Doomfist, Overwatch’s 25th hero, is finally here

We’ve been hearing whispers of Doomfist ever since Overwatch’s original announcement trailer featured Winston, Tracer, Reaper, and Widowmaker duking it out over the Doomfist itself. After months of hoping for more info on what many expected to be the game’s next hero, the Overwatch team put out a small teaser earlier this week. Today, they pulled back the curtain completely and revealed Doomfist in all his glory.

And, my god, what glory it is.

In back-to-back video releases, we not only received an animated short that flashes back to one of Doomfist’s impressive encounters with the Overwatch heroes, but we also received a Developer Update courtesy of Jeff from the Overwatch team himself that gives us a seven-minute breakdown of the hero, plus some more lore behind Talon.

As you can see, Doomfist is canonically very powerful — he pretty much held his own against Winston, Tracer, and Genji no problem. Of course, in-game, he won’t necessarily be quite as indomitable, but he’ll still pack a punch. He’s listed as an Offensive hero, and his ability kit revolves around combo-ing his various physical abilities together. This is further aided by his passive effect, which causes him to gain a temporary shield that grows in power when he deals ability damage.

You can see all of the following in action on the official Overwatch site, but for anyone looking for a quick peek at his abilities, here they are:

• The Best Defense (Passive effect) — Doomfist generates temporary personal shields when he deals ability damage.

• Hand Cannon — Doomfist fires a short-range burst from the knuckles of his fist. Its ammunition is automatically regenerated over a short time.

• Seismic Slam — Doomfist leaps forward and smashes into the ground, knocking nearby enemies toward him.

• Rising Uppercut — Doomfist uppercuts enemies in front of him into the air.

• Rocket Punch — After charging up, Doomfist lunges forward and knocks an enemy back, dealing additional damage if they impact a wall.

• Meteor Strike (Ultimate ability) — Doomfist leaps into the sky, then crashes to the ground, dealing significant damage.

As I said, there was also a Developer Update that talks Doomfist’s design and his ties to Talon. Turns out, Talon isn’t run solely by Reaper, but rather a leadership council — and Doomfist is on that council. I won’t lie, I laughed a couple times watching this video, as it seems like the team went above and beyond in making Doomfist appropriately, ridiculously strong sounding in the best way imaginable.

And for those wondering, Doomfist is not voiced by Terry Crews. He is instead voiced by Sahr Ngaujah, who has several Broadway credits behind him. Personally, I’m happy to see Blizzard shy away from the expected voice actor on this one, though I do still hope we’ll see Terry Crews voice someone in Overwatch one day.

Doomfist can be played on the Overwatch PTR right now, and if history is any indication, he’ll be on the live version within the next week or two. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some people to go punch on the PTR.