After a long and heavy anticipation, the Overwatch team has rolled up with patch notes as to commenting on Wrecking Ball’s release and provide information on updates to heroes, maps and bug fixes.
It was at the 24th of July that the genius of a hamster officially enrolled into Overwatch after being in the PTR for the community to test and enjoy. As to Wrecking Ball’s release, Lead Animator Ryan Denniston had a few words to say as of the journey to Hammond’s creation:
Exploration is the key to animation, so we tried many different personality iterations for the hamster. At first, we made him maniacal, but he felt too evil, so we tried instead to highlight the difference between Hammond the critter—cute, cuddly, mischievous—and the Wrecking Ball mech—powerful, imposing, cold, and impersonal. Our eureka moment was nailing his “Relaxed” emote; I feel like it captures Hammond’s character and personality perfectly. He exudes confidence with the way he shifts his weight in the seat to get comfortable, then throws a cheese puff into the air and catches it in his mouth. After seeing it, we knew we has something special.
-Ryan Denniston, Lead Animator
Towards Hammond’s abilities, the hero is outfitted with Quad Cannons; a set of two machine guns for consistent and suppressive fire as his primary source of damage. Alongside his colossal health pool of 600Hp, his Adaptive Shield allows for further health gain according to how many enemies are nearby; ideal for solidifying a push or making an escape. Perhaps his most notable ability is his Roll which, as it abides to the name, has Hammond’s mech roll into a ball and traverse in a higher speed. More abilities add to his rolling effect, those being: Grappling Claw which sticks to the environment and allows Hammond’s ball to accelerate to a speed which smashes enemies, and the Piledriver ability which slams Hammond’s pod while airborne to the ground. And for the icing on the cake, Hammond’s ultimate ability, Minefield, spawns mines that deal immense damage to enemies.
Hammond is now available on PC, PS4 and XBox1 Overwatch servers.
