Everything we know about Illari, Overwatch’s newest hero

On August 10 the new Support Hero Illari joined the burgeoning Overwatch 2 roster. Perhaps eclipsed by the launch of new story missions as Invasion launches, the Peruvian’s kit is relatively unique, yet has elements that feel a little familiar from other Heroes you may have played before.

Illari is the tenth Support hero to join the roster, hot on the heels of the most recent before her, Lifeweaver, and she fills the support role in a fairly unique way.

Gameplay

Abilities:

• Left Click – Solar Rifle Shot
  • An impressive-looking rifle which charges up over time
• Right Click – Solar Rifle Heal
  • Medium-range healing beam with an energy meter
• Left Shift – Outburst
  • Launches you in the direction you’re moving while knocking back enemies
• E – Healing Pylon
  • A deployed healing pylon
• Ultimate – Captive Sun
  • Fires an explosive ball of sunlight, which slows enemies and makes them explode if enough damage is done to them

If you want to play Illari, I definitely suggest you take a stroll over to the new and improved Practice Range to get a feel for how her Solar Rifle works first. Not only is her gun core to playing her, it also has a bit of complicated synergy. The shot charge is indicated by a set of two small lines on each side of the HUD (and in the image above). Much like Widowmaker’s rifle, it takes a second after you take a shot for Illari to be at maximum efficiency again — if you’re trying to chain shots like you’re playing Baptiste, even a headshot only hits for about as much as a punch. The healing beam consumes energy, indicated by a much larger yellow meter below it similar to Moira’s energy meter. Illari doesn’t have a regen mechanic to refill her energy like Moira does, just passive regen. When Illari fully runs out of healing energy, she is completely out of healing commission for several seconds until it regens to full. However, if you only come close to hitting bottom, you begin regenning immediately and can use your beam again whenever you want, so you want to give short bursts. The twist is that you don’t gain power for your shot while you’re actively using your healing beam, so timing is everything with Illari.

Even beyond your weapon’s healing, you have lots of options to keep your party alive. The healing pylon works somewhat similarly to Symmetra’s damage pylons, but for good instead of evil. You’ll want to hide it around corners out of line of sight for your opponents. Outburst is a great movement ability, both for leaping out of harm’s way, and for booping away enemies a la Lucio.

The final piece of Illari’s kit, her ultimate Captive Sun, relies very closely on your team. As long as your team hits your opponents debuffed by your Sun, the explosions on explosions can cause a cascade of destruction that can truly turn the tide of battle. Without your DPS players on board, Captive Sun is a brief crowd control. Illari can also briefly fly while it’s active, so at least she has that going for her.

Illari Lore

Not much is known about Illari’s character or history as of yet. Her base skin and all her abilities are based around the sun, and in her gameplay trailer she refers to herself as the last Child of the Sun. She is identified as Peruvian and her Ultimate line is spoken in Quechua, an indigenous language spoken in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador along with Spanish.

Beyond that, everything with Illari is a question mark, but I’m intrigued by what’s to come. She’s fun and quirky to play, though I’m excited for more story, too.