BlizzCon 2017: New Overwatch Hero Moira Announced

Blizzard has revealed some significant new content for Overwatch as part of the opening ceremony at BlizzCon 2017. Most significant is the newest member of the game's playable roster of characters, as the hero Moira was announced. She's a shadowy scientist character with ties to Talon and Reaper's past who is capable of dealing damage, but is primarily useful thanks to her ability to heal teammates as a Support.

The debut trailer for Moira reveals some of her backstory--including her ties to Talon as a geneticist--and unique skills that distinguish her from other characters. Following a sort of shadowy archetype, including the ability to cast healing beams, teleports, and other bionic skills. Jeff Kaplan noted that fans want more healing characters; Moira features abilities that focus on healing her allies, but she also possesses the skills to deal serious damage when it counts.

Creative director Jeff Kaplan described the character something of a hybrid character, which is unusual for Overwatch. Kaplan said he's looking forward to seeing the character in the hands of players--even jokingly describing the characters as "OP AF." On the official site, the Blizzard revealed some for the moves that Moira can take advantage of, as outlined below.

• Bionic Grasp: Using her left hand, Moira expends biotic energy to heal allies in front of her. Her right hand fires a long-range beam weapon that saps enemies’ health, healing Moira and replenishing her biotic energy.
• Bionic Orb: Moira launches a rebounding biotic sphere; she can choose between a regeneration effect that heals the allies it passes through, or a decay effect that deals damage to enemies.
• Fade: Moira quickly teleports a short distance.
• Coalescence: Moira channels a long-range beam that both heals allies and bypasses barriers to damage her enemies.

There's much more to come from the event, which you can follow along with our roundup of all the BlizzCon 2017 news. In addition to the new HotS characters, we've also learned that StarCraft II is going free-to-play, with players gaining access to a substantial chunk of the game without paying a dime. WoW players will also finally get access to a vanilla version of the game.