Blizzard has announced the newest member of it’s Overwatch cast of characters. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Brigitte Lindholm
Brigitte Lindholm is the daughter of renowned swedish engineer and Overwatch Co-Founder Torbjörn Lindholm. She is also god daughter and squire/protégé to the mighty German Crusader Reinhardt. Surrounded by brave heroes her entire life, she quickly learned what it meant to be brave, valiant and heroic.
being a soldier was never part of Brigitte’s focus. She wanted to be an engineer like her father; create the armor and weapons that heroes use on the battlefield. She wanted to create the tools heroes used to protect themselves.
She learned all she could about advanced weapons and armor before ReinHardt took her under his wing as his Squire. Under his guidance she learned about combat, valor and what it meant to be a hero. She also learned about the wounds she couldn’t prevent. When armor just isn’t enough. She became accustomed to helping patch up both Wilhelms armor and his wounds.
She was inspired by Reinhardt and his pride in throwing himself into fire to protect his allies. Eventually she realized, she could not sit on the side lines, yet still protect those she cared about. She would have to take up arms and fight along side them if she really wanted to protect them. Brigitte quickly set about creating her own armor, her own tools to protect her friends and family.
Brigitte carries a flail which can launch out pushing enemies away from her while dealing damage. She also has a small barrier shield inspired by Reinhardt’s barrier that she can use to shield herself. She can use her shield as a weapon in tight spots, with her shield bash ability allows her to charge forward like her knightly godfather. She also carries a supply of repair packs that not only heal her allies, but can provide armor boosts if they are full health.
Brigitte’s ultimate ability, Rally, gives Brigitte a speed boost and provides any ally nearby with a boost to their armor as she leads a valiant charge at her enemies. This would be extremely useful for team assaults on a specific point, using the ultimate right before the entire buffed team charges in to secure a point.
Brigitte falls under the support category with the like of Lucio, and Mercy. She is also a tank type play style seemingly very similar to Reinhardt. She will be great for both attack and defense games which is often not the case with many heroes tending to favor one type or the other. Brigitte’s focus does not seem to be healing but rather help hold a solid line and keep enemies back from the main group of players. Her whip shot which pushes enemies back could be used to help hold one solid defensive point. It could also be used to push enemies off the map like Lucio’s sound wave gun.
Overall Brigitte seems to be a good blend between tank and healer that Overwatch needed quite badly. Normally healer type heroes have low health and no reliable way to defend themselves. Brigitte’s seems to break the meta. Jeff Kaplan did mention when asked about hero 27 said “The hero will be meta breaking” Many people assumed he meant that they will attempt to break the dive meta which has swept Overwatch. It would seem that he instead meant that there will be a reliable healer who isn’t entirely helpless and is capable of holding their own in combat like Moira.
Brigitte will be available on Overwatch PTR (Public Test Region) later today for PC players as they begin to tweak and test her before a future final release.
Via Blizzard
