Ashe and Bob mosey on down to the Overwatch PTR today
Red Dead Robot Revolution
Overwatch's latest hero - Bandit boss Ashe - is now playable on the Public Test Region. While similar in look to current cowboy McCree, Ashe looks to play a very different sort of mid-range game, and has one of the most interesting ultimate abilities in Overwatch; she can summon her right-hand robot Bob onto the field. He provides cover, charges at targets Reinhardt-style, or just acts as an extra teammate for capturing or contesting objectives. Being a gang leader means that you can let your underlings do the heavy lifting for you. Below, her official introduction video.
Ashe's main weapon is a lever-action rifle that can be fired semi-auto from the hip, or slower while aiming down the sights. Somehow, aimed shots also do more damage, which isn't quite how guns work but whatever - it's also the cartoon space-future where gorilla scientists are pals with cockney time travellers. Her first ability is the Coach Gun - a big dumb shotgun which knocks targets back with huge recoil, letting you pseudo-rocket-jump with it. Basically the Scout's Force-A-Nature from Team Fortress 2, which is the best dumb shotgun this side of Doom 2. I approve.
Her secondary ability is throwing dynamite. It's a powerful grenade type attack which causes a little damage over time as well (I guess dynamite is more fiery than explodey in the future), and can be detonated early by shooting it. Ideally when it's in mid air for maximum style. Her ultimate is summoning Bob. Or B.O.B, officially. Blizzard have hinted that it stands for 'Big Omnic Butler', but one particularly thirsty commenter on the character profile page says that it should mean "Battery Operated Boytoy". Yikes.
Bob is a big ol' slab of beefy mustachioed metal. While not the fastest or smartest, he has a far more tangible presence than most ultimate abilities. He can charge where directed, knocking targets around and only stopping when some map geometry forces him to. Once stopped, he'll start plugging away at targets with his arm-cannons. Probably Bob's most interesting trait is that he counts as a teammate for all objective purposes, so you can have him stand on an objective point while you cover him with your rifle. Maybe not as creative as Wrecking Ball, but still a fun twist.
If you're hankerin' to join Ashe's Deadlock gang, just fire up Battle.net, flip over to your Overwatch page and pick the Public Test Region from the Region/Account drop-down menu. Happy trails. And if you want a little more info on her before saddling up, check our her rap sheet on the official page here.