Another day, another new Overwatch hero. This time however, thing is a wee bit different. Not a human or humanoids, just straight up an animal. A very cute oversized squeaking hamster. Accommodating the furries now eh Blizzard? (Winston doesn’t count BTW, apes are close to human)
Wrecking Ball is the official name for the new hero. It’s a quadruped tank with ability to transform to a rolling ball with a grapple claw, making it a…….(wait for it)……… wrecking ball. *cue Miley Cyrus “Wrecking Ball”*. Gee Blizzard, can you be more obvious than this? Controlling the mech/ball/Miley’s prop is an ultra-intelligent genetically-engineered hamster named Hammond, a Horizon Lunar Colony ex-resident the same as our beloved gorilla-scientist Winston.
Hammond as a name for hamster seems right and harmless, until the sharper among you realized that the British car journalist Richard Hammond is also nicknamed The Hamster due to his diminutive height for a Brit. Coincidence? I don’t think so…..
Granted, the lore behind Wrecking Ball’s generic and mouthful name is that he is the champion of Junkertown gladiator brawls. The unsuspecting and un-creative Junkertown residents just named the rolling mech Wrecking Ball as Hammond does not talk and his human speech is done by the mech saying limited stuff (Really Blizz, you put a talking gorilla and refuse to put a talking hamster now?). Hammond arrived in Junkertown crashing nearby as he escaped from the Horizon Colony with his escape pod ball. Being ultra-intelligent hamster, he fabricated a combat mech from his escape pod by himself and reside in Junkertown as a brawler champion unbeknownst to them that he is a hamster.
Let’s talk his kit now shall we? As mentioned, Hammond (I’ll call it that now, screw WB) as a quadruped tank can transform into a rolling ball (Roll). In ball form, he can deploy a grappling claw (Grappling Claw) to latch onto any surface to enable 3D mobility and faster speed by momentum gain through swinging himself a’la wrecking ball. When in air, pressing the crouch button will make him slam the ground (Piledriver) similar to Doomfist without the OHKO damage.
In a pinch, he can activate personal shield (Adaptive Shield) that scales higher with surrounding enemy numbers. Weapon wise, he got a quad-barrel cannon (Quad Cannon) with limited ammo count and a medium spread. The ultimate ability is a zoning ability (Minefield) whereby Hammond will deploy a minefield in radial proximity. The mines are destructible by opposing team and have maneuverable space among one another so it is escape-able with enough skill and luck.
Reception by pros and high-level players are positive so far. The base opinion is that Hammond brings a fairly high-skill potential through his grapple hook and the damage model feels non-b*llsh*t (Doomfist and Brigitte, looking at you guys). Role-wise, most consider him as a dive-tank/bruiser in the off-tank position supplementing the main tank by either as diving partners with Winston or distraction from focusing ground tanks Reinhardt and Orisa. Many already speculated of a potential triple-tank dive meta (Winston+D.Va+Hammond) with either triple support or single DPS. Chaos ensues in whatever meta anyways.
You can play as the overgrown Hamtaro in PTR right now, No Limits mode so anyone can try. No words on when he will hit the live patch. Everyone is having fun with his kit as you can bash and fling enemy around in grapple hook ball mode, no stuns included (Thank God!).
