Jeff Kaplan confirms multiple Overwatch support & tanks in development

Overwatch players have been mainly rallying around the reveal game’s newest hero, Echo, but for those who are disappointed that the new addition isn’t actually a support or tank, Jeff Kaplan has some words of reassurance. 

The vice president of Blizzard Entertainment treated fans with a first-look reveal after jumping on a Twitch stream with Tim ‘TimTheTatman’ Betar on March 19, which provided players with all of the interesting details – including abilities, her role, ultimate and more.

There’s absolutely no doubt that the hype train is very much up and running for the next addition, although some fans might have been disappointed to see that their wait for another support or tank hero will stretch even further.

Those people were handed a huge boost, however, during the stream as Kaplan casually revealed that a number of fresh heroes for both the support and tank categories are in the pipeline, claiming that they will be needed soon.

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He said: “I know a lot of people are going to be like ‘Oh my gosh, she should have been a support’. We have multiple tanks and supports in development, so we know that more tanks and supports are needed and we want to deliver on those too.”

For those who don’t know already, Echo is a damage hero but given the fact that she has a rapidly adapting artificial intelligence function and her Duplication Ultimate, the character can play multiple roles when in combat. The last damage hero to be revealed, prior to Echo, was Ashe at BlizzCon 2018.

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Players looking to try out the Echo experience in Overwatch can do on PC platform, as Blizzard rolled out a PTR patch on March 19 that added not just the new hero but also a long-awaited upgrade to Training Range as well. If you’re interested, the full patch notes can be found here.

While a few new Overwatch heroes have now been confirmed to be in development, those who have played the game for some time will know that it takes time for characters to officially roll out, with Hero 31 (Sigma) arriving in July 2019 and Hero 32 (Echo) arriving in March this year.

Unfortunately for those wanting tank and support heroes to be here soon, the wait goes on, but at least we know they’re coming.