All about the new Overwatch 2 tank Ramattra

In the perfect prelude to the Overwatch League 2022 grand finale, Blizzard has unveiled the newest character that’s about to come to Overwatch 2. Ramattra is the game’s 36th hero, and his abilities and story seem to be the most interesting addition to the roster yet.

Ramattra is the leader of the Null Sector, a group of intelligent robots called the Omnics who will use any means necessary to free their people. In the overarching history of Overwatch, Null Sector is one of the greatest villains, responsible for starting the war between robots and humans that prompted the creation of the Overwatch Task Force.

A new tank of a special kind

Ramattra is a tank like you’ve never seen before. Rather than being the type of tank that protects his team – like Sigma, Reinhardt, or D.Va – Ramattra’s ability to switch between an Omni and a Nemesis form gives him offensive abilities that allow him to snipe enemies from the Attack from afar and dash to the back line of a team to deal damage to weaker targets.

Lead Narrative Designer Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie commented in an interview with The Verge:

“I don’t think we can overestimate how terrifying Ramattra will be once he transitions into Nemesis form. You’ll see how he changes.”

Jurgens-Fyhrie also talked about how when designing Ramattra, the team wanted to emphasize the terrifying effect of his transformation in order to strike terror into the hearts of players facing a Ramattra.

When is Ramattra coming?

Ramattra will debut in Overwatch 2 in one month, with the start of Season 2 on Tuesday, December 6. Blizzard confirmed that Ramattra will remain locked behind the Season 2 Battle Pass, along with the new support hero Kiriko, and that free-to-play players will need to reach level 55 to unlock it. It has also been confirmed that there will be a new map related to Ramattra in Season 2.

What can the new tank do?

While Ramattra’s gameplay wasn’t shown in the original trailer, Blizzard has already hinted at what fans can expect from the character’s abilities. One of Ramattra’s most important abilities will be the ability to transform into his massive “Nemesis” form, or into his “Ominc” form, which seems to be the more defensive option, allowing for a more passive playstyle that lulls its allies into safety while still doing some damage from afar.

In the Nemesis form, on the other hand, things heat up. As Omnic grows in size, Ramattra too grows in size and power and gets access to a new set of abilities. While this makes him a bigger target for enemies, it also allows a much more aggressive playstyle.

Ramattra’s transformation is linked to the Damage hero Bastion, meaning it works like an ability and has a cooldown, so Ramattra players can’t rampage indefinitely in their Nemesis form. While no specifics have been given as to his abilities, we do know that his gear will work a little differently in Nemesis mode. Additionally, the last remaining tidbit is that Ramattra only has one common ult between these forms. However, when he triggers this ult, the tank will automatically transition into Nemesis form as part of the animation.

Blizzard pointed out that much like characters like tank hero D.Va, Ramattra presents a unique challenge to skin design due to his two forms. It’ll definitely be interesting to see what alternate skin concepts the developers come up with for him, but Overwatch 2 fans will have to settle for the origin story while they wait to see more of the new tank hero in action to see.

The backstory

Seasoned Overwatch players may remember Ramattra’s first teaser from the 2019 Storm Rising event. The PVE component of this event, set six years before the events of Overwatch 2, led players to a cutscene where Doomfist meets up with a yet-unknown omnic character. It is now clear that this character is Ramattra, the leader of the Null Sector.

Despite leading what is believed to be the Omnic terrorist organization, Ramattra is a fairly complex “villain”. In most cases, he simply desires a peaceful existence with the other Omnis. But the evil deeds of the people led to a terrible war. Now, Ramattra will act as the main antagonist in the upcoming Overwatch 2 PVE campaign. When exactly we will see this chapter, however, is still unclear.