Overwatch update turns Echo into high-flying healer in Workshop creation

Echo threw competitive Overwatch for a loop upon release with her copycat DPS abilities, but what if she had been released in a different role instead? A new Workshop creation envisions the hero as a powerful Support, and it’s pretty nuts.

When Echo was added into Blizzard’s popular hero shooter in April, her kit stood out as one of the most original to date. From high mobility to extreme bursts of damage and a character-copying Ultimate, she could seemingly do it all. For a few weeks Echo pushed the meta in a new direction as a devastating Damage-based hero.

While it can be fun to imagine how certain heroes would work under a different role, the latest Workshop update can make it real. Thanks to a handful of new tools, abilities can be adjusted like never before. We’ve already seen Moira and Orisa expand their arsenal and now Echo has been targeted for all-new changes.

If you’ve ever wanted to see the high-flying damage dealer as a Support hero instead, well now you can. Here’s how the Omnic character looks as a healer.

The rework from Reddit user ‘jaydenye_jr’ first looks at Echo’s primary and secondary fire. Instead of being used to burst down enemies, she now deals far less damage in the Support role. Balancing this falloff is her new potential to boop enemies and heal allies. The closer Echo gets to an enemy, the further she’s able to knock them back with her primary fire.

Instead of launching an explosive projectile with her secondary, the character now launches a healing projectile. This bundle of healing can stick to any surface and heals any teammate that comes in contact with it. It can also be used as a way for Echo to self-heal as well.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the secondary fire is that it can negate crowd-control abilities. If your allies are stuck in Mei’s Blizzard for instance, a simple right-click will free them in an instant.

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Replacing her Focusing Beam is a brand-new way to make teammates invincible. Similar to Baptiste’s Immortality Field, Echo can gift the power of invulnerability for a short period. The key differences here are that it can only be applied to a single hero, and the effect lasts for just two seconds.

Echo’s Flight ability will heal nearby teammates and her Duplicating Ultimate will be much shorter, copying just one Ultimate from an enemy. These changes would certainly decrease her overall kill potential, but just how effective a healer would she be?

The creator has thankfully made the concept available for everyone. Meaning you can run a custom game with this version of Echo just to see how things might unfold. Be sure to use the following Workshop code to gain all of her new and tweaked abilities: G8ZQR.