Overwatch 2 devs want to bring back old Orisa ability for new hero

The Overwatch team has revealed the one ability removed for OW2 that they want to see given to a new hero down the line.

Many Overwatch heroes have been reworked over the years with many seeing quite a few changes for the launch of the sequel and the move from 6v6 to 5v5.

Along with Doomfist joining the tank roster and Bastion getting completely revamped with a new kit, Orisa received significant upgrades with every single one of her OW1 abilities getting scrapped.

However, according to Lead Hero Designer Alec Dawson, there is one Orisa ability the team is fond of and would like to see return for an upcoming hero in a future season.

Overwatch 2 team wants classic Orisa to return

Speaking with Twitch streamer ML7, Dawson revealed that the devs had been internally playing with a number of scrapped Overwatch abilities.

According to Dawson, one ability the team would love to build another kit around is Orisa’s old Halt – a projectile that would bring enemies closer together upon detonation.

Halt was quite controversial. While it could secure big environmental kills in the metal ranks, it was also very powerful in high-level play where halted targets would easily fall victim to Widowmaker one-shots and other devastating combos.

“Two-stage abilities are quite difficult to get right in terms of you want something and then it does something else and there’s two inputs to it,” the dev explained. “That can be difficult to control, but we thought that actually did a pretty good job at it.”

While Dawson says Halt is something the team is fond of and would “totally explore again,” there are currently no plans to bring the ability back, at least not yet.

The next batch of heroes releasing in 2024 include the already-teased DPS Venture, a support codenamed Space Ranger, and a mystery tank. With that in mind, it seems like the earliest Orisa’s Halt could make a comeback on a new character will be 2025. We’ll just have to wait and see.