Yesterday, Blizzard officially unveiled Baptiste, the 30th hero to join the cast of Overwatch. As of today, Baptiste is playable on the Overwatch PTR. Here's all of his abilities: Primary fire: Biotic Launcher Baptiste’s three-round-burst Medic SMG rewards accuracy and recoil control with significant damage output. Baptiste's primary weapon fires a three-round burst that deals 25 damage per shot. It has 45 ammo. Secondary fire: Biotic Launcher Baptiste’s Medic SMG doubles as a healing device, lobbing projectiles that heal allies near the point of impact. Right clicking with Baptiste launches a biotic grenade that heals allies in a small area near the impact. It heals approximately 65 health per shot, and has 10 ammo. This ammo is a separate counter from his primary fire, and a single reload refreshes the ammo on both counters. Ability 1: Regenerative Burst Baptiste activates an intense regenerative burst that heals himself and nearby allies over time. Regenerative burst heals 150 damage over approximately six seconds. The healing effect is applied to nearby allies, but is not an aura, so it persists if Baptiste moves away, but also isn't applied to new allies if he moves closer to them after activating it. It has a 15 second cooldown. Ability 2: Immortality Field Baptiste uses a device to create a field that prevents allies from dying. The generator can be destroyed. Immortality Field launches an object that projects an aura around it with a radius of approximately eight meters. The field prevents the health of any allies within it from dropping below 40. (It raises their health to 40 if it is below that when they enter the field.) The projector lasts eight seconds before expiring, and can be destroyed. The ability has a 20 second cooldown. Ultimate: Amplification Matrix Baptiste creates a matrix that doubles the damage and healing effects of friendly projectiles that pass through it. Amplification Matrix is roughly the same size as Mei's Ice Wall, and is placed in the same manner. It lasts approximately eight seconds. Passive: Exo Boots By first crouching, Baptiste can jump higher. When Baptiste crouches, he charges a jump meter that allows him to jump higher. If he doesn't jump immediately, the meter stays charged for approximately two seconds before expiring. There is no cooldown.<doc-sep>The latest hero to join Blizzard’s “Overwatch” is a combat medic with an intriguing past and such a diverse arsenal of weapons and abilities that internally he was referred to as gadget, Blizzard said in a recent interview. Baptiste goes live on the public test region servers Tuesday. “His inspiration was that we wanted to make a medic character that is scrounging on the battlefield,” said Overwatch” senior designer of story and lore Michael Chu. “I’ve got this roll of bandages and I’ve got this device that I don’t know what to do with. I’ll try and figure it out.’ So we wanted to make this character that has an array of different gadgets and devices to help with healing and in different situations. When you’re playing this character you get a little bit of that idea.” Baptiste is meant to play like a gadget-laden support character who is as capable of taking out as enemies as he is of saving teammates. His main weapon is a “pretty accurate” biotic launcher that fires in three-round bursts. The secondary fire for the weapon lobs grenades that heal allies near point of impact, but does no damage. It has its own ammo count so it won’t pull ammo from the primary fire. Baptiste also has a regenerative burst, which heals himself and nearby allies over time, and wears exo boots which allow him to jump higher if he crouches before jumping. He also has the ability to drop a device that creates an immortality field. As long as the device is active, anyone within its sphere of protection can’t drop below 20 percent health, even healing those below that 20 percent when it’s activated. The effect lasts until someone destroys the device. Chu said this is one of the most powerful heal abilities in the game, second only to Mercy’s resurrection. The most interesting tool in Baptiste’s arsenal, though, is his ultimate, an amplification matrix that doubles the damage and healing effects of any projectiles that pass through it, including other ultimates. So something like Firestrike becomes a one-shot kill if it passes through the frame of the matrix. While the matrix doesn’t block enemy shots, the developers found that few people wanted to trade shots with enemies firing back at double the damage through the matrix. During a call with press earlier this month, Chu also discussed some of the inspiration for Baptiste and his backstory. Baptiste’s real name is Jean-Baptiste Augustin. The Haitian was one of the 30 million children orphaned by the Omnic Crisis. He enlisted in the Caribbean Coalition, a pan-island force formed in response to the Crisis, at a young age. Baptiste decided to become a combat medic in order to help people. After completing his service with the Coalition, Baptiste joined the Talon mercenary group and started putting money aside to set up a clinic in his hometown. But as Talon became increasingly brutal and started taking on assassinations, Baptiste left the group. Because he had been with the organization for so long, Talon decided they couldn’t let him live after his departure. Baptiste, now 35, works to make-up for his violent past. “What excited us about this character is that we’ve done a lot of characters that went from good to maybe shad,” said Chu. “We wanted to make a character that came from the slightly villainous side and turns out on the good side at the end.” Baptiste’s backstory seems designed around the notion that sometimes a person’s situation forces them into making decisions they later regret. “He is sort of like growing up in this world that was scarred by the Omnic Crisis and had this sort of glut of armed soldiers and people who are looking for employment,” Chu said. “A lot of his fellow comrades in arms we’re sort of absorbed into these different mercenary company and private military corporations, one of which is Talon.” When Baptiste joins, Chu explains, Talon has a front that it is like every other mercenary group and it offers a chance for him to do what he’s always done. But over time, the group slowly grows sinister, essentially boiling the frog. “Eventually he was like, ‘Whoa, how did I end up in this situation,” Chu said. “Innately he has good intentions.” Chu added that while Baptiste was an important Talon soldier, an officer even, he didn’t have a leadership role like Doomfist or others in “Overwatch.” Longtime fans of “Overwatch” may wonder if Baptiste’s design, both his look and abilities, are in any way connected to the original concept art for another healer in the game: Mercy. The original concept art for Mercy showed that she was a character that in some ways looked a bit like Baptiste. Chu said he’s aware of the similarities, but that if there is any connection it wasn’t driven by an overt decision to recreate that original concept art as a new character. “There was never a point where we were like, ‘We should take that art and make it into a hero,'” Chu said. “But there’s definitely a similarity there.”<doc-sep>Blizzard has formally unveiled Overwatch's 30th hero, the previously teased Haitian combat medic, Jean-Baptiste Augustine, AKA Baptiste (aged 32). Baptiste first shoved a toe into the limelight last week, when Blizzard teased the new character by way of a missive from terrorist organisation Talon. Baptiste's origin story trailer then revealed he became an orphan during the war known as the Omnic Crisis, and fell in with military group the Caribbean Coalition. Eventually, his skills on the battlefield caught the attention of Talon, an organisation Baptiste would go on to desert - all of which brings us more or less to the present, ready for his Overwatch debut. Despite what his soldier origin story might suggest, in-game Baptiste has all the characteristics of a support-healing hero - albeit one with a more aggressive edge. His primary mode of fire comes via a three-round burst gun known as the Medic SMG, which remains relatively accurate during firefights, despite its recoil. The Medic SMG also features hitscan (which is to say, its bullets have no travel time), making Baptiste the first hitscan support healer in Overwatch. As for secondary fire, Baptiste wields Biotic Grenades. On detonation, the resulting blast does no damage, but will instead heal allies within its area of effect. Blizzard notes that, unlike some other heroes, Baptiste has separate ammo counts across both modes of fire. Baptiste is also equipped with Exo Boots - essentially a small exoskeleton on the lower half of his body. In practical terms, Exo Boots function as a passive ability, and players can hold crouch for a second or so in order to to build up a meter to achieve a huge vertical boost. According to Blizzard, however, this is intended to be used more for map traversal than escape. Regenerative Burst in action. In terms of active abilities, Baptiste can deploy a Regenerative Burst. Once triggered, this causes all allies within the area of effect to heal over time. Crucially, and differentiating the ability from those of other heroes, allies will continue to heal even if they move out of that initial area of effect. Regenerative Burst heals Baptiste too, unlike his Biotic Grenades. Baptiste's Immortality Field, meanwhile, is a throwable device that prevents allies within a certain radius from dropping below 20 per cent health. Its weakness, however, is that the device itself can be destroyed. According to Blizzard, the Immortality Field is extremely powerful in firefights (and particularly effective against Mercy's Ultimate), and has the added benefit that it naturally funnels allies into prime position for Baptiste's healing grenades. Baptiste's Amplification Matrix Ultimate. Rounding out Baptiste's abilities is his own Ultimate, known as the Amplification Matrix. This activates a shield device on his shoulder, which also projects a small window directly ahead. Any projectiles that Baptiste or his allies fire through the window will do double damage and healing - meaning that Reinhardt's Fire Strike will, for instance, become a one-shot kill. Enemies can return fire through the window but, importantly, don't get the damage or healing boost. Summarising Baptiste's tool kit, Blizzard says he's less about direct meta counter, and more about offering "a bunch of cool new abilities, and new ways to play support". Despite Baptiste's arrival taking the Overwatch roster into the big three-oh, Blizzard shows no signs of slowing, and is already hard at work on the game's next batch of heroes. One area of criticism many are hoping Blizzard will address is the lack of black female representation in Overwatch's otherwise inclusive line-up. It's an omission that's been conspicuous for some time, but which came to a head with the arrival of Hero 29, Ashe - particularly when early concept art revealed that the character had, at one point, been envisaged with darker skin. While Blizzard didn't offer specific assurances when I asked if it planned to address the issue, the developer did attempt to shed some light on its hero design process, explaining to me that while the game is "built on this idea of optimism, and inclusion, and diversity", its characters are borne of an "organic" evolution process during development. "When we approach hero creation, we have a lot of ideas that are being tested and experimented on at certain points," a spokesperson explained, "and [because] they sort of can't just be like a grey box that shoots something, we start to narrow in on the personality early on in the process". As a result of that, "we felt that at the moment, Baptiste was the right character to make, and so he's the one who comes out right now". Blizzard did note, however, that player "feedback and the criticism is definitely heard, and we have characters in the universe who we are really excited about getting into". For now, though, Baptiste is the star of the show, and Overwatch players will be given the chance to put him through his paces very soon. The new combat medic will be made available on Blizzard's public test servers today.<doc-sep>
Baptiste is Overwatch’s new hero, and he’s a support character capable of dishing out a decent amount of damage himself. Not only does he help his allies stay alive, but his ultimate amplifies their damage, and one of his gadgets can keep them alive through enemy damage. His kit is one of the most daring ones that Blizzard has added to Overwatch to date. He’s only available on the PC version’s public test servers, so we may see changes as players get to try him out. Baptiste’s primary fire is Medic SMG. It’s a three-round-burst hitscan weapon that deals significant damage. His alternate fire is Biotic Launcher. Biotic Launcher does not share ammo with Medic SMG. It shoots projectiles, similar to Zarya’s alt-fire, that heal allies near the point of impact. Biotic Launcher does not heal Baptiste. His passive ability is Exo Boots. Baptiste can crouch to charge a boost, which propels him in the air. This is not primarily an engage, nor is it an escape; it is mostly used for Baptiste to set up attacks and re-position himself. Regenerative Burst is Baptiste’s bread and butter as a healer. He activates a heal-over-time effect for both himself and nearby allies. This isn’t an aura; other allies can leave Baptiste’s side and continue to heal off Regenerative Burst. Immortality Field, Baptiste’s second ability, may be the most powerful non-ultimate ability in the game. Baptiste uses a device to create a field that prevents allies from dying. They cannot go below 20 percent health. The generator, much like Orisa’s supercharger, can be destroyed. According to Blizzard, it lasts for about eight seconds at present, although that is subject to change. This ability is a powerful counter to abilities like Junkrat’s RIP Tire or D.Va’s Self Destruct, as it prevents the team from being one-shot killed. Finally, Baptiste’s ultimate is Amplification Matrix. Baptiste creates a matrix that doubles the damage and healing effects of all friendly projectiles that pass through it. That includes everything from Ana’s healing grenades to Reinhardt’s Fire Strike. Cosmetic items like skins and sprays, and voiced interactions with other characters, usually come after the character’s initial testing. However, we do know that Baptiste is voiced by Benz Antoine, and he has non-English voice lines included for certain call outs. Baptiste is obviously powerful when combined with ranged characters. This is especially true with Ana; Baptiste patches over her weaknesses by being able to heal her, and increases her strengths with an AOE heal and projectile-buffing ultimate. Baptiste looks like he may struggle to fit into the current GOATS heavy meta. Unlike Brigitte, the last support released, he wasn’t designed to counter or help any particular composition; instead, the developers are excited to see how he fits into the game.