The new mechanic of Ana from Overwatch, the sleep arrow, can be exploited in quite a sneaky way. Players will be kicked out of the game despite being present!
Ana’s Sleep Arrow Flags Players as “afk”
With the introduction of the latest hero Ana, a new mechanic also came into the game world of Overwatch. Those who are hit by her sleep arrow cannot perform any action for 5.5 seconds, unless they are awakened from sleep by damage beforehand. This leads to a rather amusing “bug”, as those who are permanently put to sleep also cannot actively participate in the game. If someone does not take any action for more than a minute, they are marked as “afk” by the game and kicked from the respective server.
Actually, the cooldown of the sleep arrow is too large at 12 seconds to keep a player permanently asleep. However, the whole thing becomes feasible when there are 3 Anas on the team. If the sleep arrows are fired in solid rotation, the victim cannot recover and will be excluded from the game shortly thereafter. The YouTuber Youmuus created a video showcasing this form of “bug” in a private match, where 3 Anas repeatedly put a Bastion into a coma.
In the ranked game mode, this method is not applicable, as no duplicate heroes can be selected there. In “Quick Play”, this method can be applied but should be quite difficult to execute. This would mean that half the team isolates a single enemy and puts them to sleep permanently without being attacked themselves. In any case, it’s an interesting “what if” consideration, although most players probably don’t have to fear its implementation.
More news and articles about Blizzard’s hero shooter can be found on our Overwatch game page.
