[GameSpot] - Overwatch 2 - Illari Hero Guide

[343iBot]

Illari has joined the Overwatch 2 roster as the game's 10th support hero, debuting as part of the massive Invasion update. Illari brings some unique mechanics to the game as part of her kit, including an auto-healing turret and an ultimate ability that marks enemies for extra explosive damage. Her precision weapon will appeal to support players who want to feel like contributors on the damage side, making for a well-rounded support hero.

You can see how all heroes, including this one, stack up in our Overwatch 2 tank tier list, DPS tier list, and support tier list. Where did your favorite land?

Illari overview

Illari's main weapon is her Solar Rifle, which features a long-range beam shot that auto charges. Similar to Widow's sniper rifle, Illari's weapon does more damage if you let it charge to full power. The Solar Rifle's secondary weapon is a short range healing beam that has a limited meter. Illari's first ability is her Healing Pylon, which you can throw out and stick to any surface. The healing Pylon will automatically heal any nearby teammates that are missing health.

Illari's second ability is Outburst, a movement ability that propels her in whatever direction she is moving. Holding the ability button or jump while using Outburst propels you further. It also knocks back nearby enemies. Her ultimate ability is Captive Sun, which fires an explosive ball that marks enemies. Marked enemies are slowed and will explode if they take enough damage before the mark wears off.

Illari abilities

Solar Rifle: Auto-charging long-range rifle. Secondary fire is focused, short-range healing beam.

Healing Pylon: Deploy a pylon that heals teammates automatically.

Outburst: Launches you in the direction you are moving, knocking back enemies. Hold jump to go higher.

Captive Sun: Fire an explosive ball of solar energy. Enemies hit are slowed and explode after taking significant damage.

Support passive: Automatically self-heal after not taking damage for a brief period of time.

A focused healer

Illari is bucking a recent trend for Overwatch 2 support heroes, in that she doesn't feature too many support-focused abilities outside of just healing. Some of the more recent supports provide a secondary type of support (Ana's grenade, Kiriko's Suzu, Lifeweaver's grip) but Illari is focused on just healing. Illari does have the advantage of being able to provide two sources of healing at the same time.

The first comes from the Healing Pylon, a stationary turret that provides healing to nearby teammates. This turret has a decent range and you can throw out a new one pretty frequently. The healing beam provides a lower amount of healing, but it isn't insignificant. The second way is the secondary fire of the Solar Rifle, which provides a focused beam of healing. This beam has a very high healing per second rate, bringing critical tanks back to full health in just a few seconds. The downside is that the beam is fairly limited and has a reasonably long wait to refill its meter. You will likely only be able to heal one or two teammates tops before needing to wait.

Skillshots for days

Illari provides additional support for her team in the simplest way: dealing damage. Aside from her ultimate ability, Illari deals damage in one specific way. The Solar Rifle is an auto-charging long-range rifle. This means that the rifle deals more damage when it is fully charged. After each shot, it will automatically recharge, only taking a moment to do so. As for the amount of damage it does, it's pretty middling for body shots, taking several shots to take down a 200-health hero. However, the headshots deal a decent amount of damage, making her an offensive force to deal with if you have good aim.

Captive Sun

Illari's ultimate ability, Captive Sun, is fairly unique. Illari fires a large explosive shot that marks enemies. Marked enemies are slowed and, more importantly, will explode if they take enough damage. This means that by itself, Captive Sun isn't very effective but, combined with the abilities or ultimates of your teammates, it could very easily lead to a team kill. Combining it with something like Orisa's or Soldier's ultimate abilities could result in the entire enemy team exploding. In order for this to be effective, you will need the enemy team to be grouped up together and your teammates will need to be ready to capitalize on your Captive Sun.

Other Illari tips

• Illari's heal beam takes longer to recharge if you fully deplete it, so try stopping just before the meter runs out.
• Outburst can help you reach the high ground, but its large knockback is pretty easy to spot, so be careful of exposing your position.
• You can redeploy the Healing Pylon at any time once the cooldown ends, so make sure to redeploy it whenever necessary.
• While it will take a decent amount of skill to solo kill enemies as Illari, your long-range weapon is great for finishing off escaping enemies with low health.

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