If you follow the rumour mill, you might expected this already. While early theories about the next hero being a sniper support named Sombra, after this tweet by the official Overwatch account have driven more fan theories of Sombra and the teased sniper support being two different characters.
And indeed it does. Ana is the first post-launch hero to join the list of 21 heroes, now 22, and places herself as a support sniper- yes, a support hero that rewards good aim! (Aside form Zenyatta). Her Biotic Rifle can heal allies on shot, or deal a damage over time on enemies. She also has a sleep dart to knock enemies out, presumably functioning similar to a McCree’s flashbang.
Ana also has a Biotic Grenade deals damage to enemies and heals allies in an area of effect- like Soldier 76’s Biotic Field, but can be lobbed away. Her ult, Nano boost, increases damage, move speed and damage resistance. Give that to a potent tank like Reinhardt and that’s a real game-changer.
In case you didn’t catch it, Ana is Pharah’s mother, an ex-Overwatch agent featured in several art, shown to be the team’s sniper. That explains her old hag look, but her kit definitely makes up for that. We all know that veteran snipers are cool and deadly.
No word on when will it be available, but Blizzard will have a panel in the San Diego Comic Con discussing the process of designing the new hero on July 21st.
UPDATE: Ana is playable in the latest PTR build now, which also introduces a lot of hero balance changes. More details here.