Overwatch 2's new tank hero will be playable for a short time only this Friday, and so far, Hazard looks like he'll be a treat for brawlers
Overwatch 2's new tank hero Hazard, who was teased in the trailer for Season 13, will be available to play for everyone one day only this Friday before he gets added permanently in Season 14, which is only 21 days away. All we have to go off of right now is a short hero trailer, but it actually contains loads of information if you read between the lines.
In the trailer, we first see Hazard, alongside a small strike team, break into Moira O'Deorain's lab at Oasis University. Moira—who is a support hero—is something of an evil genius, experimenting with genetic engineering in order to rewrite the basic building blocks of life. This lab is her main base of operations—where she's working on repairing degenerative genetic structures, as well as a massive mystery ball of black goop that sits in the middle of the Oasis spawn point.
After the trailer for Season 13 was released, which gave us the first hint of a new tank hero, the inside of this spawn point changed. Instead of the normally ordered research room, players were surprised to see neon paint smeared across the wall that read "Phreaks" (which we now know is the name of Hazard's group) as well as bullet holes scattered across the walls. The strange orb of black goop, meanwhile, was missing.
I think that Hazard, alongside his group of Phreaks, could be former test subjects of Moira, who are now working to bring her down. We know that Moira has experimented on humans before—she saved Reaper's life, giving him superhuman regenerative abilities and other powers. She's also known to be an amoral scientist who is only interested in furthering her research, so I wouldn't be surprised if she had been keeping some human guinea pigs on the side. But even if the Phreaks weren't directly impacted by Moira, it's clear that they have some vested interest in her research.
Alongside his team, Hazard breaks in and collects Moira's experiment, the goop orb, into a test tube. After armed guards surround them, Hazard decides to put this unknown substance to good use and inject himself with practically the whole lot. This sends him into some sort of frenzy, taking down every guard that gets in his way.
Some of the attacks that we see Hazard use in the trailer will likely relate to his in-game abilities. The unknown substance seems to have manifested as pink crystals that emerge from Hazard's back, which can be shot into the sky to then rain down on players—as well as shot out of his gun to form massive crystals that may be able to trap enemies inside.
Like other brawling tanks, it seems Hazard has a shotgun built into one of his arms, which means he'll be more effective in close-up fights. There's also a massive pink energy claw that comes out of his other arm, which will probably be used like Junker Queen's Carnage ability, that lets her swing her massive axe to hit nearby enemies.
Most of the heroes we've seen added to Overwatch 2 are of a different breed to the old guard. The 5v5 format has fundamentally changed team fights into brawls more often than not. By that, I mean that players usually fight on top of one another, whether that be on the objective or at a payload. So having a tank that has a buttload of health that is also lethal up close is more of a necessary evil now.
All of the tanks added to Overwatch 2—Junker Queen, Ramattra, and Mauga—are at their best in close-up battles. And with no second tank to be used as an extra DPS that does poke damage, like D.Va or Winston used to, it's even more important to have a strong brawling fighter at the centre of your team. It looks like Hazard will fill that space easily.