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Wrecking Ball
"Do not anger the hamster."
Real Name	Hammond
Status	Active
Historic period	14
Occupation	Examination field of study (formerly) Mech pilot, mechanic
Base	Horizon Lunar Colony (formerly) Junkertown (formerly)
Affiliation	Lucheng Interstellar (formerly)
Vocalisation	Hammond: Dee Bradley Baker Wrecking Ball: Jonathan Lipow Wrecking Ball: TuTeHaMeng (Mandarin (China))[1] Wrecking Ball: Wellington Lima (Brazilian Portuguese) Wrecking Brawl: Walter Rivetti (Italian)
Cosmetics	Cosmetic page
Quotes	Quotation page
Role	Tank
Wellness	500
Armor	100

Wrecking Ball is a Tank hero in Overwatch.

Contents

• 1 Overview
• two Abilities
• iii Strategy
  • 3.1 Weapons & Abilities
  • 3.2 General Strategies
• four Match-Ups and Team Synergy
  • four.ane Tank
  • 4.2 Damage
  • 4.iii Support
• 5 Story
  • v.1 Horizon Lunar Colony
  • 5.2 The Junkers
  • 5.3 Present
• 6 Achievements
• 7 Trivia
  • vii.1 Evolution
• 8 Videos
• 9 Balance Modify Logs
• 10 References

Overview

Wrecking Ball rolls across the battleground, using his armory of weapons and his mech's powerful body to crush his enemies.

Abilities

Aim Blazon

Hitscan

Wrecking Ball's automatic assault cannons tear apart threats at medium range.

Falloff range :

15 to 25 meters

Rate of fire:

25 shots per second

Automated set on weapons.

Details:

• Offset two shots have perfect accurateness; bullet spread reaches max at 20 shots.
• Automatically reloads if Wrecking Brawl is in his Roll mode for 2.1 seconds.

5 seconds

Aim Type

Melee

Wrecking Ball launches a grappling claw, enabling him to anchor to an expanse and swing from information technology. If he strikes an enemy with a powered-upwards swing, they're damaged and knocked back.

Move. speed:

+100% buff (swinging)
eighteen one thousand/south (rolling)

Max. range:

23 meters (eventually retracts to six meters)

Duration:

six seconds (max grapple time)
1.5 seconds (subsequently release)

Launch a grappling claw to rapidly swing around the area. Enables high speed collisions to damage and knockback enemies.

Details:

• Attaches to a surface, allowing Wrecking Ball to swing around the point of contact.
• If the line is more than 6 meters long and Wrecking Ball moves closer to the hook, the line retracts and stays retracted.
• If cast in combat fashion, Wrecking Brawl enters Roll.
• Knock back and damage is only applied when Wrecking Brawl is powered-upwardly (shown via a "fireball" effect). Knocks enemies support to x meters.
• Wrecking Ball is only powered-upwards while going at least 15 one thousand/south. If Wrecking Brawl is slowed by more than than 25%, his swings cannot power-up at all.
• Wrecking Ball respawns with this ability on cooldown.

Wrecking Ball transforms into a brawl, increasing his maximum movement speed.

Move. speed:

10 meters per second

Transform into a ball and increase maximum motility speed.

xv seconds

Wrecking Brawl's temporary personal shields absorb damage, providing stronger defenses if more than opponents are nearby.

Area of effect:

8 meter radius

Create temporary personal shields. Amount increases with more than enemies nearby.

Details:

• Unique to Wrecking Ball, the shields do not give ult charge to the enemy squad when they damage it.
• B.O.B. counts equally an enemy for creating extra shields.

10 seconds

Aim Type

Area of effect

Wrecking Ball slams onto the ground below, damaging enemies and launching them up.

Move. speed:

7.07 meters per second (charging)
98 meters per second (down)

Expanse of effect:

8 meter radius

Slam into the ground below to damage and launch enemies upward.

Details:

• Bound to Hunker/Toggle Hunker, which is unique to this ability.
• Wrecking Brawl's altitude must be at least ii.25 meters to activate. For reference, jumping meridian is 0.98 meters.
• Wrecking Ball moves 4 meters forward before dropping.
• Affected enemies are knocked into the air, and they lose air control for 0.5 seconds.

1540 points

Wrecking Ball deploys a field of long-lasting proximity mines which explode on contact with enemies.

Projectile speed:

12 meters per second

Expanse of consequence:

ane.5 meter collaborate radius

Casting time :

0.one seconds (deployment)
1.5 seconds (mines, afterwards landing)

Ultimate cost:

1540 points

Deploy a massive field of proximity mines.

Details:

• Wrecking Ball passively generates ane% Ult Accuse every 3.08 seconds.
• Deploys xv proximity mines around him, arranged into three rings of 1/6/8 mines.
• Activating Minefield in the air increases the spread.
• Mines emit a high-pitched racket to nearby enemies.
• Wrecking Ball can regain ult charge while Minefield is deployed. However, harm from the mines does not count.

Strategy

As an offense-oriented tank hero, Wrecking Ball's greatest strength lies in his loftier mobility, which he uses to disrupt the enemy squad by forcing them out of position and initiating squad fights. A good Wrecking Ball is excellent at establishing area control, knowing when and how to appoint and disengage the enemy to create opportunities for his teammates. He can do so at volition by switching between walker and ball style every bit the state of affairs changes. The dual motorcar guns deployed in walker style provide a hitscan-ranged attack in commutation for mobility, while brawl mode allows Wrecking Ball to damage enemies up close and quickly travel across the battlefield. Wrecking Ball's grappling hook allows him to tether to a surface to either gain vertical positioning and acceleration or to inflict contact damage inside an surface area at top speed. Should he find himself outnumbered, Wrecking Brawl tin can generate temporary shields to cake incoming damage, which increase with the number of enemies nearby. Lastly, Wrecking Ball has strong area denial past deploying a mine field, which inflict heavy damage to any enemy that comes into detonation range.

While Wrecking Ball is a more than mobile tank than Winston, he has no means of direct protecting his teammates from damage, making him a poor choice as a solo tank. His high dependency on his abilities and mobility makes him a sitting target when they are being express or disabled. Furthermore, his massive size also makes him an easy target for the enemy team to focus fire if he cannot escape.

Weapons & Abilities

• Quad Cannons: Wrecking Ball's primary fire.
  • Due to its low damage, fast fire rate, and relatively low ammo, it is meant for short engagements. Target depression-health enemies such every bit ones damaged by Piledriver.
  • Quick melee can help with the damage.
  • Quad Cannons automatically reload if Wrecking Ball is in Gyre way.
  • Quad Cannons are for the near part ineffective confronting barriers and high-HP targets.
• Grappling Claw: Wrecking Ball's mobility power that enables him to swing.
  • Information technology allows Wrecking Ball to get to the objective far quicker than most heroes in the game.
  • Its brusque cooldown ways Wrecking Ball tin can engage with information technology, and then undo with it.
  • By attaching to a pillar or even the payload, terrain permitting, Wrecking Ball tin can swing indefinitely.
    • Wrecking Ball can contest the objective, damage and knock back enemies, and build ultimate accuse while doing this. (All the same, information technology can make him vulnerable to stuns or knockback furnishings.)
• Coil: Wrecking Ball turns into a ball with increased mobility.
  • Equally a ball, Wrecking Brawl's default speed is much faster than other heroes. He tin can apply this to disengage from a fight.
  • While in roll mode, Wrecking Brawl has no critical hitbox.
    • If Wrecking Ball is being frozen by Mei, use Roll to prevent her (or her teammates) from headshotting.
• Adaptive Shield: Wrecking Ball gains personal shields with additional shields for each nearby enemy.
  • These shields practise not give the enemy squad ultimate charge, meaning Wrecking Ball can appoint without the fear of charging enemy ultimates.
  • Despite more enemies generating more shields, Wrecking Ball is much more susceptible to damage. Adaptive Shield should not exist overestimated and disengaging is still necessary.
• Piledriver: If Wrecking Brawl is in the air, he can slam downwards and harm all nearby enemies.
  • Enemies are launched into the air, making them easy targets for Quad Cannons.
  • Hit enemies behind an Orisa barrier with Piledriver to brand them vulnerable in the air.
  • If loftier ground is nearby (such as a staircase), go along top to apply Piledriver so that Grappling Claw can be saved and Wrecking Ball can escape immediately.
  • Past jumping off the payload, Wrecking Ball gains plenty tiptop to use Piledriver.
  • If Wrecking Ball rolls into a corner, he gains enough height to apply Piledriver.
  • Coordinate with your team when using Piledriver, equally it tin deny friendly ultimates (such equally Earthshatter) if mistimed.
• Minefield: Wrecking Ball's ultimate power.
  • It is used to deny area or to distract the enemy team.
  • If Wrecking Ball uses Minefield while in the air, the mines become more spread out and more than expanse is covered.
  • It takes a short filibuster for the mines to activate.
    • A combo to ensure the mines hit something is to have Wrecking Brawl launch himself in the air, use Minefield while in the air, and then use Piledriver. Nearby enemies will be launched into the air by Piledriver, and they will fall down to the at present active mines.
  • Minefield is extremely valuable while in overtime since it can deny admission to the objective. For case, Wrecking Ball can go on top of the payload and and so use Minefield to deny the entire area around the payload.

General Strategies

Wrecking Ball is all well-nigh disruption, quick engagements and disengagements, and denying area. Utilise Grappling Claw and Piledriver to gyre through masses of enemies to quickly gain ultimate accuse and scattering the enemy squad. For example, Wrecking Ball can smack a Reinhardt abroad from his squad, leaving them vulnerable. Roll and Adaptive Shield assistance to survive and undo. Once Minefield is set, Wrecking Brawl can combo information technology with Piledriver to preclude or fifty-fifty end team fights. Wrecking Ball tin also target specific enemies by slamming downward with Piledriver, shooting them with Quad Cannons, and hitting a quick melee.

Match-Ups and Team Synergy

Tank

Hero	Match-Up	Squad Synergy
D.Va	If you and D.Va both stay put and burn down away at one some other, you're almost certain to lose this matchup. However, due to your high mobility, this will rarely be the case. While it'southward unlikely that you will ever country a kill on her without back up from your allies, your primary asset against her is being a nuisance who will refuse to die. Getting rammed by Boosters can temporarily disrupt your swinging, but fifty-fifty then you can simply ringlet abroad from a fight if y'all don't wish to proceed.	If your team decides to run both D.Va and Wrecking Ball equally your tanks, you lot're offering your team extremely minimal protection. That being said, if your team is filled with heroes who prefer to stay mobile and fend for themselves, such as Genji, Tracer, and Lucio, this may be an acceptable, aggressive team limerick.
Orisa	Orisa can fight Wrecking Ball far from his attain and where his damage is impactful. Fusion Driver is a rapid-burn weapon with no harm falloff. She can use Fortify to tank some of your damage and avoid being knocked effectually past your abilities. Halt can be an issue as it tin pull you back into the line of fire (which is worse when you're fleeing).	Orisa and Wrecking Ball tin make a devastating combo when pushing, as their automatic weapons tin can provide suppressive burn down for sustained periods of fourth dimension. Wrecking Ball's high mobility can allow him to switch positions quickly should an crime hero flank effectually the barrier, potentially saving Orisa from a sneaky Reaper or Tracer. At the very to the lowest degree, he tin buy Orisa and the team enough time to kill the perpetrator.
Reinhardt	Reinhardt can block your Quad Cannons with his shield. You tin can come across him and displace him but Reinhardt tin can use Charge to pin you lot against a wall. His shield can also block Piledriver if angled correctly. Earthshatter volition stop you in your tracks and force yous out of Roll.	(To be added)
Roadhog	Watch out for Roadhog'due south claw as it will force you out of Roll, exposing your critical hitbox. The worse matter that can happen is Roadhog hooks you after you've used Grapple Claw equally being pulled towards an environmental gamble or his team will assure your death. Besides, Adaptive Shields volition not save y'all from Whole Grunter if you lot get pinned to a wall.	Whole Hog tin push enemies into your Minefield, which tin most certainly impale them. Piledriver can as well knock enemies upward into Roadhog's crosshairs, giving him the opportunity to hook them.
Sigma	Sigma can absorb your Quad Cannons bullets with Kinetic Grasp, giving him bonus shield wellness. Accretion tin can stop you in your tracks. This tin put your Grapple Claw on cooldown and force you out of Scroll. Also, you can roll your manner out of Gravitic Flux if you lot're caught in it. Kinetic Grasp can't absorb your mines, but Sigma can throw his Experimental Barrier to articulate a path through them.	When a friendly Sigma lifts an enemy squad with Gravitic Flux, you tin use Minefield and so the enemy team will driblet onto your mines. This will non only ensure that they can't avert your mines, but the explosions will almost certainly kill your weakened opponents.
Wrecking Ball	(To exist added)	(To be added)
Winston	Wrecking Ball'due south enormous health total makes the Tesla Cannon do little more than tickle him, and yous have better mobility than him. Also, he has less health than you, and so you should be able to kill with Quad Cannons at close range.	Y'all and Winston are one of the most mobile tanks, and one of y'all has a shield. When your shield starts to run low, he can deploy his Barrier Projector to act as a secondary line of defense. Primal Rage can be used to knock enemies into your Minefield.
Zarya	Zarya might have less wellness than you lot, but she tin can use her bubbles to soak up your damage, gain energy, and strengthen her attacks. Also, Graviton Surge can end you in your tracks, allowing Zarya and her squad to lay down focus fire and kill you.	Yous tin combo Graviton Surge with your Minefield. Since enemies can't escape one within, they'll feel the total wrath of your mines. This is more compounded when washed in tight corridors, where the mines also latch to the ceilings and walls. Zarya tin can use a Projected Barrier to protect you and gain energy equally you dive into the enemy,

Damage

Hero	Match-Up	Team Synergy
Ashe	You shouldn't have much trouble against Ashe. As long as yous're in Gyre form, she tin can't land disquisitional hits on y'all. You tin pursue her with lethal damage, she tin knock you back with Jitney Gun to put some altitude. If you use Piledriver, exist conscientious where you lot use it as Coach Gun could push you into an ecology hazard (i.e. Ilios well, railroad train in Busan). Adaptive Shields tin can also exist used to soak up some of her shots. Dynamite can be used to cook your shield and your health. At close range, y'all tin shred through her health with Quad Cannon and a Quick Melee. Sure, the Viper can do a lot of impairment at shut range, information technology's slow and won't exist able to finish y'all off before you finish her.	(To exist added)
Bastion	Bastion is a huge 3 to y'all when turret form is agile. Its loftier damage will shred through your health and whatever shields you accept. Don't endeavour to fight him head-on. Rather, flank upwards behind him and deploy your Minefield over him. It takes three mines to kill Bastion and his Self-Repair will not salve him.	(To exist added)
Cassidy	Flashbang is among the most dangerous abilities to Wrecking Ball. It's fast enough to grab you during a rollout, cut off your Ultimate, and brand you vulnerable to his team. Make sure you're watching Cassidy's ability usage so you know when it'southward safe to engage.	There's no known synergy with Cassidy.
Doomfist	(To be added)	(To be added)
Echo	As long every bit Repeat's airborne, all yous can do is shoot her with your Quad Cannons. Since your primary fire suffers from damage falloff, it might not be enough to kill her. Unlike you, her master burn down and Viscid Bombs have no impairment falloff. Exist careful about your health pool. If Repeat knows y'all're half health, She can finish you off with Focusing Beam. Yous're a good target for her Duplicate and she can get Minefield quicker than you do.	Ii Wrecking Assurance can be a nightmare for the enemy team. placing ii Minefields effectually team means that they volition have no style to advance without taking damage (or dying).
Genji	(To be added)	There'south no known synergy with Genji.
Hanzo	You shouldn't have much trouble confronting Hanzo. As long as you're in Roll grade, he tin can't state critical hits on you. You tin likewise pursue him, no matter where he goes, with plenty damage to kill him. Adaptive Shield can also be used to soak upwards some of his arrows. At close range, you can shred through his health with Quad Cannon and a Quick Melee. However, Hanzo tin betrayal your location with Sonic Arrow. If you lot are direct hit with it, you could also reveal nearby teammates to Hanzo's squad. Tempest Arrows can be used to bit abroad 350 HP of your health (if all arrows connect). Also, Dragonstrike can deal heavy damage to you.	In that location's no known synergy with Hanzo.
Junkrat	Watch out for his Steel Trap. If you get caught in one, this will let Junkrat and his squad to focus burn down on you (and afterward eliminate you). Concussion Mines can knock yous astern, which can forbid yous from fleeing. Too, R.I.P Tire can kill you in one direct hit if you lot don't have shields.	A trapped target give Wrecking Ball the ability to line upwards Piledriver or Minefield (or both) to severely damage (or kill) them.
Mei	Mei'due south Endothermic Blaster almost entirely shuts you lot down, and Ice Wall can hands halt yous. Most of the time, it's improve to just become to your spawn room and switch to a dissimilar hero instead of throwing yourself at her over and over over again.	Enemies frozen by Blizzard are the prefect targets for Minefield. Simply drop your mines from above and sentinel them go blown to bits.
Pharah	You're at a disadvantage against Pharah. Every bit long as she in the heaven, she'due south essentially out of your reach every bit you accept no ways to get to her. Quad Cannon won't do enough damage to kill her quickly. Plus, she tin fire rockets at y'all, fifty-fifty as yous try to flee. Exist wary of Barrage, because it tin bit away both your health and Adaptive Shields (if you lot have it active).	There's no known synergy betwixt her and Wrecking Ball
Reaper	(To be added)	At that place's no known synergy with Reaper
Soldier: 76	(To be added)	There's no known synergy with Soldier: 76.
Sombra	Much like Mei, Sombra's Hack tin can easily close you down. Information technology forces y'all out of Roll, you lot tin't use Grappling Claw, and there's virtually a guarantee that you'll die if you're hacked in the middle of a squad fight.	EMP can disable enemies with motion abilities, which means they won't be able to avoid your Minefield as you deploy information technology.
Symmetra	(To be added)	(To exist added)
Torbjörn	(To be added)	(To be added)
Tracer	Tracer's mobility tin make it hard for yous to kill her. She can quickly cypher through your Quad Cannon burn while laying downwardly her own impairment. She can recover with Recall if she's low in health and Pulse Bomb can chip away most your health.	(To exist added)
Widowmaker	Wrecking Ball is probably one of her biggest counters. As long every bit he's in Scroll form, she can't land critical hits on him. Wrecking Brawl can too pursue Widowmaker, no thing where she goes, with enough harm to kill her. Adaptive Shield can as well be used to soak up some of her damage. At close range, Wrecking Ball can shred through her health with Quad Cannon and a Quick Melee.	(To be added)

Support

Hero	Match-Up	Squad Synergy
Ana	Ana'due south Sleep Dart is a danger to Wrecking Ball as information technology both stops his momentum and forcefulness him out of Curl. This can give her team aplenty time to lay downwardly focus fire and potentially impale you.	Ana can heal Wrecking Ball at a distance with scoped shots and use a Biotic Grenade to increase the healing output. Nano Boost applied to Wrecking Ball makes him harder to kill, and that is compounded farther when he uses Adaptive Shields.
Baptiste	(To be added)	At that place's no synergy with Wrecking Ball. Wrecking Ball's loftier mobility makes it incredibly difficult to state healing grenades at long distances.
Brigitte	Shield Bash is 1 of the most dangerous abilities to Wrecking Ball. Similar to Wink Blindside, t's fast plenty to take hold of y'all during a rollout, cutting off your Ultimate, and make you vulnerable to his team. Make sure yous're watching Brigitte's ability usage and so you know when it's condom to engage. Also, since you're a large target, Brigitte can easily hitting yous with her flail and activate Inspire.	Brigitte tin heal him at range with Repair Packs. Rally armor can also strengthen his defense and increase his vitality as he dives into the enemy team.
Lúcio	(To be added)	Lucio'south Audio Barrier on top of his Adaptive Shield means that, for viii seconds, Wrecking Ball is incredibly hard to kill and can tank most high-damaging ultimates such as Self-Destruct or R.I.P-Tire.
Mercy	(To exist added)	Mercy can impairment boost his primary burn down and abilities, giving them an boosted 30% boost. Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to Minefield.
Moira	(To be added)	(To be added)
Zenyatta	Zenyatta should exist easy to deal with at shut range. However, at a distance, it could exist different. Orbs of Destruction, his weapon, has no damage falloff, and a total volley could deal up to 240 HP of harm. This can be further compounded with Orb of Discord, increasing the damage you lot take from anything. With Transcendence, Zenyatta can simply accuse through your mines without taking damage and heal heavily wound allies.	(To be added)

Story

Described as "witty and conniving," Hammond is capable of speech, just not in any human being linguistic communication. His mech (named "Wrecking Brawl") translates his comments into English,^[2] via a soundboard. The mech itself is equipped with a small AI.^[3] Winston is the one individual Hammond can converse with usually as they're both animals.

Horizon Lunar Colony

"	Periodical Entry 1963-4. Harold Winston. Status update on Specimen 8. By now, we're all used to our super-intelligent gorillas on the colony. Merely the hamster...we've named him Hammond...continues to be one of our biggest surprises. Fifty-fifty though he'southward grown from the genetic modification, we have more trouble keeping track of him than any of the other animals. Somehow, he managed to become out of his muzzle again. It took us days to find him. I can't help merely wonder what it is he's looking for when he gets out there. He's shown impressive problem solving skills and adaptability to new situations. And he's overcome all the challenges that have been placed in front end of him. I for one can't look to run across what problem the little guy gets up to next.	„
	~ Doctor Harold Winston

Hammond in HLC gear

In one of the many experiments carried out at Horizon Lunar Colony, animals were given genetic therapy to appraise their accommodation to extended periods of home on the moon. As an unexpected side effect, several of them exhibited exceptional growth in concrete size and brain function. While nearly of the test subjects were gorillas or other primates, in that location were some exceptions, including a hamster designated Specimen 8,^[4] merely whom the staff named "Hammond".^[3] He was independent in a large cage in his ain room.^{[5] [half dozen]}

Like the others, Hammond'due south intelligence grew.^[three] He demonstrated impressive problem solving skills and adjustability,^[6] and he became more curious virtually the world around him. Much to the puzzlement and amusement of the scientists, Hammond would frequently escape into different parts of the moon base.^[3] The staff had more trouble keeping rails of Hammond than any of the other test subjects, and in at least one instance, it was days before he was returned to his belongings expanse.^[four] Though they'd always detect him and render him to his cell, they never figured out the truthful purpose behind his nightly escapades. What they didn't know was that Hammond was busy pedagogy himself the skills of a mechanic, which would soon come up in handy.^[3]

In time, Hammond became expert friends with i of the gorillas, Specimen 28.^[4]

Hammond plans his escape

Earlier the base of operations's fall, Hammond escaped from his cage. Dr. Zhang noted his absenteeism, merely few within the base of operations gave information technology much heed. Hammond mayhap escaped into the base's ventilation system, as in the same timeframe, Flores noted foreign noises coming from the system.^[7] The colony was eventually thrown into anarchy when some of the gorillas rose up against the human scientists and took command. Not all of the animals participated, however, and Specimen 28, taking the name "Winston", was making a plan to escape to World. Hammond sensed his opportunity, prototyped a bones build plan using toys in his room, and so finalized his build onto a design with sticky notes.^[6] Ignored in the uprising,^[six] he converted an empty fuel pod into a makeshift escape sheathing with a claw arm and tether,^[8] and secretly hitched it to the bottom Winston's arts and crafts every bit the gorilla blasted off from Launch Bay 14. As the two entered Earth'due south atmosphere, the tether broke;^[vi] while Winston landed at Watchpoint: Gibraltar, Hammond landed in a unlike location: the wasteland of the Australian Outback, on the outskirts of Junkertown.^{[3] [4]}

I of the primates would eventually break downwardly the door of Hammond's room for whatever reason, just by that time the hamster was already gone.^{[six] [ix]}

The Junkers

Hammond modified his escape pod to get the cockpit of his own mech, which he built around it,^[6] to enter the lucrative mech boxing arena of the Scrapyard. Working his way up the ranks among the Junkers, the competitor known as "Wrecking Ball" went from contender to champion and had fun winning numerous times,^{[10] [11] [4]} though the pilot'due south identity remained a mystery to all. As much fun as he had, Hammond never considered himself to be a Junker. Gathering his winnings, Hammond was able to upgrade his mech enough to survive the dangerous trek out of the Junker-controlled Outback.

Hammond leaves Junkertown

At present costless to travel and do as he pleases, Hammond is exploring the globe and finding new adventures forth the manner.^[3]

Present

Years later, Lucheng Interstellar was able to call up information from Horizon'due south still-operating monitoring system. Hammond was noted to be missing from the base.^[7]

Achievements

Name	Icon	Description	Reward
Adaptation		Absorb 1500 harm with Wrecking Ball's Adaptive Shield without dying in Quick or Competitive play.	Pixel
Strike		Roll through iv enemies within 2 seconds equally Wrecking Ball in Quick or Competitive play.	Cute

Trivia

The Wrecking Ball funko pop

• Wrecking Ball is Hero 28 and the seventh new hero added to the game.
• "Wrecking Ball" is the proper noun that he chose for himself as a competitor in the Scrapyard, whereas Hammond was a name given to him by the scientists on the Lunar Horizon Colony. Every bit such, Wrecking Ball is the primary name used in-game, rather than Hammond.^[8]
• Hammond's proper name and species tin be a joke related to Superlative Gear/ The One thousand Tour's Richard Hammond, who is sometimes referred to as "the Hamster". It's also notable that both drive fast vehicles.
• The number 8 is painted on the Wrecking Ball chassis, referencing Hammond'due south official designation: Specimen 8.
• Hammond tin can't speak English or whatever other man linguistic communication equally, co-ordinate to Jeff Kaplan, that would exist "completely ridiculous."^[3] Winston tin understand Hammond "because, of course, they're animals, and all animals can communicate with one another." Hammond communicates with humans via a soundboard in his mech.
• Hammond did not create the AI in his mech. ^[12]
• Hammond has the same eyebrow shape as Torbjörn, which Ben Zhang considers to be his favorite characteristic of the design, noting their many similarities as curt statured engineers.^[viii]
• Arnold Tsang took some inspiration for Hammond's blueprint and coloration from the pet hamster he owned in college, Zug-Zug.^[eight]
• Hammond is "Pikachu-sized." In the Pokémon universe, Pikachus are 0.4 m/xl cm (one'04") high and weighs 6 kg (13.2 lbs).
• In the Attacker spawn of Dorado, if the bells are rung in the tune of the Overwatch theme song, Hammond volition sing it shortly after.^[13]
• A Wrecking Ball funko pop figurine (based on his biohazard skin) will go on auction at the October 2019 NYCC.^[14]

Evolution

"Ball Guy" concept art.

The concept for Wrecking Brawl really originated early in Overwatch's development, during the game's original character design phase, as "Ball Guy," a spherical robot Arnold Tsang created while exploring circular robot designs, which stemmed from an early unused concept of Junkrat wearing a bomb-shaped adapt. Geoff Goodman began designing this version of the hero as a "junkyard magnet bot," a robotic tank hero with a kit themed around magnetism, including abilities that allowed him to concenter and repel bullets. At effectually the same time, the concept artists were doing preliminary ideation for a "beautiful hero," which included several image designs of robots, rodents, and a robotic monkey, likewise as precursors to D.Va; this same ideation stage would eventually produce Jetpack Cat. Eventually, these two lines of ideation would converge on the idea of a hamster in a hamster ball, and Arnold Tsang illustrated the first iteration of Wrecking Ball, as a robotic hamster piloting a quadrupedal robot that could transform into a sphere.^[eight]

The first iteration of Wrecking Brawl.

The illustration was emailed out and clicked with the designers, but this new management proved to exist controversial within the Overwatch development team, with some loving the idea and others believing it would ruin the game. In 2014, Jeff Kaplan, Jeffrey Brill, and Randal Dumoret had a disagreement over the hero'south inclusion, with Dumoret falling into the latter camp. The discussion resulted in Brill scheduling a coming together in 2024 to make up one's mind whether or not Wrecking Ball had ruined the game, and that if he had, he would be removed from the game at that betoken. Though the team fully intended to eventually release the hero, they didn't feel it was the right time, and so Wrecking Ball remained shelved until some time in 2017, when he was brought back upwards and they started seriously discussing his implementation.^[8]

Revisiting the concept, they decided that a mechanical hamster couldn't be every bit cute as an bodily hamster. Using Tracer as a reference bespeak they produced a number of hamster concepts to hone in on a specific style that suited Overwatch'due south "East meets Due west" aesthetic, ultimately deciding on a blueprint that fell in betwixt Hamtaro and Zootopia.^[viii] Co-ordinate to Kaplan, they too deliberated over Hammond's size, eventually deciding that he should be "Pikachu-sized."

From there Wrecking Ball went through diverse blueprint iterations with mechanics that focused on rolling around on the basis and down slopes to proceeds momentum and blast into enemies. Eventually, the grappling claw was incorporated into his kit, which fit into his wrecking ball theme, and his final blueprint began to have shape with the Piledriver, Adaptive Shield, and Minefield abilities pulling everything together.

While designing Wrecking Ball's legendary skins, because the hero concept was already quite different from the other heroes in the game, they decided to footing his default legendary skins in the existing Overwatch story, with his Junker skin reflecting his fourth dimension as the Champion of the Scrapyard and his Lunar skin reflecting his time as an experimental test subject field on the Horizon Lunar Colony.^[8]

Prior to his release, an Overwatch tweet was released containing a video that featured several posters on a wall, one of which was a Horizon commercial displaying nigh probable a chimpanzee or a similar specimen flying in space.^[15] This led to speculation that this was teasing Hammond as a playable hero.^[xvi] With the release of the Patch 1.25, a new room was added to Horizon Lunar Colony neighboring Winston's room with the text "Specimen 8" written on the door, confirming that this was Hammond's room.

Videos

Remainder Change Logs

For more information, see Patch Notes

Grappling Claw

• Knockback force reduced 25%

Developer Comment: For how frequently information technology tin can occur, Wrecking Brawl's knockback is too potent. We're reducing the distance it moves enemy players to bring it more in line with other low cooldown knockback abilities.

Adaptive Shield

• Shield per target reduced from 100 to 75

Developer Comment: Wrecking Ball'due south high mobility and potential for massive shield health have left him a scrap also survivable after the overall damage and crowd control in the game take been tuned down. We are reducing the amount of additional shields he generates per target though the base 100 shields from the ability remains unchanged.

Grappling Claw

• Now has improved target detection to assistance connecting to walls be more than consequent.

Piledriver

• Affected players' loss of air control reduced from 1 second to 0.5 seconds.

Developer Annotate: This alter allows Wrecking Ball's enemies to regain control of their movement more rapidly to endeavour and avoid attacks, making Piledriver combos a flake less deadly.

Minefield

• Increased projectile speed from 10 to 12, causing the mines to spread out more than.
• Reduced the activation fourth dimension from 0.25 to 0.1 seconds.

Developer Annotate: Wrecking Ball has a very active playstyle, merely it ofttimes felt difficult to brand good use out of his ultimate. This change allows him to spread out his Minefield further if he wants (especially from high in the air), while still allowing for a tighter cluster if he activates it near the ground.

Minefield

• If a mine lands on a moving platform, information technology will move forth with the platform.

Adaptive Shield

• No longer cancels Scroll style.

Developer Comment: This will make Adaptive Shield a more powerful survival tool, since being forced out of Roll mode left Wrecking Ball more than susceptible to fire.

New Hero: Wrecking Ball (Tank)

References

1. ↑ 2018-06-28, Michael Chu. Twitter. Accessed on 2018-06-28
2. ↑ 2018-06-29, Overwatch's Latest Hero Is Wrecking Brawl, A Hamster In A Mech. Kotaku, accessed on 2018-06-30
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.one 3.2 three.3 iii.iv 3.5 3.half-dozen 3.7} NEW HERO FIRST Await: WRECKING BALL, Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2018-06-28
4. ↑ ^{4.0 four.1 4.2 iv.iii 4.4} 2018-06-29, Developer Update | Introducing Wrecking Ball | Overwatch. YouTube, accessed on 2018-06-29
5. ↑ Specimen eight'southward room, Horizon Lunar Colony
6. ↑ ^{vi.0 6.1 six.2 6.3 6.4 six.v 6.six} 2018-06-29, [NEW HERO – COMING Soon Wrecking Ball Origin Story | Overwatch]. YouTube, accessed on 2018-06-29
7. ↑ ^{vii.0 7.i} 2017-05-30, NEW DETAILS Emerge Well-nigh POSSIBLE FATE OF HORIZON LUNAR COLONY. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2017-06-18
8. ↑ ^{8.0 eight.1 8.two eight.three 8.4 8.five viii.6 viii.7} Wrecking Ball Live-Drawing & Art Discussion
9. ↑ Specimen 8's room, Horizon Lunar Colony
10. ↑ Junkertown posters
11. ↑ The champion revealed.
12. ↑ 2019-02-sixteen, Michael Chu. Overwatch Forums, accessed on 2019-02-16
13. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/9g801z/til_if_you_play_the_ow_theme_on_dorados_bells/
14. ↑ 2019-09-23, NYCC 2019 Exclusive: Biohazard Wrecking Ball. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2019-09-25
15. ↑ 2018-06-21, Overwatch Twitter. Twitter, accessed on 2018-06-22
16. ↑ 2018-06-21, IS OVERWATCH TEASING HERO 28?. IGN, accessed on 2018-06-22

5 · d · e Heroes in Overwatch
Tank	D.Va	Orisa	Reinhardt	Roadhog	Sigma	Winston	Wrecking Ball	Zarya
Damage	Ashe	Bastion	Cassidy	Doomfist	Repeat	Genji	Hanzo	Junkrat	Mei
	Pharah	Reaper	Soldier: 76	Sojourn	Sombra	Symmetra	Torbjörn	Tracer	Widowmaker
Support	Ana	Baptiste	Brigitte	Lúcio	Mercy	Moira	Zenyatta

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