Yesterday, we saw the reveal of the latest hero in the Overwatch 2 roster: Lifeweaver. This new hero is going to provide some game-changing abilities thanks to his healing capabilities as well as his incredible options that enable new traversal opportunities and new strategies that will take advantage of more than just the terrain offered by the map. Today, we’re going on a deep dive into Lifeweaver and studying what he brings to Overwatch 2.
Other press members and I had the opportunity to inquire about the upcoming hero, and thanks to Blizzard’s developers, we have some incredible information from behind the scenes about him. Without further ado, let’s tackle what makes Lifeweaver unique enough to join the Overwatch 2 roster.
LIFEWEAVER STORY AND INSPIRATION
Hailing from Thailand and aged 29, Lifeweaver’s real name is Niran PruksaManee. He uses technology from Vishkar Corporation and mixes it with the power of nature to fuel his abilities. He seems to have some animosity against Vishkar as he doesn’t enjoy their practices that have consumed nature’s organic life to build their utopian civilization.
He is a warm and welcoming person who is uplifting. However, he will make it clear whenever he has tension with someone like Moira. However, more often than not, he will be able to retain his calm demeanor. Lifeweaver has a history with Symmetra, as you might imagine. Since they were pretty close during their stay at Vishkar Academy, they will not hesitate to interact frequently in gameplay. A lot regarding Lifeweaver’s nature was expressed by Lead Designer Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie:
We wanted to show someone who ‘had it all’ and made the choice to improve the world rather than stay comfortable, to face the people who are poisoning the world and try to find ways to make it stop. […] You’ll see that a lot in his interaction as [multiple heroes] will point out the danger he got himself into.
The hero takes a lot of inspiration from Thai culture, as stated by Overwatch 2’s senior character technical artist Chonlawat Thammawan. According to the developers, the idea is to have a character that celebrates Thai culture, as it is a perfect fit for the plant-based support capabilities that the hero has. Of course, we can see that from the get-go, as Lifeweaver offers many supporting options centered around the combination of nature and technology, an aspect not often seen in media as both tend to clash rather than coexist.
ABILITY RUNDOWN
Above, you can see the abilities that Lifeweaver possesses. Don’t worry; we’ll address the elephant in the room soon. However, let’s start with the less controversial abilities first with the Rejuvenating Dash. This dash which moves Lifeweaver ~5 meters forward, can be helpful for getaway reasons. While it only heals him, it also aids in his survivability as he can gain a small heal while also making his way outside of a dangerous situation.
The Petal Platform is nothing we haven’t seen before. Much like Mei Wall and other platform tools, Lifeweaver can use this ability to create a platform that can rise upward. It’s worth keeping in mind, however, that the platform can be hacked or even destroyed. Additionally, it doesn’t offer any protection against classes with verticality, such as Pharah and Echo, as pointed out by Blizzard developers during the interview.
The new support hero for Overwatch 2 also brings a unique ability in which he spawns a health pack on death, allowing enemies or allies alike to get a small heal even if Lifeweaver is out of combat. His primary weapon allows him to heal his allies for up to 65 points, depending on the charge he stores, and his secondary weapon lets him strike at enemies with multiple projectiles.
LIFE GRIP
Much like Roadhog’s hook and other movement-disrupting abilities, Lifeweaver can manipulate his target’s movement to pull them back to his location. However, this ability is instead applied to allies rather than enemies. Lifeweaver can either stop his allies from committing a fatal mistake that can cost the team their life or possibly be a pedantic dickwad who shows innocent bystanders the way to the nearest offside of a cliff.
Of course, this ability also has its positives for teammates that actually want to support their team. Lifeweaver’s Life Grip can take teammates out of extremely sticky situations. Kenny Hudson, Overwatch 2’s producer, commented that during testing, he has found out that whenever he got pulled away by Life Grip, he more often than not was able to observe that he was running into an unwinnable situation and that Lifeweaver saved his life from a terrible decision that could’ve costed his team the game:
Internally when we came up with this ability there was a lot of apprehensiveness. But, what we found during playtesting was a lot of saves with Life Grip […] the feedback that I always gave personally was whenever I played Tank, and during that pull, I could tell why I was being pulled back. So, I think that when players begin using Life Grip more and get more use out of it they will see its utility and why it’s not something that’d use a long cooldown.
CONCLUSION
Lifeweaver seems like a decent addition to Overwatch 2. His support abilities, while allowing for more movement options and incredible positioning, will still need aid from the second support unit and other allies to work effectively. The character will be pretty easy to pick up, but mastering his movement options and abilities may take time, as noted by Overwatch’s hero designer Alec Dawson:
The aim was to create another support hero that didn’t rely on aim skill. Lifeweaver is designed for players that care a bit more about their own positioning, their game sense – those are the skills they check on more than necessarily aim skill. […] I will say Lifeweaver is actually very approachable, but it will take some time to master.
Lifeweaver is also a character that breaks expectations when it comes to his theming as he shows a coalescence of nature and technology that hasn’t been seen before. We will know more about Lifeweaver as we come closer to the next season of Overwatch 2, so make sure to stay tuned.
