We had the chance to go hands-on with Overwatch 2 Season 4, spending the past week or so with the hero-based shooter’s latest support character, Lifeweaver, and checking out its Battle Pass. Here’s what we’ve learned.
Table of contents
Lifeweaver’s weapons and abilities explained
Lifeweaver isn’t your traditional support hero, focusing more on changing player positioning than anything else. Like previous Overwatch 2 heroes Rammatra and Kiriko, he has a bunch of abilities at his disposal, with this robust toolkit taking some time to get used to.
Weapons
Healing Blossom is his primary healing ability, with players holding it to charge a burst of healing that can be released to a targeted ally. Thorn Volley is a secondary weapon of sorts, letting you fire a projectile of damage-dealing thorns at your enemies. As a support, Lifeweaver doesn’t distribute the most healing nor does he dish out the most damage, but the ease with which he switches between these two weapons is a big selling point.
Abilities
But where Lifeweaver truly excels is in his multiple abilities. Undoubtedly the most contentious ability is his Life Grip, which yoinks teammates towards him. In theory, this is used to reposition teammates who are under attack, briefly protecting them as they move. However, there are already concerns that this will be used for griefing, though Blizzard has stressed that there will be some level of detection to ensure players aren’t always dragged off the map.
There’s also Petal Platform, a platform that rises in the air when a player stands on it, providing excellent vantage points for damage dealers, or negating AoE attacks like Orisa’s ultimate. This move is especially useful for providing an unexpected bit of leverage to ultimate abilities, such as lifting Cassidy up in the air before he performs his Deadeye.
Rejuvenating Dash is less interesting, providing a smidge of healing while also dashing in your traveling direction, but his Parting Gift passive ability has the potential to change the tide of a team fight for better or worse, dropping a healing gift that can heal either friend or foe. This means that Lifeweaver players need to take care with their positioning, as being too aggressive and dying in the center of the enemy team will heal up one of their players.
Visually, Lifeweaver’s Tree of Life ultimate ability is one of the very best Overwatch has ever introduced. The hero plants a giant tree nearby, with it instantly healing teammates as it sprouts, before continuing to heal teammates over time. Placing down this tree at a choke point can turn the tide of battle better than most other ultimate abilities in the game — it feels like the perfect counterpoint to Rammatra’s ultimate, which deals damage in
Why Lifeweaver could be a game-changing new hero
It’s easy to see how Lifeweaver could thrive in Overwatch 2, and I am already anticipating a litany of YouTubers calling the new hero overpowered and desperately waiting for a nerf. Not only does he have the capabilities to provide his teammates with a slew of tactical advantages, but he negates a bunch of other heroes’ abilities, too.
The saving grace for Lifeweaver’s opponents is that his Life Grip ability currently has a 20-second cooldown, which means that he isn’t going to be able to throw players around with giddy abandon. With you only being able to use this move sparingly, you’re really going to need to consider when it’s best to activate it — do you use it to pull your overzealous tank out of harm’s way, or do you send a Genji who’s been harassing you in the team chat to his doom in Ilios’ well?
It’s going to be very interesting to see how the OW2 community uses Lifeweaver’s tools. There’s a ton of flexibility here, from his Tree of Life being placeable on the raised Petal Platform, to him being able to reposition teammates on the fly. Inventive players are going to have a field day with what Lifeweaver can do.
What’s in the Overwatch 2 Season 4 Battle Pass?
Due to the limitations of the embargo we’re unable to show exactly what’s included in the Overwatch 2 Season 4 Battle Pass, but rest assured that its theme is one of the best we’ve seen so far.
For this season, Blizzard has introduced space opera-themed skins and rewards, concluding with a Galactic Emperor Mythic Sigma skin and also including a Han Solo-esque Ashe skin, alien Doomfist skin, and an Infinite Seer Mercy skin. Season 2’s ancient Greece theme was still the most imaginative overall, but the sci-fi rewards provided here don’t disappoint.
I’m excited to see the Overwatch 2 community get their hands on Lifeweaver, arguably one of the most imaginative heroes in the game so far, with a truly disruptive toolkit. Like Kiriko and Rammatra before him Lifeweaver has the advantage of being built from the ground up for OW2, and the end result is a hero that gels incredibly well with the sequel’s fast-paced gameplay.
