Image: Blizzard Entertainment
Overwatch 2’s new hero arrives on December 6, but he'll be locked behind a battle pass for all players.
Blizzard Entertainment took to the Overwatch League Grand Finals last weekend to announce Overwatch 2’s next hero: Ramattra. Returning players will have already met the Omnic during a 2019 Overwatch Archives event called Storm Rising, which ended with a cutscene revealing Ramattra - though we didn’t know his name back then.
Ramattra will be Overwatch 2’s second Tank hero after Junker Queen, launching on December 6 as part of the sequel’s second season of content. His ability kit includes an interesting shape shifting mechanic, which allows him to switch between two forms with access to different sets of abilities. In his standard Omnic form, he becomes smaller and wields a ranged staff. In his Nemesis form, he blows up in size and uses melee attacks.
Here’s Ramattra’s origin story trailer:
Ramattra’s shapeshifting ability isn’t new to Overwatch, seeing as Bastion has had dual configurations for years - but the new hero takes this idea much further. Ramattra behaves like a robotic mage in his Omnic form, using his staff to fire projectiles and creating shields for his allies. When he switches over to his Nemesis form, he relies on his fists for more powerful close-range melee attacks. The Overwatch team describes this transformation as, “menacing,” when the hero starts throwing out punches in combat. These punches also pierce barriers, making him a good counter to Zarya (finally!) and Reinhardt.
Lead hero designer Alec Dawson describes Ramattra as the first hero in Overwatch 2 to actually push the story forward, and it’s easy to see why. He leads the Null Sector, a faction poised to be the primary antagonist of the sequel’s upcoming PvE story campaign. This, along with the fact that he has ties with Doomfist and Talon as shown in Storm Rising, probably means that he's going to be the main villain of the story going forward. Most of the new Overwatch heroes - like Kiriko and Junker Queen - are only here cause they're a part of the world, not the story. Ramattra is much closer to the main cast of Winston, Genji and Mercy in terms of relevance.
According to Blizzard, Ramattra also has a deep relationship with Zenyatta, to the point that he considers the pacifist Omnic a brother despite sharing wildly different philosophies. This is, interestingly, the first major piece of Zenyatta lore we’ve received since the game’s inception. Originally, all the Support hero had going for him was that he was a monk from Shambali who helped Genji find peace during his travels. Dawson teases that Ramattra will have issues with a few heroes on the roster, specifically characters who fought in the first Omnic crisis like Reinhardt and Torbjorn.
Now for some bad news: Ramattra will be locked to Overwatch 2’s Season 2 battle pass for all players. Kiriko being made free for returning players in Season 1 was a one-time deal, which means that everyone will have to grind up to Level 55 to unlock Ramattra in Season 2. However, you can get immediate access to the hero if you cough up money for the premium version of the battle pass. Details on Season 2 will likely be announced over the next few weeks, but we know that another map is also on the way with ties to Ramattra himself.
