Overwatch - ASHE Review

Overwatch’s latest character is Ashe. She is the head of the Deadlock gang, to which former member McCree knows her very well, something we see in the latest Animated Short “Reunion”. A damage character, she brings an arsenal to the game. Whenever a new character is added to Overwatch, they can initially feel under or overpowered. While sometimes balance changes are needed, often times that feeling comes from a general need to adapt to new strategies. The entire point to Overwatch is a hero based shooter made up of checks and balances. New characters take time to adapt to their strategy or learn how to use them for yourself.

(Overwatch Animated Short - "Reunion" - Source PlayOverwatch Youtube)

Ashe is in the overpowered feeling category, but with practice against she feels near perfect. Mainly however, she is super fun to play as. She feels very effective at her purpose, killing the enemy. It takes time to adapt to fighting her. This is balanced out by her higher skill level. She is made for old school overwatch players looking for a shooter. Unlike characters like Doomfist, Sombra, who rely heavily on powers and abilities, she is all about weapons. Her main weapon Viper is a semi automatic rifle. This brings a “Aim down sights” element to her gun play. She can fire faster, lower damage shots from the hips, or she can look down holographic sights for slower higher damage higher aim shots. She feels like a hybrid compromise between Widowmaker and Soldier 76. What makes her feel so powerful is she is perfectly suited for all ranges. She has long range, mid range, and her “coach gun” which is a perfect short range concussive damage shot gun. Her gameplay is less about ability timing and more about aim and gun skill. If you have played a lot of shooters, she may be an even better character than 76 to get into. Her concussive blast is very reminiscent of Lucio’s ability of similar nature. This makes her very effective as a control point defense hero as well as running and gunning.

(Introducing Ashe - Source PlayOverwatch Youtube)

Ashe does have one balance need. Her Dynamite is way too over kill. It is more than just an area of effect damage, but it has a damage over time aspect with fire damage. Getting hit with the dynamite can cause somewhere between 120-150 damage. It can be and near instant kill in combat for many characters. I would lower the area of effect damage and fire damage, and remove the fact that it can damage Ashe. Self damage in overwatch has been slowly removed for multiple characters, because it feels inconsistent and “unfun”. Why do Junkrat's grenades no longer hurt him but Ashe’s dynamite does? Blizzard should just apply a blanket removal of all self damage in my opinion.

(Ashe Origin Story - Source PlayOverwatch Youtube)

Let’s talk abut BOB.

Bob is awesome; He is the Ultimate ability for Ashe. Ashe is the only character who’s ultimate is to temporarily summon another character. I think this was pretty cool and clever, and it offers a fun and unique gameplay. He is the equivalent of a fire and forget missile. Being another character provides some unique aspects to him. Bob runs forward into an area; He can be healed, and even can be boosted directly by Ana. This can make him one of the more tactical and strategic ultimates.

Ashe is now available to all users, and is available now in competitive play. If you have taken some time away from Overwatch, or haven’t played it yet, I definitely recommend that now is the time to check it out!