Blizzard Officially Reveals Overwatch's Newest Hero, D.Mon, with First Gameplay

Blizzard reveals season 4's new hero

The next hero coming to Overwatch is D.Mon, the second playable member of Korea’s MEKA Squad. Like her teammate and Overwatch ally D.Va, she’s a former esports champion and a mech pilot.

But D.Mon was intentionally created to be distinct from her bestie D.Va — she’s designed to fulfill the classic “sword and board” fantasy archetype, and draws inspiration from the Armored Core games and Gundam anime, Blizzard said in an interview earlier this week.

While D.Mon (Yuna Lee) and D.Va (Hana Song) will no doubt draw comparisons as mech-based tanks, it’s clear that Blizzard wants the two heroes to be distinct in their personality and play style. If D.Va is the more aggressive, front-facing star of the MEKA Squad, D.Mon is the one exhibiting team leadership and willingness to step into a support or tank position.

D.Mon’s gameplay kit

D.Mon’s kit feels more inspired by another tank on the Overwatch roster: Reinhardt. In mech form, D.Mon’s primary attack is a Plasma Sword that she can swing left and right to slash at enemies. Her offhand attack gives her range, thanks to a shoulder-mounted Fusion Repeater that fires in short, accurate bursts. D.Mon can also pull up a shield, though it appears to primarily serve to protect her, due to its narrower width. D.Mon also has a horizontal dash that’s governed by a fuel meter, letting her glide around the battlefield like an Armored Core mech.

Rounding out her kit is Surging Strike, which requires holding up D.Mon’s shield and then using her primary fire to dash-attack and knock back foes. Her ultimate, Limit Break, lets D.Mon charge up her sword to strike multiple enemies, applying a debuff similar to Zenyatta’s Discord ability. D.Mon also gains overhealth after activating Limit Break.

Like D.Va, D.Mon will eject from her mech — known as “Beast” — when it's irreparably damaged. D.Mon can fight in pilot form, snatching the Fusion Repeater off of her mech and lugging it around like a minigun. After a brief cooldown period, D.Mon can recall her mech, though how it returns to her is quite different from how D.Va’s “Toki” slams down from above. Beast instead reforms around D.Mon, dramatically piecing itself back together and knocking back any foes nearby.

D.Mon’s design

Overwatch hero producer Kenny Hudson says that Blizzard designed D.Mon to expand the game’s melee tank offerings.

“Reinhardt has been an insanely fun character for 10 years,” Hudson said, “and we wanted to do another kind of take on that and give those players who like to play up close and personal with their tanks more [heroes] to choose from.

“D.Mon’s going to have the same counters as Rein or Doomfist, or those other kind of melee tanks, where verticality is going to be the counter. But you're going to have really good horizontal movement and the ability to flank a little, still be in front, but take up more physical space and maybe set the rules of engagement a bit more with D.Mon. We really wanted to explore, you know, what happens when you give a melee tank a little bit more mobility…”

D.Mon’s arrival in the story of Overwatch comes as the narrative moves to Busan, which is under attack from the Junkers — Junker Queen, Wrecking Ball, Junkrat, and Roadhog — under the orders of Talon leader Vendetta. That will move the story of the MEKA Squad and D.Va and D.Mon’s relationship forward.

“Since D.Va left, [the MEKA Squad] have been trying to navigate changes within their structure: Who’s leading? How are they going to fight the Gwishin? Things like that,” said narrative designer Eleni Rivera. “So we get a chance to see D.Mon take leadership [of] the MEKA Squad.”

D.Mon’s personality

With the addition of D.Mon, we’re bound to get a lot more insight into D.Va’s personality and the state of their friendship, and the larger MEKA Squad.

Rivera said it was a welcome challenge for the team to adapt an existing character — D.Mon’s been seen in previous narrative material, like Overwatch comics — for the roster.

“The challenge was not necessarily creating a new character, but How do we expand on her, really make her dynamic and not just one-note? And then also differentiate her from D.Va. In terms of [demeanor],” Rivera said, adding that D.Mon “carries herself with composure — she’s like this untouchable, cool ice queen. She's also a big fan of Gundam. She likes to sit in her room and build and tinker away. She's got that competitiveness about her, because she is a gamer.”

“I like to joke around that if you have a streamer who has their camera on, she'd be the streamer with, like, the camera on her hands — only showing her gameplay style, and that's it. She's not going to have herself on screen. She enjoys a bit of taunting, provoking, to really get her team to move and to get the enemies a little scared.”

D.Mon is coming to Overwatch with season 4, which launches on Aug. 11. She’ll be the game’s 53rd hero and its 15th tank.