Intro

Links

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=964f7aF_Yfg
• Piped: https://piped.simpleprivacy.fr/watch?v=964f7aF_Yfg
• Other Links
  • Title image too funny to drop. AI generated¹
  • Twitch²
  • OW Wiki: Illari https://overwatch.fandom.com/wiki/Illari

Notes

The game starts with a quick discussion of the new hero and the incoming patch, observing how Blizzard’s roll out seems to be overpowered (which would be fair, given that the Life Weaver roll-out was such an ongoing embarassment) and that an over-abundance of supports (ArX says “healers”) is a problem for the game.

Distant impressions of Illari, and compared to Moira

This is a “distant” impression because I have not (and perhaps will not) be trying Illari, so I have only others’ takes to go by.

Overall it seems that Illari fills much the same space as Moira, offering massive healing numbers and little non-numeric kit. Her healing pylon offers substantial back-rank benefits and at initial release heals 50/second, which exactly counteracts a perfectly locked Moira Biotic Grasp. It provides less healing than does a healing orb (the orb heals 65/s, but only up to 300 hp), but lasts forever, like a Torb turret.

Her primary heal via the rifle does a frankly ridiculous 120 per second with a pretty fast reload time. However, it is direct healing of a single target, which means that she will be the #1 best healing pocketer, but doesn’t have Moira’s primary healing splash effect or linger, which heals 70/s immediately to any allies in its stream and then another 51 over the next 3 seconds, but becomes depleted more severely (is harder to recharge). So, situationally, Moira will still bring unique value with her AOE and prophylactic healing, but current Illari is definitely a better single-target healer (sorry, Mercy, you aren’t part of this conversation, but if you were, you might feel sad).

Her rifle does long-range hitscan damage, something more like Sojourn than Moira. This means that she is has utility at range like Baptiste, Anna, Zen, and Kiriko’ although this refers to her damage and not her short-range healing (which has a similar range profile to Moira).

Rather than Moira’s fade Illari has Outburst, which is a fast jump effect that can boop enemies. I’m not sure if this counts as a full boop capable of canceling ults similar to Brig’s Shield Bash, but if so, that is also huge.

Overall, Illari definitely seems super-powered at release time, and will almost surely receive significant nerfing soon.

Footnotes

¹ The picture was generated at https://pixlr.com/x/#generator

• Descriptor: on the left Overwatch bare-faced Irish red-haired moira with one hand under a levitating purple magic orb. Confronting on the right overwatch bare-faced Peruvian illari with her giant solar laser rifle and black cape blowing in the wind and full bronze chestplate gleaming in the sun.
• Avoid: worstquality, low quality, normal quality, jpegartifacts, signature, watermark, username, blurry, text, error, mask, helmet

² further discussion of the new hero and practice range and then death match with Illari starting at 11:06 until 21:09 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1895385674?t=0h11m6s