'High-Risk, High-Reward Personified': Overwatch Devs Talk Upcoming DPS Hero, Vendetta

Next weekend, you can try out Overwatch 2's next hero ahead of her official release with season 20 of Blizzard's online multiplayer hero shooter in December. Or, at least, you can race the other DPS player for the honor. 

Vendetta is a sword-wielder in a game where almost everyone else has guns. She's not the first melee-ranged hero in Overwatch: We've always had Reinhardt bonking enemies with his hammer, and Brigitte's rocket flail is similarly close-range. And before Doomfist was moved over to the tank role for Overwatch 2, he was the first melee-focused damage hero. But it's still an ambitious thing to put a hero with very limited range into a game focused on shooting firearms.

In group interviews with the media, Associate Game Director Alec Dawson said one of the goals behind Vendetta was to "make sure there's a play style…that players haven't seen before and one that might be really attractive for a whole new subset of players."

She's also a fascinating addition from the narrative side of things. Vendetta's father, Antonio, was killed by Reaper as part of Overwatch's black ops branch, Blackwatch, in the playable Retribution mission. Her story trailer and hero name make it clear she's out for revenge, and it seems like both Overwatch and their enemies, Talon, might be on her hit list. 

Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Vendetta's trial weekend comes two years after Activision Blizzard was acquired by Xbox-maker Microsoft. Since the acquisition, Overwatch 2 has ramped up bold experiments such as changes to health and projectile sizes, and the addition of perks as part of the core gameplay loop. Meanwhile, Xbox continues to balance its hardware ambitions, like the Xbox ROG Ally, against its general push to expand Xbox Game Pass (including a hefty price hike). We've also seen the gates between Xbox and PlayStation lower, as Xbox brought longtime Xbox exclusive Gears of War to PS5.

Ahead of Vendetta's hero trial, I spoke with Dawson and Bryan Bedford, a senior character artist for the game, about the new hero, her abilities and what it's like designing such a distinct hero.

Vendetta abilities

Dawson and Bedford described Vendetta as a "high-octane" character who's highly mobile but also very dependent on her abilities. Here's a quick rundown of what those abilities do.

Passive: Onslaught

If you played the Haunted Masquerade mode, you may have gotten a taste of this ability already. When her attacks connect, Onslaught gives Vendetta boosts to movement and attack speed, allowing her to stay on top of and quickly dispatch targets. One of her minor perks, Relentless, allows her to stack those bonuses up to three more times.

Primary fire: Palatine Fang

Look, it's a sword. You swing your sword. But there is a small combo element to Vendetta's primary: two horizontal swipes followed by an overhead slash that's narrower but hits for critical damage. 

Vendetta's attacks appear to have a wide arc, which could allow you to hit multiple enemies at once.

Blizzard

Alternate fire: Warding Stance

Vendetta draws her sword across her body, reducing incoming damage, including melee damage. The block is tied to a resource meter that drains as you negate damage. You can also trade some of that resource to send out a projectile, giving you a potential finisher for enemies who escape your reach. It can also be used to trigger Onslaught and start gaining stacks before enemies are in range of your sword.

Warding Stance blocks incoming fire and melee attacks.

Blizzard

Ability 1: Whirlwind Dash

This ability, bound to Shift on PC, causes Vendetta to lunge forward and swing her sword in a circle, potentially hitting multiple enemies simultaneously. I imagine this to be a good way to build Onslaught stacks against groups of enemies. 

Vendetta's dash abilities allow her to close the distance, but they're also her escape tools.

Blizzard

Ability 2: Soaring Slice

This ability, bound to E on PC, lets Vendetta throw her sword into the air and dash to it. Soaring Slice also skips her primary fire to the overhead swing part of the combo, allowing you to drop down and immediately deal critical damage to an enemy.

Honestly, you can probably use it just to intimidate and amaze your opponents.

Blizzard

Ultimate: Sundering Blade

Vendetta's ultimate doesn't care about your defenses. "It'll go right through armor. It'll eliminate overhealth. You can't block it with a barrier," Dawson said. On paper, that makes it an effective counter against support ultimates like Lucio's Sound Barrier and Lifeweaver's Tree of Life, which provide significant overhealth to their team.

Sundering Blade charges up before unleashing damage in front of Vendetta.

Blizzard

Here are all of Vendetta's abilities and perks laid out together.

Blizzard

How Vendetta fits into Overwatch's roster

The devs said Vendetta is designed for dive compositions, which aim to use their abilities to quickly close the distance on their opponents and burst them down. But the team also gave her some perks to help her function in other compositions, especially up-close brawl compositions. One of Vendetta's minor perks, Siphoning Strike, gives her lifesteal on overhead swings, allowing her to stay in a fight longer, and one of her major perks, Raging Storm, doubles up her Whirlwind Dash ability.

I asked Dawson and Bedford about the challenge of balancing melee-based DPS in a hero shooter, where it can feel like a razor's edge separates them from feeling useless versus overpowered, and asked what the team's "safe side of strong" philosophy looks like for a hero like Vendetta.

"It's a tricky problem, especially for her," Dawson admitted, saying the team spent a lot of time figuring out how to tune her Warding Stance, mobility and lethality. But he also pointed to the hero's ability-focused nature as an area for counterplay. "You have to be very, very cognizant of your cooldown management…While there's a lot of mobility, there's gaps in that mobility as well." 

If a team can turn on Vendetta, she's easy to shut down, Bedford said, but a smart Vendetta can also gauge that overcommitment to get back out. He pointed out that an enemy Zenyatta is an enticing target for Vendetta, but his Orb of Discord, which increases incoming damage, is particularly threatening to her.

The tension of either getting a kill or dying in the attempt is "exactly what she's there for," said Dawson. "If you enjoy that type of frenetic gameplay, I think she's for you." 

Vendetta will be available to play from Nov. 26 to Dec. 1 before joining the roster in season 20.