Overwatch 2’s newest hero Illari hails from Peru and wields the power of the sun to both deal damage and heal with her Solar Rifle. Unlike Lifeweaver, who was released with a kit that emphasized utility instead of throughput, this young new llama-loving hero is a return to normalcy.
Being able to both damage and heal with her gun, Illari has versatility, but each of her abilities requires charging time for maximum effectiveness. Meanwhile, her primary abilities add supplemental healing and mobility, and her ultimate “Captive Sun” will have enemies running with terror to avoid being marked for death.
Here are all of Illari’s abilities and how to best use them.
What are Illari’s abilities in Overwatch 2?
Solar Rifle (Primary)
Illari’s primary fire is a long-range rifle that automatically charges between firing attempts. You’ll be able to see the amount of charge her rifle has by looking around your crosshair. Solar Rifle takes one second to charge. You don’t need to do anything to make it charge, but if you don’t allow the gun to charge, you’ll be shorting yourself.
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It might take some time to get used to the timing, but once you have it down, the hitscan power of her weapon will provide great supplemental damage to teamfights, especially if you can optimize the usage of her Healing Pylon.
Solar Rifle (Secondary)
Illari’s secondary fire is a mid-range healing beam. The ability feels almost exactly like using Zarya’s tracking ability. The healing is powerful but similar to Moira’s healing or D.Va’s Defense Matrix, it can be a very limited resource.
The healing beam can be held for three seconds consecutively, and afterward, it requires three seconds to fully recharge. In general, the recharging time required will be about a one-to-one ratio relative to how long you healed for, with a slight delay after you’ve stopped healing.
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Her range for the secondary fire is reasonably far, and the heal is extremely potent in my opinion, making her a strong candidate for being a main healer with the flexibility to also do a little bit of damage.
Healing Pylon
With 150 total health, 100 of which is shielding, Illari’s E ability is a healing turret. Similar to Baptiste’s Immortality Field, the ability is a projectile that can be lobbed across a fight. On an eight-second cooldown, the Healing Pylon has massive healing potential and can heal multiple allies at one time.
While the turret can be taken out relatively quickly by an enemy, if you place it in a well-protected spot from enemy fire, it can absolutely carry your healing, allowing you to focus on damage as Illari. The turret can be destroyed by pressing F, and if you choose to do so, there’s a one-second period before you can place a new one, even if it’s off cooldown.
It might not be the strongest against dive compositions, but in the right situation, this healing turret can be overwhelming in some situations. My expectation is that if Illari is deemed to be overpowered, as the game director suggested might be the case, this ability might be the first to get a nerf.
Outburst
This movement ability is Illari’s mechanic for getting out of trouble. Jumping in whatever direction that you’re moving, this ability is also a knockback for any enemy in your way, and you can hold onto your jump button to go higher.
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The season six trailer perfectly showcased just how useful this cooldown can be when you’re slowed. Among other things, it can get you out of an Orisa ultimate and quickly get you back to your team for safety. It can also be used to help you get the high ground.
The seven-second cooldown on the ability is well worth the usage, and the knockback is strong enough that I have no doubt Illari will be a popular pick on maps where players enjoy fishing for environmental kills. By standing in place, Outburst will pop Illari directly up in the air and send enemies on top of her flying. I’m sure you can imagine how that’s going to play out on control points like Ilios’ Well and Lighthouse.
Captive Sun (Ultimate)
Illari’s ultimate ability is a mark of death. Once you hit Q, Illari will hoist herself into the sky almost akin to how Sigma gains flight during his ultimate. Then you have a certain amount of time to fire an explosive solar-power projectile at your enemies. Enemies who are too close to the ball get slowed and if they take a certain amount of damage, they will explode, killing them and damaging any other enemies around them.
Captive Sun will almost surely be a powerful offensive tool against brawl-style team compositions that want to stay grouped up. And if you play your cards right, it will be able to win teamfights as a singular ult.
