Nature seems to be the recent theme for new Overwatch 2 heroes. Season 4 saw the debut of Lifeweaver, the Thai support hero with a plant-infused ability kit, and the game’s upcoming update will continue to embrace this sense of life.
Instead of flowers and trees, however, its latest hero harnesses the energy of the sun. Enter Illari, the first character to hail from Peru, and who uses solar energy to heal and deal damage. The support hero was first teased in the reveal trailer for Season 6, titled Invasion, where she appears briefly at the end as a silhouetted figure.
The official trailer, released on 8 August, then showed her in action, offering players an extended look at her abilities. While her toolkit wasn’t detailed, the various sun-baked motifs — alongside her Incan name, which means “sunrise” — made it easy to connect the dots. Illari will be the 38th hero on the Overwatch roster, and is now confirmed to have the following skillset:
- Solar Rifle (Primary): Long range auto-charging rifle.
- Solar Rifle (Secondary): Medium range healing beam that consumes solar energy.
- Captive Sun (Ultimate): Fire an explosive ball of solar energy. Enemies hit are slowed and explode after taking significant damage.
- Outburst (Ability 1): Launches you in the direction you are moving, knocking back enemies. Hold to jump higher.
- Healing Pylon (Ability 2): Deploy a pylon that heals allies.
Indeed, there’s plenty of Peruvian influence from the real world to go around. Much of Illari’s design concept revolves around the sun, which bears cultural significance for its people, but other smaller details were integrated as well.
“When we were looking at research and things like that, we would see the sun being represented all the way back into Inca motifs, and we wanted some of that to come through in the character design,” shared narrative designer Joshi Zhang in an interview with regional media. “The sun was one of the many cultural aspects we really wanted to promote, and that’s not the only one – we also had things like hair [design], which is important to Peruvian women.”
And just like the sun, Illari can be a fiery presence on the battlefield. The damage-focused support hero commands a high skill ceiling, and much like Ana, requires careful macro-managing of her offense and healing capabilities. Play her right, and victory lies within reach.
Illari may be the new face of Overwatch 2: Invasion, but she isn’t the only addition to look forward to. The update will feature a host of new content and features, including the Flashpoint PvP mode, two new maps, a Hero Mastery game mode, new hero skins, a new “underworld” co-op event, and the shooter’s first anniversary event. Lore enthusiasts have even more reason to cheer – there are also three PvE story missions that serve to expand the game’s narrative fabric. The downside? They aren’t free-to-play.
Overwatch 2: Invasion is currently live on the Battle.net launcher and Steam.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Edwin Teo
