Echo hits the Overwatch test realm as a damage dealing copycat
Say it again
A whole year-and-a-bit after she was first teased in Ashe's reveal trailer, flying holo-faced robot Echo is finally playable in Overwatch. Well, the test realm, at least. An Echo in more than name, Blizzard's latest brawler is a flying robot thief who can nab any other hero's abilities with her unprecedented ultimate.
If you want to get your hands on Echo's toolset, head on over to the Overwatch PTR and, well... hope to god your match loads faster than the rest of your team. You know the rules. New character on the test realm means it's fastest fingers first.
Echo's abilities were revealed, rather unconventionally, by Twitch streamer Timthetatman taking the baby-faced android for a test-drive with Jeff "from the Overwatch team" Kaplan.
Besides being able to fly briefly (and glide indefinitely), Echo's big twist is her ultimate ability, Duplicate. This lets her become an opposing hero for a few seconds. During this time, her ultimate generates 500% faster, letting her line up and fire off any other ultimate in the game. That's wild. I can't even begin to guess how this'll pan out in competitive play.
The rest of her kit works well enough. A volley of Sticky Bombs that explode after a short delay, and a terrifying Focusing Beam that does quadruple damage against targets with under half health. Brutal damage-dealers, if a little less characterful than outright nicking people's stuff like the flying crime robot Echo makes out to be.
Read more about her abilities on the Overwatch site.
Revealed earlier this week, Echo is Overwatch's first new hero since Sigma graced us with his floating toes last year. Expect Echo to fly around on the test realm for a few weeks before hitting the game's live servers.