Abilities are the cornerstone of any hero in Overwatch. These tools define how a hero supports their team in a fight whether it's a sound barrier from Lucio or a resurrection from Mercy. Something Overwatch 2 fans anticipate is learning about the new heroes' abilities.
The Junker Queen is the newest hero revealed for Overwatch 2. Filling the Tank role, Junker Queen was a character originally thought up with the Junkertown map in mind. Art Director Dion Rogers explains that they had initially designed Junkertown as the location that Junkrat and Roadhog were kicked out of but, asked themselves "who kicked them out?" This question would then evolve into the creation of the ruler of this society, The Junker Queen.
During an Overwatch 2 reveal stream, the Overwatch team elaborated upon what abilities Junker Queen will have access to as the game's latest Tank. Audiences learned one of Junker Queen's abilities is called Jagged Blade, turning her quick melee into a swing of her knife which deals greater damage and applies a wound debuff to the enemy. Junker Queen is also capable of throwing her knife as a secondary ranged attack which she can then recall back to herself. Anybody caught with the knife embedded in them when she recalls it will be pulled along, similar to the hooking ability of fellow junker Roadhog.
Another of Junker Queen's abilities is a Commanding Shout which will boost the movement speed and armor of her allies. Junker Queen's ultimate ability is known as Rampage and sees her whirl her large axe around her wrist as she charges forward, dealing damage to anybody caught in her path while restoring her own health and applying the wound debuff to them. This debuff will reduce the amount of healing the enemy team can receive to zero, similar to an ability of Support hero Ana. One unnamed ability viewers saw was Junker Queen using her axe to take a massive swing at the enemy. While details remain unknown on the finer details of this specific tool, it is possible the ability will be a more direct way to apply the wound debuff to opponents.
Junker Queen appears to be a prime example of Overwatch 2's greater push for offensive Tanks. With Orisa's large rework from protector to bruiser and the dropping of Tanks down from two to one, the Overwatch team seems committed to designing the Tank role in a completely new way.
Overwatch 2 is now in the sights of players ready to jump into the new 5v5 gameplay. With the upcoming beta for both PC and console players coming up soon, fans will have the opportunity to engage with Junker Queen and her abilities and evaluate just how well she'll contribute in battle.
Overwatch 2 will release on October 4th, 2022 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
