At Blizzcon 2018, the Overwatch Team announced the 29th Hero: Ashe. In the latest cinematic, featuring current Hero McCree, the Overwatch community was introduced to the female gunslinger. This new hitscan character, whose full name is Elizabeth Caledonia “Calamity” Ashe, is the leader of the Deadlock Gang. What will this new Hero add to the game of Overwatch?
Abilities
Ashe comes to fight with a powerful rifle in her hands. Her gun, “The Viper,” does two different types of damage: scoped and hip fire. The scoped in shot does 85 damage, with two times damage on headshots (170). When she is nanoboosted by Ana, she does 255 damage on a headshot, allowing her to take out characters like Brigitte. The gun does 40 damage when fired from the hip. The gun hold 12 bullets and each is reloaded individually.
She also has the ability to throw out dynamite, which can be shot mid air, or will explode shortly after being thrown. It does 75 damage. The dynamite explosion causes enemies near it to catch fire, up to 100 points of burn damage over six seconds. Ashe’s dynamite causes damage to herself. The ability has a ten second cooldown.
Next, Ashe has her coach gun. This gun can be used to push back enemies while pushing her background. It also has the ability to propel her upwards, in a rocket jump action. The cooldown on the coach gun is also ten seconds. Ashe has 200 health.
Ultimate
Ashe has one of the more unique ultimates in Overwatch; Bob. Bob is an Omnic that was shown in the same cinematic that introduced Ashe, and is one a member of Ashe’s crew. He will knock enemies into the air and shoot them. The Omnic has 1200 health, and lasts ten seconds after impact. His charge does 120 impact damage, 80 damage a second. His bullets do 14 points of damage each.
Bob is also unique in the fact that he himself can be nanoboosted. In this clip from the Blizzcon floor, Bob can be seen being nanoboosted and basically becoming an aimbot. With this being shown, others have speculated that he can be bubbled by Zarya, and slept by Ana. Damage done to Bob does not increase the ultimate charge by the damage dealer. Ashe herself can gain ultimate charge while Bob is active, but not from the damage that Bob does.
Counters?
Ashe is a character of great mechanical skill. As a sniper, her abilities and weapons will be used best by highly skilled players. She will be a great counter pick to Widowmaker, as someone who can both snipe, as well as deal damage up close. This also gives her a greater chance against close quarter characters like Tracer compared to Widowmaker. Her hip fire, dynamite, and coach gun give her a wide variety of options to deal with other heroes.
However, if you get a Winston diving straight onto the Ashe, the Winston has the advantage. Ashe will not be a great counter to tanks such as D.Va, Wrecking Ball, and Roadhog. Also because of her long reload time, her matchup against shields is not the strongest.
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Featured Image Courtesy of Polygon
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