After yesterday’s awesome animated introduction, a proper gameplay trailer for Overwatch’s newest defender of lives has dropped – showcasing exactly what D.mon brings to the table as a tank.
In short? A rocket propelled sword, an enormous energy shield AND a whopping big gun if you manage to get her out of tin can. Take a look:
As a long-time Reinhardt sicko, I felt like I was witnessing the sequel to my boy – and hilariously, that seems to somewhat be the case with Overwatch hero producer Kenny Hudson echoing the sentiment:
“Reinhardt has been an insanely fun character for 10 years, and we wanted to do another kind of take on that and give those players who like to play up close and personal with their tanks more [heroes] to choose from.”
Like Rein, she has a melee-focused primary attack, slashing her amazing plasma blade at enemies. Unlike Reinhardt though, she can actually utilise an offhand attack option in the form of a wrist-mounted Fusion Repeater that rapidly fires for a short duration, for threats outside of the plasma sword hazard zone.
Another echo of Reinhardt is the wrist-mounted energy shield, although it’s width is far smaller than my mighty man – with the shield seeming to only really protect her silhouette. She does have an offensive action with this shield however, given that she can rush forward with it to knock back enemies and get stuck in.
Much like D.va, D.mon has a fuel gauge that can be utilised to glide around the battlefield – so you’ll need to keep an eye on some unexpected angles in case of a mech-based ambush.
Her ultimate ability – cheekily named “Limit Break” – is an enormous sweeping sword strike in front oh her, granting her overhealth and damaging any foe at her fore. Any survivors of this blow are marked with a debuff that amplifies damage done to them, so if you have weathered the initial storm you better be ready to skedaddle.
The big surprise to me is that D.mon will actually follow the established roles of MEKA based heroes in the game, by ejecting out of her robo-suit should she lose all her health. This was something I have long heard is a massive headache within the game’s code, so I assumed D.va would be the first, last and only character to ever do this – but the team has knuckled down and made it happen a second time. Her presence outside the mech is also a crack up, because unlike D.va she will actually pack an enormous gun for self-defence, meaning she may be out of her mech suit, but she is NEVER out of options:
All the way back in 2023 I did actually put forward to the Overwatch team that their tank design philosophy seemed to have changed to a case of the best defence is a shitload of offence, given that they had just released the chaotic force that is Mauga. D.mon feels like a nice swing in the direction of what I enjoy playing as, even if a rocket-powered-plasma-sword is still a bit aggressive.
D.Mon is coming to Overwatch with season 4, which launches on August 11.
We want to hear from you. Do you vibe with D.mon? Are you ready for another tank you need to kill twice? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
