Blizzard has revealed the 28th hero for Overwatch yesterday and it’s a hamster in a robot. The little guy is named Hammond and was first teased in a Twitter post and is now playable on the PTR. He’s a new tank hero and Blizzard called him an ‘aggressive bruiser’.
Introducing Wrecking Ball—a resourceful tinkerer that fights with an iron-clad mech.
Learn more @ https://t.co/0S7Ac8su9n pic.twitter.com/0Zi5QA8mZv
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) June 28, 2018
With the release of the Lunar Colony map, Blizzard first started teasing Hammond. Players started finding his name in various places and started speculating that another monkey might have escaped the planet and we would get another sentient ape hero in the future. As it turns out, Hammond wasn’t a sentient ape at all, but a sentient hamster.
According to the lore, Hammond became a sentient being, just like Winston, after the experiments on the moon. The scientist did not expect Hammond to grow in size and intelligence as much as he did, but he became one of the most intelligent animals really quickly. Due to his small size, he managed to escape and get in trouble often and through these escape adventures he learned the skills of a mechanic.
When the ape’s organized an uprising, Hammond hitched a ride in Winston’s escape pod. However, the part where Hammond was located broke off and crash landed right at the gates of Junkertown. Hammond used the parts of the escape pod as a basis for his mech and became the eventual champion of the Scrapyard, although nobody in Junkertown knew he was actually a hamster. He has since left Junkertown but his whereabouts are currently unknown. Apparently, he’s pretty good friends with Winston, but Winston is unaware that Hammond is on earth.
As for his abilities and playstyle, Blizzard has called him an “aggressive bruisers” and it seems that a lot of his playstyle will be centered around mobility. His abilities are as follows.
Quad Cannons
Fires assault weapons, will be used as the primary fire.
Wrecking Ball transforms into an actual ball and gains increased movement speed.
Grappling Claw
While in roll mode, the Wrecking Ball can fire a short ranged grappling hook that can be used for mobility. Pull yourself to places, cut corners or even swing yourself into the air.
Minefield (ultimate)
Wrecking Ball litters the ground around him with damage-dealing proximity mines
Adaptive Shield
Wrecking Ball’s passive ability that gives him shields based on the number of enemies nearby.
Piledriver
Wrecking Ball slams down from the air, pulling enemies towards the center of impact and dealing damage
The grappling claw is really the bread and butter of his kit. It’s what will separate the advanced Wrecking Ball players from the noobs. It offers you absurd amounts of mobility and is the only ability that can make you airborne. But you will need to learn how to use it efficiently. You will need to understand which places to grapple onto and how that will impact your mech’s momentum. I think this will be his most important ability and might also result in some fun glitches like we have seen with other grappling hook abilities.
All in all, Hammond looks a great deal of fun to play and it’s refreshing to get a new non-humanoid hero in the roster. Really makes you wonder how many more sentient animals are hiding in the Overwatch world.
