On Nov. 3, Blizzard announced Mauga, a new tank hero coming to Overwatch 2. Amid the excitement, fans jokingly noted that Mauga has been in the game since the original Overwatch.
In a Reddit post on Nov. 5, players rewatched a five-year-old video of Korean hackers using the Talon Heavy Assault trooper in a competitive match, commenting: “Why is everyone saying Mauga’s new? He’s been in the game since Overwatch 1.”
Talon Heavy Assault trooper was an AI bot from the Retribution event back in 2018 that had PvE missions similar to what we have now in the Invasion. The unit had an immense amount of health, and somehow, a player managed to bring it over to a competitive match, tanking and shredding everything in their way.
The hack didn’t stop there. In multiple videos you can see players spawn as a regular Talon Trooper, Talon Assassin, Null Sector’s Detonator, and even Junkrat’s RIP-Tire. Those games were a complete mayhem, and that’s what players loved about them.
“I remember that it was so funny,” one fan wrote, reminiscing about these moments because they were fun despite the increased risk of losing a competitive game they posed. Another player wrote: “Yeah… back then it was funny. I’m not even mad if I got steamrolled by an NPC Talon.”
Since that hack, many fans have been eager to play as the Talon Heavy Assault once more, which is where Mauga comes in. From Mauga’s sheer size to double-wielding Gatling guns, his resemblance to the Heavy Assault is obvious, and even in his backstory, Mauga is a former Talon member.
Mauga’s inclusion in Overwatch 2 has been a long time coming, to the point that Blizzard itself joked about how long it’s taken to add him to the game. But now that Mauga’s here, players can finally play as a canonic Talon Heavy Assault in Overwatch 2.
Mauga was available to play during the weekend from Nov. 4 to Nov. 5 and will be officially introduced to the game in season 8 on Dec. 5.
