Echo is the latest Overwatch hero, a robot programmed with rapidly advancing artificial intelligence. She is the newest Damage hero within Overwatch with a variety of abilities and uses in many situations. Echo can fly, pelt enemies from the sky, and can threaten nearly any enemy position.
Overwatch (OW) is a team-based first-person shooter designed around a multiplayer mode that pits 2 teams of 6 players against one another. The game follows a globe struck with crisis, the result of which was the Overwatch organization, a task force assembled to fight growing conflict. Players control unique characters known as “heroes,” each with their unique abilities. Each Overwatch hero has their specific playstyle, including Echo.
As the newest hero to Overwatch, there is a lot of new background story to learn, and an entirely new character to learn to play. This article will discuss everything about Echo, including her backstory, personality, abilities, and some tips and tricks to play Echo efficiently.
Echo’s Backstory
Echo is an evolutionarily learning robot, designed by Overwatch scientist Dr. Mina Liao to fill multiple combat roles. She was designed as an evolution of the Omnics, built around adapting to fit whatever role Echo may need to fill. As her introduction to Overwatch was not too long ago, her exposure to new people, ideas, and situations may lead to her evolving shortly. Her personality, originally based on Dr. Mina Liao’s, may change to reflect her surroundings thanks to her advancing artificial intelligence. The heroes around Echo will lead her to decide whether she will remain alike to her creator or adopt a unique personality.
Her original intelligence was to be restricted after the Omnic Crisis, although Dr. Liao had secretly installed Echo with a state-of-the-art general artificial intelligence. For thousands of hours, Echo had observed her surroundings, learning, unbeknownst to the rest of the Overwatch program. The more she evolved, the most she adapted, eventually questioning her place within a changing world. This was until her creator, Dr. Liao died, leading Overwatch to shut down Echo under fears of her evolving without her creator.
Several years later after Winston led a recall order for Overwatch, Echo was reactivated by McCree following a planned derailing of the train she was on. After her reactivation, she quickly learned about the world she had not been part of in years, working to attack rogue Omnics in the future. That leads into today’s world, with Echo officially taking her place alongside the rest of the Overwatch heroes as a full-fledged member.
Echo’s Abilities
Echo has a wide variety of abilities, from her sticky-bomb alternate fire to her ability to duplicate enemies. Both of her traditional attacks are projectiles with travel time. She relies on a tri-shot arm cannon for her primary attack, which fires three shots at once. Her secondary attack fires six sticky bombs which explode to deal damage after a short delay.
Echo is most powerful with her special abilities, three of which deal no damage. Her passive ability allows her to glide with a 50% boost to horizontal speed. This gliding ability works incredibly well with her ability to fly, a three-second rise into the air. Echo’s only damaging special ability is her focusing beam. This beam deals four times more damage when used on a person or target with less than 50% HP. The ability only lasts for two seconds, but the high damage more than makes up for its short duration.
Her ultimate ability, Duplicate, shows Echo’s true power, allowing Echo to become a copy of any targeted hero for 15 seconds. Her HP instantly becomes full, copying the target’s skin and hero. Duplicate turns Echo into the target, allowing her to use all enemy abilities. In addition to allowing Echo’s use of the enemy abilities, her target cannot switch heroes if this ability is active. Duplicate gives Echo several boosts to her copy as well, with a 6.5 times multiplier on how fast she charges her target’s ultimate ability.
Duplicate is one of the most versatile abilities in the entire game, as enemies will not know who Echo is going to turn into. If enemies do not act quickly, there is no chance they would be able to counter her copy’s ultimate ability. As expected, this ability is exceptionally situational. In some situations, it might be useful to turn into a Tank hero, such as Reinhardt, for his Earthshatter ability. Other situations might involve Echo duplicating a Damage hero for a powerful ability.
Echo’s Strengths and Weaknesses
According to the Overwatch community, there are many strengths and weaknesses of Echo. She is an incredibly flexible hero, able to fit into any strategy or situation, although that can often lead to her downfall. Echo can dive alongside supporting heroes, attack enemies from the sky, or takedown weakened enemies. Thanks to her agile abilities, she is also capable of threatening enemy positions from any angle, attacking flanks and back lines.
The biggest weakness of Echo is her projectile attack. Hitscan heroes such as McCree or Widowmaker have an easier time taking down projectile heroes. As Echo’s attacks take time to reach an enemy, while hitscan heroes’ do not, it is much easier to be defeated by one. Echo’s ability to fit into any situation can also hurt, as each game and scenario requires its own methodology and plan, leading to delayed attacks and lowered communication.
Playing Tips and Tricks
As for general tricks, Echo has quite a few. The best thing to remember is that playing Echo requires you to understand how other heroes work. Her greatest ability, Duplicate, literally forces the player to play another hero. Echo can utilize many unique playstyles, meaning that to play Echo efficiently, players must be flexible.
Most of Echo’s abilities have longer cooldowns, meaning that as soon as they are not 100% efficient, canceling abilities is effective. When you land with Flight, cancel the ability. As Focusing Beam runs out of <50% heroes, cancel the ability. If only one Sticky Bomb lands switch to primary attacks. Use cooldowns before using Duplicate. Stay mid-range from enemies and using position knowledge to communicate with your team.
One of the best ways to learn how to use Echo efficiently is to use Boosting Ground. Boosting Ground is a top Overwatch boosting service, great for helping you become the best with any hero. It is incredibly hard to remember every tip and trick for Echo, just one reason why we recommend their services. Whether it is winning games, boosting ranks, pushing placements, or leveling, their professional boosters are the best at the game. It might feel hard to ask for help, but Boosting Service makes learning the game and building your skills much easier.
DC Fanboy! Superman is the greatest comic book character of all time. Favorite movies are Man of Steel, Goonies, Back To the Future