Bizarre Overwatch bug accidentally turns Echo into a Support hero

Brad Norton
Overwatch Echo gameplay

It’s one of the more confusing Overwatch bugs to date. Echo, a popular Damage-based hero, accidentally forgot her role for a moment and turned into a Support character instead, leaving players confused.

Since day one, Overwatch heroes have neatly fit into three categories: Tank, Damage, and Support. All 32 playable characters have always fit the distinct roles.

While various characters now appear to be changing roles in Overwatch 2, we’re still a ways out from the first Beta. Thus, everyone should still be functioning the same as usual in the base game.

However, Echo randomly decided to break the rules in a recent match on Watchpoint: Gibraltar. For just a brief moment, the often devastating Damage hero decided she wanted to be a Support instead.

As their team closed in on the final checkpoint, Reddit user ‘Drunken_Queen’ needed a little top-up on their HP before diving into the next fight. Naturally, they made a polite request through the in-game command system.

“I requested for heals as Echo,” they explained.

Though a familiar “I need healing” voice line isn’t what their team heard. Instead, the roles were reversed as Echo claimed she could actually heal her allies.

“Somehow she said ‘come here and I will heal you,’” the player shared. Seemingly out of nowhere, the character broke out of her role with an original voice line.

Given Echo’s kit, it wouldn’t be out of the question to hear such a quote if she was duplicating a Support. But this head-scratching bug played out with Echo’s regular form in focus. 

overwatch-2-ping-system
We’re yet to see Echo’s latest design in Overwatch 2. Perhaps she may have some new healing abilities after all.

In light of the confusing identity crisis, fans began speculating how it all happened.

While some argued it may have been leftover dialogue from her early days as a supposed healer, others joked that it may have been a leak for her Overwatch 2 role swap.

For now, it remains a mystery how Echo momentarily became a Support. As far as we know, the hero isn’t in line for a major overhaul in the upcoming sequel.

Plenty of her allies and rivals certainly are, so be sure to brush up on all we know about Overwatch 2’s major balance shift.