Blizzard Entertainment announced Overwatch’s first new hero since its initial release back in May 2016. Ana Amari is a 60-year old Bounty Hunter, although in her past life, she was affiliated with Overwatch as she was one of its founding members. She also happens to be Pharah’s mother, and as we learned in her origins story, she taught her everything she knows and uses her expertise to defend her homeland, and the people she cares for.
Ana is a unique Hero as we don’t see many support snipers in the gaming world. Most snipers tend to be lone wolves who assist their team by taking enemies out from afar. Ana can not only act as a traditional sniper, but she can also support her team through the use of her Biotic weaponry.
Ability Tips
Biotic Rifle
Ana’s Biotic Rifle doesn’t shoot bullets, but instead, shoots darts that are capable of either restoring or depleting health. That, of course, depends on what side of the battle you’re facing as allies will be healed, while enemies will be harmed. Her rifle also has a scope, which makes her accuracy even more impressive.
Sleep Dart
If Ana is caught off guard, she can use her Sleep Dart ability to render an enemy unconscious. The Sleep Dart is administered through a small pistol that’s located at Ana’s hip, so be sure you have the enemy in your sights or you can miss your chance to lull them to sleep entirely.
Biotic Grenade
Just like the rifle, the Biotic Grenade is capable of harming enemies and healing heroes within a small area. What makes the grenade even more harmful, or helpful, is that it doesn’t allow enemies to be healed for a small amount of time, while allies that are caught in the blast can receive increased healing from all sources. This would be most helpful for allies who are on the brink of death as Ana could toss them a grenade to give them an initial boost in healing, then shoot them with a Biotic Rifle dart to further their treatment.
Nano Boost
In case you couldn’t tell, Ana is all about assisting her team, and Nano Boost is the most helpful as she can boost an ally's combat abilities. Allies that receive the Nano Boost can temporarily move faster, deal more damage, and take less damage from enemy attacks.
Strategy Tips
- Ana has six darts per clip in her Biotic Rifle, so be sure every bullet counts as she can easily be caught off guard if she is hastily firing away at both enemies and allies. Since she uses her rifle to help allies and damage enemies, her ammo will run out fairly quickly as players will often be playing as both an offensive or defensive player.
- Since Ana is being added to the Support section of Overwatch, you should probably focus more on assisting your team rather than going offensive. It's nice to be able to attack enemies during matches, but remember that your teammates are counting on your support to help them succeed. Ana has always believed in defending the people she cares for, so start caring about your team and help them succeed.
- Unfortunately, unlike Widowmaker, Ana doesn’t appear to have the luxury of being able to fire off multiple rounds from her Biotic Rifle. That means if you’re playing as Ana, you should probably stick to being far from the action and helping your allies, or attacking your enemies, from a safe distance.
- She also isn’t as mobile as Widowmaker, so even though we saw her on a high wall in her gameplay trailer, she can’t to high places on her own. This means players will need to snipe from spots that are accessed by the majority of players.
- Ana’s Biotic Grenade has a 10-second cooldown, which means players shouldn’t expect to use these very often. They’ll be great to use if there’s a group of enemies and allies duking it out within a small space, but we don’t recommend throwing these around to single targets as its cooldown is just too long.
- Sleep Dart wears off if an enemy is attacked, so keep that in mind if it’s used to attempt an escape from an enemy that has caught you off guard. If their health is low enough, you can probably take them out with your Biotic Rifle, but if they’re brand-spankin’ new, then it’d be best to run away and let an offensive hero finish them off.
