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Overwatch 2 Season 6 has arrived, bringing additional game modes, maps, and a brand-new Hero to Blizzard's popular FPS. The new arrival is Illari, a Peruvian Support Hero with a solar theme and a set of powerful abilities. After Lifeweaver's movement-focused Support abilities, Illari brings a return to a more healing-orientated Support in Overwatch 2, though not without a few tricks of her own.
Overwatch 2's first Peruvian Hero, Illari, spent her childhood training to join the prestigious Inti Warriors. Noble defenders of their homeland and masters of solar energy augmentation, the Inti Warriors put Illari through years of rigorous training in which she showed unusual promise. Her training culminated with the ritual that imbued each new Inti Warrior with solar threading, allowing them to harness the sun's power.
However, Illari's latent power was far greater than anyone had realized, and the ceremony released a blast of solar energy that wiped out the assembled Inti Warriors. As the sole survivor, Illari moved on alone, tormented by the idea that the tragedy could have been averted if she hadn't been pushed toward greatness. With no one left to guide her, she continues her training and ceaseless vigilance, the last of the Inti Warriors.
Illari's Playstyle in Overwatch 2
Illari is a healing-focused Support Hero with good range on her primary weapon and an all-or-nothing Ultimate ability. While she may not have as many tools as Lifeweaver, Illari's kit may still take some time for players to master.
Illari's only offensive tool, apart from her Ultimate, is the primary fire of her Solar Rifle. This is a medium to long-range hitscan beam that needs time to charge between each shot, giving her significant ranged firepower in the hands of an accurate player who can time the charges effectively.
Her Solar Rifle's secondary fire is her main mode of healing, a beam of solar energy that can restore HP extremely quickly but is hampered by a low capacity and long recharge if it's completely drained.
Illari's second healing ability is her Healing Pylon, deployed like Torbjorn's turret but can also stick to walls and ceilings. The Healing Pylon's constant restoration can make it a real pain for enemy players, particularly in defensive situations or when Illari has managed to place it in a hard-to-reach spot.
In terms of mobility, Illari's Outburst allows her to dash in the direction she's currently moving while also knocking back nearby enemies. It can also be used to get onto high ground, but doesn't reach the same heights as Baptiste's or Lifeweaver's movement abilities.
Finally, Illari's Ultimate ability Captive Sun allows her to punish grouped-up enemies with massive damage and is an incredibly effective combo with certain Heroes. The drawback of Captive Sun is that it can be mitigated in various ways, from a D.va destroying the projectile to a Kiriko cleansing the Sunstruck condition.
Illari's Abilities in Overwatch 2
Solar Rifle - Primary Fire
Illari's primary weapon is a medium to long-range rifle that fires a hitscan beam similar to Sojourn's Railgun, albeit with significantly less damage. Although the Solar Rifle uses a magazine of 14 rounds, it also needs a second in between each shot to recharge to full power, which it will do automatically, provided Illari isn't using the Solar Rifle's secondary fire.
A full-power Solar Rifle body shot will do 75 damage, while an uncharged shot only deals 25 damage. This damage drop heavily encourages players to wait a second until the full charge has been reached rather than spamming uncharged shots.
Solar Rifle - Secondary Fire
The secondary fire of Illari's Solar Rifle is her primary healing tool, firing a medium-range beam of healing energy that will restore 120 HP per second to any ally it touches. This significant healing output, double that of Mercy's Cauduceus staff, is restrained by a limited capacity. Illari can only use her healing beam continuously for around 3 seconds before it runs out of solar energy, prompting a 3.5-second cooldown before it can be used again. This cooldown period, similar to the overheat mechanic on Orisa's Fusion Driver, encourages players to use their healing beam in bursts, never letting it run out completely.
Outburst
Outburst is Illari's primary movement ability, allowing her to leap in the direction she's currently moving with a burst of solar energy that pushes away nearby enemies. If Outburst is activated while players are holding down jump, they'll gain more height but less distance from the ability, allowing Illari to leap onto high ground.
Healing Pylon
Illari's second healing tool is Healing Pylon, a 150 HP turret that she can throw out to automatically heal nearby allies for around 40 HP per second. Unlike Torbjorn's turret, Healing Pylon can be placed on vertical walls and ceilings but has a maximum range of 15 meters. Unless it's destroyed by the enemy or deactivated by Illari, the Healing Pylon has no fixed duration and will continue healing as long as wounded allies are in its range. It will also prioritize allies with a lower percentage of their total HP remaining, saving those most in need before topping up those who are only slightly hurt.
Captive Sun
Captive Sun is Illari's Ultimate Ability, a devastating control and damage option that combos well with other Heroes but is vulnerable to being countered. When Illari activates Captive Sun, she will launch into the air and gain free flight for 4 seconds and the ability to launch the Captive Sun projectile.
The projectile is fairly slow-moving but deals 50 damage in a wide AoE when it lands and will cause anyone caught in the AoE or touched by the projectile to gain the Sunstruck condition. Sunstruck causes a 30% speed reduction which gradually fades over 7 seconds. However, if the target takes at least 90 damage in those 7 seconds, it will explode a second later, dealing 120 bonus damage to itself and any of its nearby allies.
Tips and Tricks for Illari in Overwatch 2
Mastering Illari's Solar Rifle in its primary and secondary fire modes is all about learning the timing. The primary fire needs to recharge fully to get its maximum DPS, which means that players need to learn to put a second-long pause between each shot, as well as compensate for any recharge pauses caused by using the secondary fire.
The only time that players may want to fire before fully recharging is if there's an enemy Hero on very low health who may break line-of-sight within a second or one that's close to the damage threshold for Sunstruck.
The timing of the Solar Rifle's secondary fire is very different and more like balancing the overheat on Orisa's Fusion Driver. Illari players should fire the healing beam in short bursts, pulling allies back from near-death before allowing a recharge, during which time their Healing Pylon or allied Support may top off the remaining HP.
Because Illari's primary fire is harder to use in close quarters, and she has no self-defense abilities, Outburst is crucial to allow her to maintain space. With Outburst, Illari players can move back while simultaneously disrupting the movement of a diving DPS or charging Tank, or leap to the side to avoid AoE effects.
Like the rest of Illari's kit, Captive Sun also relies on good timing. The more enemies that Illari can inflict with the Sunstruck condition, the higher the chances of triggering a catastrophic chain reaction, where each Sunstruck explosion activates the next. This makes Sunstruck particularly effective when combined with Ults that draw enemies together, like Orisa's Terra Surge or Zarya's Graviton Surge.
Illari Combos in Overwatch 2
Illari + Orisa
Orisa's self-defense abilities alone make her a strong combo with Illari's prodigious healing, allowing her to mitigate damage for long enough for Illari to easily refill her HP. However, where this combo really shines is in the combination of Captive Sun and Terra Surge.
The problem that Orisa normally faces with Terra Surge is that full-health enemies can generally escape the area before she charges for lethal damage. However, if those conveniently-gathered enemies are hit with the Sunstruck condition, Orisa only needs to charge briefly to trigger the bonus damage, potentially causing a fatal chain reaction.
Illari + Zarya
Similar to the Orisa combo, Zarya is another Tank that can mitigate damage long enough for Illari's burst-y healing to recharge. She's also another Tank that can perform a team-wiping combo with Captive Sun.
Zarya's Ultimate draws all nearby enemies into a tight cluster and traps them there for the duration. If those enemies have already been inflicted with Sunstruck then a chain reaction of explosions is almost inevitable.
Illari + Sombra
The Illari and Sombra combo may not seem obvious at first, but of all the DPS Ultimates there are few that combo better with Captive Sun than EMP. Although Reaper's Death Blossom or Pharah's Barrage may deal more damage overall, EMP has the advantage of being instant and covering a massive area.
Dealing 40% of an enemies current HP in damage, EMP alone can be enough the trigger the Sunstruck secondary explosion, but it also has another advantage. The biggest weakness of Captive Sun is that characters with cleanse abilities will immediately use them to escape it, an escape that is impossible if those abilities have been disabled by EMP.
Illari + Sigma
Unlike Orisa and Zarya, who want to activate their Ultimates before Illari uses Captive Sun, Sigma should use Gravitic Flux after the Sunstruck condition has been applied. Gravitic Flux's wide radius should allow Sigma to scoop up any enemies that have just been inflicted with Sunstruck, and its slam damage is more than enough to trigger the secondary explosions.
Illari + Cassidy
One of Cassidy's few weaknesses is how easy it is to avoid his Deadeye Ultimate, with most experienced players being able to break line-of-sight before he charges to lethal damage levels. However, this weakness is entirely mitigated by the Sunstruck condition, which will stack an additional 120 damage on even a partially-charged Deadeye.
As a precise, high-damage Hero, Cassidy is also a good pairing with Illari because of their ability to combine damage to pick off vulnerable enemies. Finally, if Cassidy doesn't have Deadeye available, all it takes is two body shots or a single headshot with his revolver to trigger the Sunstruck Condition.
Illari's Advantages and Counters in Overwatch 2
Opponents To Watch Out For
Despite her Outburst ability, Illari is still highly vulnerable to diving Tank Heroes due to her low fire rate and lack of other defensive features. D.Va, Winston, and Doomfist are all particularly dangerous, not only due to their diving skills but also their capacity to counter her own abilities.
Doomfist's mobility can allow him to keep up the pursuit after Illari uses Outburst, Winston's Barrier Projector can prevent her Healing Pylon from saving her, and D.Va's Defense Matrix can very easily destroy Captive Sun in mid-flight.
On the DPS side, Illari also has trouble with nimble Heroes like Genji, who can be very tricky to hit with a close-range Solar Rifle shot and has enough burst damage to overcome the Healing Pylon. Finally, Echo is a great pick against Illari due to her flight, which allows her to get an angle on even the most well-positioned Healing Pylon, and because Illari is a great target for her Duplicate Ultimate.
Enemies Illari Can Beat
Illari's solid hitscan damage makes her a real pain against certain DPS Heroes, particularly when in the hands of an accurate player. Just like her fellow hitscan Support Hero Baptiste, Illari can put a great deal of pressure on a flying Pharah, forcing her to retreat or die.
While close-range isn't Illari's specialty, Tracer and Sombra are also both vulnerable enough to a couple of accurate Solar Rifle shots that they'll have difficulty diving her. This is particularly true because of their lack of vertical mobility and the fact that Sombra hacking Illari won't disable her Healing Pylon.
Against Tank and Support Heroes, Illari relies on the constant support of her Healing Pylon, her mobility, and the damage output of her long-range Solar Rifle. Reinhardt is a poor match against Illari, particularly when her Healing Pylon has been placed outside the range of his Rocket Hammer, forcing him to ignore it or use both of his Fire Strike charges. Finally, Zenyatta's large hitbox, lack of defensive abilities, and relatively low health make him extremely vulnerable to hitscan weapons, and Illari's Solar Rifle is no exception.
Overwatch 2 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
