True to their reveal yesterday, Overwatch 2 officially released the trailer for their new Support hero Lifeweaver, which showcased his abilities.
Overwatch 2 Lifeweaver Abilities
Lifeweaver is a Support hero who has a little bit of everything in his kit. He has healing, shields, dashes, and skills that control the flow of battle. We will be going through each part of his kit, starting with his primary fire and healing ability.
Healing Blossom
Healing Blossom is Lifeweaver's main healing source and is the first half of his primary fire. Players charge up a flower that Lifeweaver then shoots at his allies. The longer the player charges the flower, the more it will heal, although there is a cap. Players can visually see how much they've charged the flower based on its size on their palm. The heal functions like Brigitte's Armor Packs, in that the player “locks in” with a particular ally to send the flower to. That means he doesn't have to hard aim it like Ana's Biotic Rifle. This makes his healing ability easy to use.
Thorn Valley
This ability is the second half of Lifeweaver's primary fire and his only damaging ability. When using this ability, Lifeweaver quickly fires biolight thorns at enemies. These thorns have a spray pattern that players will have to adjust to. If they hit the enemy a lot, however, it is still capable of dealing a lot of damage. The only downside to this ability is that the player cannot use Healing Blossom while using Thorn Valley. As such, the player must make sure that they switch between the two primary fires at the right time.
Parting Gift
Lifeweaver's passive ability, Parting Gift, is an interesting one. I described it in our previous article as a “reverse Martyrdom”, referencing Call of Duty's Martyrdom perk, where players drop a grenade on death. In Lifeweaver's case, he drops a gift on death, which allies or enemies can pick up to recover some health. While useful, this also makes it so that Lifeweaver players will think more about their positioning, as dying close to the enemy and healing them could be detrimental. Thankfully, he has two skills to let him relocate easily.
Petal Platform
Petal Platform is Lifeweaver's secondary-fire ability and his first control ability. When used, he shoots a pot on the ground, which creates a flower platform. When a hero steps on it, be it an enemy or a friend, it will elevate them into the air. The platform will remain in the air for some time. This ability has three uses according to the in-depth explanation by Blizzard. The first is that it can help your allies move into a more advantageous position. For example, the player can lift a Cassidy so that his Ultimate can hit more people, or a transformed Bastion so that they have a better firing position. The second is an offshoot of the first one, in that if the hero on the platform jumps right as the platform reaches its max height, they will be launched into the air.
The final use is that it can mess with the enemy. The trailer shows an Orisa using her ultimate in a chokepoint, which normally could lead to a team wipe. Lifeweaver, instead, lifted the Orisa above the team, basically canceling her Ultimate's damage. It's important to note, however, that since it affects enemies, players who know Lifeweaver's kit will be able to utilize the Petal Platform for themselves. As such, it is important to communicate this skill to your team so that they can immediately use it.
Rejuvenating Dash
If you combined Hanzo's Lunge and Moira's Fade, you would end up with Rejuvenating Dash. When used, Lifeweaver will dash in the direction he is moving while also healing him in the process. This can be used while airborne, so players can partner it with Petal Platform or any other high ground in the game to cover a lot of ground. Not only that, but this also helps in keeping him alive, as the dash can help him go behind cover and out of the enemy fire.
Life Grip
This is perhaps the most game-changing ability that Lifeweaver has, and can only be described as a defensive hook. When used on an ally, they will get pulled towards Lifeweaver. Not only that but for the duration of the pull, they are invulnerable to all damage. The trailer shows Lifeweaver using this ability to save Symmetra after she was pushed off the edge of the map by Doomfist. The ability seems to have a very long range. It also stops all movement, so players won't have to worry about their ally falling to their death before the ability gets to them. Understandably, there are worries about the possibility of trolling using this ability. However, the Blizzard team stated in their post that players cannot use this ability to disrupt ulting allies.
Tree of Life
Finally, there's his Ultimate, Tree of Life. When used, Lifeweaver plants a large biolight tree that heals allies with pulses of healing energy. Healing is not the only thing the tree provides, as it also blocks the enemy's line of sight as well as enemy projectiles. The developers described it as “Healing Bob meets Mei's Ice Wall”. They did not mention if the Tree of Life can be destroyed, but the trailer does show the tree responding to getting hit by attacks. We will find out once Lifeweaver actually releases.
That's all the information we have about Lifeweaver's abilities in Overwatch 2. He will be coming out in Overwatch 2's Season 4, the trailer of which will be coming out in two days. For more gaming news from us, you can check out our gaming news articles.
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