Illari joined the Overwatch roster on August 10, and fans have been enjoying the introduction of the sun-fuelled warrior. Some support players believe that their role finally feels “complete”.
Before the new Season 6 Invasion update, the support role in the competitive shooter offered the smallest choice of characters to play. Even after Ilari’s release, it still does, but players are more excited now they’ve got a new hero to use.
Damage mains can choose from 17 heroes to play, and 11 heroes for tank mains. But the support role only recently broke double-digits, now providing 10 heroes to play.
Still, fans are happy with the changes. One Redditor said that the support cast “finally feels complete”.
New hero Illari reinvigorates Overwatch 2 support players
Some players felt that the support role was growing stale, and that playing long sessions was hard. One Redditor felt this came from the lack of variety in heroes, it “never felt like they had enough options to feel satisfied to queue into the role for very long.”
But some believe that this is a “critical moment” for support players. One player praised the arrival of Illari, feeling that they could “finally deal with that Phara for the DPS players when Ana is taken.”
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According to the statistics site Overbuff, Ana and Mercy were clear favorites for support players. Both heroes boasted nearly double the pick rate of other characters – with Ana at 9.01% and Mercy at 7.39%. But the introduction of Illari could balance the pick rate, especially with how strong she seems to be on release.
However, not everyone was convinced with how “complete” the role is. Some still complained about the state of the game – “we [still] need more support[s]”.
Whilst Illari expanded a small support roster, she caused quite a stir amongst the Overwatch community with her high damage output.