With the swap to 5v5, Tanks grew to become a make-or-break a part of any Overwatch 2 group. While Support and Damage gamers can depend on one other participant of their class to choose up their slack after they wrestle, tanks now not have that privilege. As a extra informal Overwatch 2 participant who’s not competitively viable, this has discouraged me from taking part in as a tank. While I do like the talents of characters like Junker Queen, I’m hesitant to play as them as a result of I’m apprehensive about being the participant that causes my group to lose. Mauga, the most recent Overwatch 2 hero, seems to alter that, nevertheless it took years of concepts and idea reboots on Blizzard’s finish.
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Unveiled at BlizzCon 2023, Mauga is an aggressive Samoan tank allied with Talon that may tear via enemies together with his two chainguns and sprint that makes him invincible. That makes him satisfying for individuals who like extra offensive Heroes, however Support followers will discover some stuff to like with talents that may heal different gamers or give them infinite ammo. I had the possibility to play Mauga at BlizzCon 2023, and for the primary time since Overwatch 2 was launched, I’m keen to return and play as a Tank.
At BlizzCon, I spoke to the sport builders behind Mauga’s creation to study extra about how this unabashedly enjoyable Tank hero got here to be. It seems that Mauga’s impending launch is the fruits of years of growth and concepts, together with his final potential having roots going again to the pre-release model of one among Overwatch’s most iconic characters.
The lengthy street to Mauga
Blizzard has wished to place Mauga in Overwatch for some time. The character’s roots return to a brief story about Baptiste from 2019, so it appeared like solely a matter of time earlier than he’d come to the sport. While it took Mauga over 4 years to lastly arrive, it wasn’t due to Blizzard’s lack of making an attempt. The builders confirmed in our Q&A and reiterated in a panel at BlizzCon that they initially wished to launch Mauga across the time Sigma got here out. That’s August 2019 and near the discharge of that Baptiste quick story. According to the builders, the gameplay concepts that they had for Mauga at the moment weren’t meshing effectively with the character.
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“It ended up turning into this thing where we wanted to have barriers but we had two guns. How would that actually work together and look visually coherent on the screen?” Lead Hero Designer Alec Dawson advised Digital Trends throughout a gaggle Q&A at BlizzCon 2023. “It didn’t really fit the whole psychic theme to have this giant guy that looks so physical.”
The builders pivoted to Sigma, a compelling character that matches the theme a lot better than Mauga in all probability would have. Blizzard didn’t throw out the thought of including this Samoan Talon member to the sport then, although, with the character reemerging in what would finally be Overwatch 2. Even that noticed some delays and time for refinement, as Mauga was initially going to be Season 2’s new hero earlier than getting swapped out for Remattra. “The team wanted to take some more time to get the kit just right,” Dawson mentioned. Having performed as Mauga, I feel Blizzard did accomplish that.
Mauga’s standout package
“We really wanted to focus on Mauga as a damage-based tank, and how he sustains himself and his team through damage as well,” Dawson defined. “We think that’s fairly approachable as a tank in particular, and we think new players are going to love him.”
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Mauga is a tank with easy-to-understand offensive and assist purposes which are additionally enjoyable to execute. Mapped to every set off or left-and-right click on on a mouse, it’s immensely gratifying to make use of Mauga’s two chainguns: Gunny and Cha-Cha. It seems like capturing enemies as Bastion in tank mode, however there’s extra intricacy to it. For each 10 incendiary pictures I acquired with Gunny, a shot from Cha-Cha would deal a important hit and provides Mauga a little bit of short-term well being.
When used appropriately, it’s straightforward to mow down most of Overwatch 2’s lower-health heroes with simply Mauga’s primary assaults, even when it drains ammo fairly quick. This is without doubt one of the issues that acquired extra refined with the character delay, with Blizzard amping up the interaction between the 2 weapon varieties. The remainder of Mauga’s talents aren’t too shabby, both.
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Overrun makes Mauga cost ahead earlier than leaping within the air and stomping on the bottom. The builders we spoke to confirmed that Mauga is totally invincible as that is getting used and that exactly hitting an enemy with Overrun will stomp them into the bottom as an alternative of launching them into the air. When I wished to play Mauga in full-on assault mode, this was a capability I had to make use of lots.
Then there’s Cardio Overdrive, probably the most support-like of Mauga’s talents. It establishes an aura that causes close by allies to take decreased harm and heal after they harm enemies. This is helpful for gamers who like their tanks to play extra of a assist position, enhancing the Assault heroes within the course of. The most attention-grabbing of Mauga’s talents is his Ultimate: Cage Fight.
An Ultimate thought returns
With Cage Fight, Mauga deploys a barrier that traps himself and any enemies inside. While inside this cage, Mauga has limitless ammo and might let unfastened with Gunny and Cha-Cha. Interestingly, that is yet one more long-gestating Overwatch thought. While it’d look like it’s taking part in off the talents of characters in Overwatch 2’s friends like Valorant, it’s an Ultimate the Overwatch group has thought of since earlier than the primary sport even launched.
“The entire idea of creating a dome or barrier around people has gone through a lot of practice over the years,” Senior Test Analyst Foster Elmendorf advised Digital Trends. “Originally, it was on D.Va. It was her Ultimate way, way back when, and it was like a dome of lasers. It’s the kind of thing you don’t throw away, even if it doesn’t work out at the original time.”
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Blizzard discovered a solution to efficiently understand this concept, and it’s now one among Overwatch 2’s most distinct Ultimates and yet one more potential that makes it entertaining to play Mauga. Who doesn’t love limitless ammo? Cage Fight does expose Mauga’s largest weak point, as I wanted a healer supporting me always so I might simply deal with attacking and enhancing my allies’ assaults. The builders pressured throughout our dialog that discovering precision inside Mauga’s talents and never isolating him from teammates is vital to success.
“One of the things I really like about his ability set is that it has a broad range of applicability,” Elmendorf acknowledged. “You don’t have to be really, really good at tanking or first-person shooters in general to make use of his abilities with your team, so it’s easy for low-level players like myself to use those abilities to have a fun time and do well for your team. As players rise in skill level, you can make more specific use of [Mauga’s] abilities to do even better. I really like that about Mauga; he’s one of those broad-reach heroes that is fun at just about every level.”
I agree, as these intricacies solely make me wish to dive again into the sport and play extra of them, which is one thing I didn’t anticipate to say a couple of new tank in Overwatch 2. Mauga completely involves Overwatch 2 when Season 8 drops on December 5. He’s additionally out there to play for a restricted time within the sport’s non-competitive modes till November 5.
Disclosure: Blizzard Entertainment and PR company TriplePoint paid lodging in order that Digital Trends might attend BlizzCon 2023.
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