Season 4 ofOverwatch 2will be introducing a new support hero, Lifeweaver, who has one of the most unique designs in the game, both in terms of gameplay and visuals. Lifeweaver is the second support hero released inOverwatch 2following Kiriko, and he isOverwatch’s 37th hero to release. Lifeweaver’s kit is unlike most of the other characters in the game, and his abilities have the potential to be game changers in the new update.
Lifeweaver has a total of six abilities to help support his team in battle. His primary fire is split into two modes: Healing Blossom and Thorn Volley. Healing Blossom is his main form of healing, as he charges a flower to launch at friends to heal them. His other abilities, Petal Platform and Rejuvenating Dash, add some mobility to his kit, as Petal Platform can lift allies or enemies into the air while Rejuvenating Dash lets Lifeweaver move out of danger or into a fight.Lifeweaver’s ultimate ability, Tree of Life, spawns a beacon of healing in the middle of battle to heal himself and his teammates. Although his kit seems useful, Lifeweaver has one ability that seems to be a hot-topic amongOverwatchplayers: Life Grip.
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A Breakdown of Lifeweaver’s Life Grip Ability
Lifeweaver’s Life Grip ability is the antithesis ofRoadhog’s Chain Hookability. Roadhog uses his hook to pull in enemies closer to him for an elimination while Lifeweaver utilizes Life Grip to shield allies and to pull them to his position. On paper, this ability should be used to get teammates out of sticky situations, but there are more creative ways to use Life Grip, such as Lifeweaver pulling allies into the middle of a fight. For instance, Lifeweaver could dive in between the enemies using Rejuvenating Dash and then pull in a friendly Reaper using Death Blossom or an ally Ramattra using Annihilation for an unexpected team wipe.
Although Life Grip seems useful, there’s a glaring issue with the ability that’s concerning players. Lifeweaver is in total control using the ability, meaning the teammate getting pulled by Life Grip has no choice whether they are pulled or not. Lifeweaver can pull teammates into inconvenient positions or off the map, and allies can’t do anything about it. Lifeweaver could also pull allies away from the fight, preventing teammates from eliminating enemies. For example, aGenji could use Dragonbladeand dash in the enemy backline, but a Lifeweaver could pull Genji out of the fight, wasting Genji’s ultimate. Knowing there are toxicOverwatch 2players, Lifeweaver’s Life Grip ability could be used in the wrong way.
How Can Overwatch 2 Fix Life Grip
One wayOverwatch 2can solve this problem would be to add a trust/confirmation setting for allies before getting pulled by Lifeweaver. Between games, players could flip a switch choosing to trust allies to grab them with Lifeweaver’s ability. After all, there are several other heroes in the game that have special confirmation options in their kit and gameplay. Ana has the option to confirm her Nanoboost to verify she’s Nanoboosting the correct teammate. There’s also a confirmation option forEcho’s ultimate, Duplicate, to copy the correct enemy.
The trust/confirmation option should be added for other heroes in the game as well, giving allies more leeway when it comes to ally abilities that they can’t control.Mercy’s Resurrectand Ana’s Nanoboost should have the option as well, so teammates can decline getting revived by Mercy in a bad position and allies could deny being Nanoboosted by accident. Hopefully Blizzard will add a trust feature in an early Season 4 update.
Overwatch 2is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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