Overwatch 2 Illari guide: Abilities, how to play, more

OW2 Illari gameplayBlizzard

Overwatch 2’s newest hero, Illari, is finally here, so here is a guide on all you need to know about her lore, abilities, weapons, and how to play her. 

With the release of Overwatch 2: Invasion, comes a new support hero for players to try, Illari. The newest addition to the Support Hero pool, she offers high damage, consistent healing, and a set of movement abilities. 

As a character who can do so much, players are going to need some time to adjust to her playstyle. So to help you out, here is our ultimate guide on Illari. 

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From an overview of her abilities and tips on how to be effective with the new Support kit, here’s what you need to know.

Contents

Overwatch 2 Illari weapons

Illari’s weapons function quite similarly to characters like Kiriko, Moira, and Baptise. In that her primary fire is her damage ability and her secondary is her healing. 

Solar Rifle –  Primary

Her primary fire is the main way you will be dealing damage. A long-range auto-charging rifle, it’s a hit scan weapon that can land headshots on enemies. It is comparable to Kiriko’s kunai. 

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After firing a shot, there will be a small recharge to a bar, which once filled, will deal the maximum amount of damage from the shot. But you can rapidly shoot it while it is refilling if you so choose. 

Solar Rifle – Secondary 

Her secondary fire is her main source of healing. It is a medium-range healing beam that will consume solar energy every time it is used. You can almost think of it like Moira’s healing. The only difference being damage does not refill Illari’s solar energy. 

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Illari gameplay gunBlizzard
Illari’s weapon can be devastating in the right hands.

Overwatch 2 Illari’s abilities

Outburst 

Outburst will launch you in the direction you are moving, it also knocks back enemies who are in range. If you hold jump while using it, you can launch higher. 

Healing Pylon

Using Healing Pulon will deploy a pylon that heals allies in its radius. It functions similarly to a Torbjorn Turret in that it is destructible by enemies and can be destroyed by the player. But for as long as it isn’t destroyed, it will remain where you placed it. 

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Ultimate – Captive Sun

Captive Sun will allow the player to shoot an explosive ball of solar energy. When enemies are hit with the ball, they are slowed and will explode after taking a significant amount of damage. 

Additionally, players can fly while using their ult. Similar to when using Sigma’s flux or Mercy’s Guardian Angel, players can hold the jump button to fly up or crouch to descend. 

After you shoot the explosive ball, players can further use their weapons to deal damage or heal while using the ult. 

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Illari gameplayBlizzard
Illari’s kit can help keep your team alive in the heat of battle.

Tips on how to play Illari

Naturally, as a support, Illari is incredibly squishy with only 200 HP, just like many in her hero pool. Despite being squishy, Illari deals a surprising amount of damage and has a variety of abilities to save herself from being dived on. 

Illari sees herself as one of the more mechanically challenging heroes to master, however, if you can get a hang of her physics, she can be incredibly powerful.

Her primary fire is incredibly strong, if you have the mechanical skill to land a headshot. Similar to Kiriko’s kunai, it can headshot enemies and deal that extra critical damage. When in full charge, you can kill a 225 HP enemy in just two shots. 

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Illari’s healing is comparable to Moira’s healing with a max range of 15 meters, so you shouldn’t be too far away from your allies.

Outburst is great not only as a movement ability, but it’s also a great tool to use when you’re getting dived on. Because of her ability to perform a super jump, it’s a helpful ability to use when wanting to reposition to the high ground. 

Additionally, since it knocks back enemies, it is a great ability to counter-dives as you can quickly make an escape from a coordinated dive and reposition yourself to have more support from your team. 

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Healing Pylon is an excellent tool when you need to increase your healing output. But because of its destructibility, your team will gain as much value from it as long as it lives. So treat it like a Baptiste Immortality Field, that putting it next to a wall out of the enemy’s line of sight is preferable. 

Captive Sun is a fantastic ability to either melt down tanky enemies or to reposition. When using her ult, make sure to use the explosive ball on either grouped-up enemies, as it is AOE, or use it on their Tank. 

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Once the ball is on the enemy, it’s best if your team targets the enemies with the ball attached to them as it can deal a significant amount of damage once the ball explodes. 

Additionally, because you can fly, don’t forget to use the opportunity to place yourself in a better high-ground position. And if needed, you could save yourself from falling off a map with the ult. 

There you have it! That was everything you need to know about Illari, her abilities, and how to use him. And all you need to do is put our tips into practice. 

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