“The Junkertown map showcases his tough, almost violent nature, and we wanted his abilities and playstyle to match that energy,” Blizzard said of the abilities of Junker Queen, its new Overwatch 2 hero. to the FPS game roster just in time for Overwatch 2’s second public beta, and a quick look at his team reveals that he pulls off a few tricks typically associated with a supporting role.
Now, Blizzard’s dev blog is revealing the design choices behind its combat-focused gear. The developer says that Junker Queen’s pre-existing role in Overwatch lore meant that she “had a lot of expectations from the community on her majestic shoulders.” As such, they gravitated towards her erratic and dangerous fighting style: “a berserker tank whose survivability is directly related to the number of enemies she damages.”
This is reflected in her passive ability Adrenaline Rush, which allows Junker Queen to heal from all damage caused by wounds. Damage can be dealt by her melee Jagged Blade, which is used in both her fast melee attack, using her active ability to throw a knife at an opponent, as well as her Carnage ability. from her and Rampage’s ultimate. Being wounded causes the enemy to slowly wear down, affecting Junker Queen’s lifesteal.
His axe, known as Carnage, was “the starting point for his design,” Blizzard explains, one of the defining traits of how the character was previously portrayed in the Overwatch narrative. However, the team decided against making him a melee hero, limiting the use of Carnage’s abilities. “Historically, creating a melee hero in Overwatch has come with its own set of challenges.” The team cites Genji’s Dragonblade, which was originally his primary weapon and later became his ultimate in the final version because “it didn’t translate well into the game.” Instead of giving Junker Queen a similar ult, they decided to make it a cooldown-based ability.
The ax was originally meant to be thrown, but that made the playstyle too difficult. Instead, the team allowed Junker Queen to throw her melee weapon, a knife named Gracie, as secondary fire. Hitting an enemy will hurt them, then when they come back, drag the enemy towards Junker Queen. “When Reinhardt was first prototyped,” Blizzard explains, he “could throw his hammer, an ability that was great in theory but annoying in practice.” In fact, Reinhardt had to reach for his hammer in his hand, while Junker Queen has a magnetic gauntlet that he uses to draw his weapon at her.
As mentioned above, the wound effect on Gracie also applies to her fast melee while Junker Queen is holding her knife, also applying the lifesteal passive. This additional effect comes from the implementation of instant melee for Zenyatta, which suggests that the team is more inclined to experiment with unique melee moves to keep playing.
Command Shout, Junker Queen’s last normal ability, temporarily increases her own health by 200 and the health of nearby allies by 100, making everyone survivable much longer for a short time, perfect for charging headfirst into battle. . Crucially, it also applies a 30% movement speed buff in the same AoE, the first team speed buff in the game since Lucio. The team says it was designed to reflect her confrontational and aggressive nature: “She breaks through her resistance with relentless aggression that demands space.”
Similarly, Junker Queen’s ultimate, called Rampage, also brings her directly into battle. Spinning Carnage and Gracie around her magnetic gauntlet, Junker Queen charges in a straight line, dealing damage to anyone in her path and preventing them from healing for a short time. Junker Queen dips back into the support roster, becoming the second hero with a heal prevention ability after Ana’s Biotic Grenade.
Blizzard explains Rampage’s design by saying, “We didn’t want it to be fancy or magical because it didn’t fit well conceptually with [her] character. She is a display of the inner strength that she possesses as a queen.” The ability to damage multiple enemies, thus providing passive healing to Junker Queen herself while she locks the enemy, is certainly considered particularly powerful.
As noted by Blizzard, the Junker Queen is the first tank designed with Overwatch 2’s new 5v5 command line in mind.
Source : PC Gamesn
