Overwatch’s Hero 28 is Wrecking Ball AKA Hammond the hamster.
Horizon Lunar Colony may have been violently overthrown by angry apes, but the spirit of curiosity and scientific discovery led to an unexpected treasure: Hammond, the incredibly intelligent (and prone to escape) hamster. If any of you have hamsters out there you’ll understand that this fact is very true. Hammond wasn’t too interested in the power struggles of Horizon that led to the mass murder of scientists; he just wanted to explore. So, he escaped Horizon and then upgraded his escape pod to be an incredibly deadly weapon of war, landing in the lawless land of Junkertown.
Far from the deep and mysterious past that most of the Overwatch heroes have Hammond is definitely not what we expected.
Battling his way to the top in the mech battle arenas he’s earned the top spot in the fighting pits of Junkertown. We can expect Wrecking Ball to have interactions with Horizon and Junkertown, as well as Winston and the Junkers. Wrecking Ball is playable now on the PTR and as of now, these are his abilities.
Roll
As seen in the video, Hammond can transform into a ball and roll around to increase his movement speed
Quad Cannons
Automatic assault weapons
Grappling Claw
Launches a grappling hook that lets him swing around the nearby area to allow for high-speed collisions to damage and knockback enemies
Adaptive shield
Creates temporary personal shields for Wrecking Ball that increase in effectiveness depending on the number of nearby enemies
Pile Driver
A ground slam that damages and launches enemies upward
Minefield
His ultimate that lays out a massive field of proximity mines that detonate when enemies come near them
Wrecking Ball fits in with a similar niche as Bastion and Mei: simple, idealistic heroes with base instincts to explore and adventure. In a setting with mounting tension around Talon, geopolitical issues, and Moira running around raising questions of scientific ethics, Wrecking Ball is a breath of fresh air and the perfect palette cleanser before the narrative continues forward.
