Blizzard announced Lifeweaver for Overwatch 2 in the not-distant past, but behind the scenes, I had been testing out the new support hero in a few capacities for about a week. Blizzard’s test servers are, naturally, not as populated as the public ones, so there wasn’t much chance to see how Lifeweaver works in high-pressure matches or over a long period of time. However, I still got a strong impression of what to expect, and it’s exciting not just for those times you’re stuck playing support in the multiplayer game, but for Blizzard’s vision for Overwatch 2 in general.
Lifeweaver feels like the first proper support – or first hero in general, really – built with Overwatch 2 and one-tank, 5v5 matches in mind. He combines Mercy’s mobility and dual heal-and-shoot setup with utility skills like those that Lucio and Ana have, and he’s the first support who can create a barrier to briefly shield allies, similar to how Zarya’s shield works.
His primary source of healing comes from his main attack, which you can swap to his thorn launcher at any time. The healing blossom sends small bursts of healing when you press the button, and you can hold the button to heal in a bigger burst without using any additional charges.
It’s a slightly odd choice. There probably aren’t many scenarios where you’ll use it at anything other than full or almost-full charge. Even in training mode, friendly bots died while I healed them using just the skill’s basic one-press version. It charges quickly, though. The time between starting and healing is about the same as it is to fire one of Baptiste’s grenades or Ana’s syringes, but there’s definitely room for balance adjustment here in the future.
Lifeweaver is no Moira when it comes to damage, but his thorns function similarly to Mercy’s pistol. He can easily defeat weaker DPS heroes and other support units and makes a decent show against the likes of Soldier 76 and Reaper. Just don’t send him into battle against more than one foe, since his mobility skill is not what you’d expect after reading the description.
His dash is a bit odd, at least in its pre-launch form. While the description says it works like Mercy’s movement skill and moves you near a targeted ally, it’s more of a spritely step than a proper dash. It moves him maybe a foot forward toward whichever ally you targeted. That won’t do much to safely get you out of danger, but on the bright side, it heals Lifeweaver by a decent amount and has a shorter cooldown timer than Baptiste’s self-healing skill.
The parts of Lifeweaver’s kit with the most potential are his Life Pull and Petal Platform skills. Life Pull grabs allies from a distance, pulls them over so they’re adjacent to Liveweaver, and protects them with a shield while tehy’re moving.
The obvious function is rescuing critically injured allies so Lifeweaver can heal them, but there’s so much more it can do. It lets Lifeweaver counter Roadhog’s hook and Lucio’s sonic blast to rescue allies falling over the edge and can even pull a wayward Winston back if he accidentally jumps too far. You can yank friends out of Widowmaker’s sites, save your tank from Mei’s blizzard, choose someone to pull back from Junkrat’s exploding tire – the possibilities are as far-reaching as the skill’s own rage (which is pretty far).
There’s a lengthy 18-second cooldown timer attached, though, so you’ll have to think carefully before using it.
The Petal Platform is even more interesting. Lifeweaver summons a large flower pad that raises itself several feet in the air when someone steps on it. It lasts for a few seconds or until someone destroys it, and you can it two or three allies on it at once. This seemingly simple skill lets you disrupt pretty much any enemy by changing their line of sight, and in some cases, it could make the difference between victory and defeat. Blizzard already showcased the pad interrupting Orisa’s ultimate, but you could also separate Annihilation-mode Ramattra from the source of his ultimate’s power or lift your team onto a ledge for a quick escape or to storm the enemy position.
In short, Lifeweaver is the first hero to warrant calling the role “support” instead of just “healer.” He expands the role far beyond just keeping friends alive, and it seems like a good deal of thought went into how he works not just with other heroes, but even how his skills relate to map geography as well His skillset is versatile, and I can’t wait to see how people use it in a proper setting and at higher competitive levels.
Blizzard said in 2022 that the team would work on making it more fun to land in the support slot in role queue matches, and Lifeweaver certainly seems like a big step toward fulfilling that promise.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
