Blizzard introduced the latest tank hero coming to Overwatch 2 during the opening ceremony of BlizzCon on Friday, Nov. 3, and Mauga has already turned heads with abilities that make for an aggressive playstyle.
With a pair of chainguns, the tank has a hefty health pool, and his ability kit makes it seem like he’ll be comparable to the game’s other berserking tank hero, Junker Queen. Having no shield to his name, Mauga requires a little bit more aim and tact than what you might expect from the tank role.
Here is everything you need to know about Mauga’s kit and abilities.
What are Mauga’s abilities in Overwatch 2?
Incendiary and Volatile Chainguns
In his trailer, Mauga says his guns are named “Gunny” and “Cha-Cha.” His left-click, Gunny, is a machine gun that ignites enemies, and his right-click, Cha-Cha, deals critical damage to heroes that have a burning debuff on them.
You can fire each of these weapons individually or fire both at the same time. But if you fire both at the same time, Mauga’s weapon spread widens a bit and he is slowed as well. I suggest only using both weapons at the same time if you’re right up on an enemy and can afford to move a little bit slower.
Though firing both guns at the same time has its downsides, it will absolutely decimate any enemy who’s 10 yards or closer. In the training room, I was taking bots out in less than a second at close range.
Overrun
The tooltip for Mauga’s Overrun ability says it’s unstoppable, and developers today confirmed that it is indeed as unstoppable as it looked in the hero’s reveal trailer. During a group interview following the opening ceremony, devs told Dot Esports that Mauga’s Overrun cannot be stopped by crowd control abilities.
Additionally, the ability ends with a war stomp that knocks up enemies in the surrounding area and stuns them as well. The ability is on a six-second cooldown, and it can be canceled at any time. Players can also choose to prematurely stomp with a left-click during his dash. If you don’t click anything and ride the ability out, Mauga will finish the charge off with a stomp when it comes to a natural conclusion after a couple of seconds.
Cardiac Overdrive
This 10-second cooldown is effectively how Mauga is supposed to make up for not having a shield. While active, you’ll see a large ring around you and allies within range of you will glow. This signifies that these allies are taking reduced damage. They will gain lifesteal during that time as well, effectively gaining life when they deal damage. This also applies to Mauga himself.
You’ll be able to tell if you’re actually helping your teammates out by checking out the center of your screen while Cardiac Overdrive is active, too. A bar near your crosshair will show you how much longer until the ability ends and also share the number of teammates within range of your Cardiac Overdrive.
Passive: Berserker
Mauga has a massive 600 health points to match his equally massive body. But without a shield, the passive Berserker ability helps prevent him from getting shredded. Whenever he deals critical damage, which should be frequently thanks to Cha-Cha, he’ll gain some temporary health. As of right now, that temporary health caps out at 50, giving him a total of 650 potential health without assistance from other hero abilities.
Ultimate: Cage Fight
This might not end up being the most powerful ultimate ability, but it’s certainly flavorful and has all the crowd control you want from a tank ability. Cage Fight creates a barrier that enemies can’t escape while the ultimate ability is active. You’ll be able to tell their stuck in the cage because they will literally be chained within the barrier.
While inside the barrier, Mauga gains unlimited ammo, but if you’d rather not be stuck in the Cage Fight, devs told us during a BlizzCon group interview that Lifeweaver’s Life Grip can indeed get Mauga out of the barrier, leaving your enemies running around like rats in a cage.
Mauga is set to officially join Overwatch 2 on Dec. 5 with the start of season eight.
