entertainment has revealed the 28th playable hero in Overwatch - Wrecking Ball.
View the Wrecking Ball introduction video below:
View the Wrecking Ball origin story trailer below:
Here is an overview of Wrecking Ball:
- Name: Wrecking Ball
- Real Name: Hammond
- Age: 14
- Occupation: Mech Pilot, Mechanic
- Base of Operations: Horizon Lunar Colony (formerly), Junkertown (formerly)
- Affiliation: None
Wrecking Ball's Story:
“Do not anger the hamster.”
In one of the many experiments carried out at Horizon Lunar Colony, animals were given genetic therapy to assess their adaptation to extended periods of habitation on the moon. As an unexpected side effect, several of them exhibited exceptional growth in physical size and brain function. While most of the test subjects were gorillas or other primates, there were some exceptions, including a hamster named Hammond.
Like the others, Hammond’s intelligence grew, and he became more curious about the world around him. Much to the puzzlement and amusement of the scientists, Hammond would frequently escape into different parts of the moon base. Though they’d always find him and return him to his cell, they never figured out the true purpose behind his nightly escapades. What they didn’t know was that Hammond was busy teaching himself the skills of a mechanic, which would soon come in handy.
The colony was eventually thrown into chaos when some of the gorillas rose up against the human scientists and took control. Not all of the animals participated, however, and one of the gorillas, Winston, was making a plan to escape to earth. Hammond sensed his opportunity. He built a makeshift capsule and secretly hitched it to Winston’s craft as the gorilla blasted off. As the two entered earth’s atmosphere, Hammond broke off and landed in a different location: the wasteland of the Australian Outback.
Hammond modified his escape pod to enter the lucrative mech battle arena of the Scrapyard. Working his way up the ranks, “Wrecking Ball” went from contender to champion, though the pilot’s identity remained a mystery to all. Gathering his winnings, Hammond was able to upgrade his mech enough to survive the dangerous trek out of the Junker-controlled Outback.
Now free to travel and do as he pleases, Hammond is exploring the world and finding new adventures along the way.
Ability Overview:
- Quad Cannons: Automatic assault weapons.
- Roll: Transform into a ball and increase maximum movement speed.
- Grappling Claw: Launch a grappling claw to rapidly swing around the area. Enables high speed collisions to damage and knockback enemies.
- Minefield: Deploy a massive field of proximity mines.
- Adaptive Shield: Create temporary personal shields. Amount increases with more enemies nearby.
- Piledriver: Slam into the ground below to damage and launch enemies upward.
Combat Mode Engaged:
Wrecking Ball’s tinkering capabilities and iron-clad mech make him a formidable tank hero, capable of bowling through the front line of the opposition and causing mayhem in the back line. His primary weapon, Quad Cannons, are two sets of twin machine guns that shred enemies caught in their crosshairs. No team is too much for Wrecking Ball to engage against with his Adaptive Shield, which generates more health based on the number of enemies nearby. This shield makes him incredibly difficult to kill when he bulldozes into the fray and, once he starts to get low on health, also provides him the endurance to escape. The Roll ability allows Wrecking Ball to withdraw the mech’s robotic limbs, transforming it into a ball with increased movement speed. No obstacle can stand in Wrecking Ball’s way when he uses Grappling Claw, a short-range ability that grips the environment, letting him swing across terrain gaps or around corners to smash enemies. Grappling Claw also allows Wrecking Ball to reach top speed and ram into foes, dealing destructive damage and knocking them back. While airborne, the mech’s Piledriver ability causes Wrecking Ball to slam down from the air and knock his enemies off their feet.
When Wrecking Ball is at his strongest, he can use Minefield which flings mines onto the ground that deal a considerable amount of damage to enemies unfortunate enough to trigger them.
Rolling Out:
As the sixth tank hero in the Overwatch lineup, Wrecking Ball provides disruption while also being an aggressive bruiser that bullies the enemy’s backline, eliminating vulnerable heroes that are left unguarded. He excels at disrupting enemies’ positioning with his Roll and Piledriver abilities while also posing a serious threat if he’s left alone to train his Quad Cannons on key targets.
Wrecking Ball can confidently start team fights at any time by rolling into the enemy team and popping Adaptive Shield, which makes him incrementally more difficult to eliminate for each enemy nearby. If a fight is no longer going in his favor, Wrecking Ball can easily escape from the fray by using Grappling Claw to quickly swing back to the safety of his team. Minefield can prevent enemies from reaching a preferred location or can be dropped on top of them to cause an explosive burst of damage on all foes in a single location. He can also get the drop on his foes by using the Grappling Claw to swing over his enemies, showering Minefield on top of them, and then finishing with Piledriver to pull them into the mines for an explosive burst of damage.
Overwatch is available now for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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...Are they just calling him Wrecking Ball? Can he not have an actual name instead of the name of some equipment? Reaper isn't called 2 Shotguns, McCree isn't revolver and Winston isn't Electric Gun.
Has paladins released their new vid for a Gerbil in a ball yet?
Also this guy looks awesome, can't wait to see him in OW, love that game has such fun looking characters with so much personality all the while not having a single bit of story mode or single player gameplay in the actual game. It's a weird one but it works great.
I don't have the PTR client installed but my flatmate does, he was playing him for a while today and he was saying that indeed, meant to be very fun to play. Fairly cool considering the last tank they bought it was Orisa who's gameplay involves throwing a shield on the ground... and then standing behind it, also turning metal... so you move even less.
I'm still getting hooked on a bit of Brigette when I need to mix it up from Mercy in ranked... helps to be able to murder flankers if the rest of the team decides I can handle a tracer or Reaper on my own as mercy... like nope, RALLY TO ME fuckers.
Once again, a male character is some oddball joke, when all the added girls have been fapbait.
Doomfist is an oddball joke? Orisa is fapbait?
Battle.... born? you mean Bloodborne right?
