The new hero of Overwatch is Anran and she’s pretty hot. But one thing the community finds really terrible.
After the big Overwatch announcement of 5 new heroes and heroines, Blizzard immediately unlocked one of them in the game as a so-called “live test.” Anran brings a lot of fire into the game and heats things up for her enemies. However, one thing a large part of the community does not find so hot – because the face of the hero is a sheer disappointment for many.
What can Anran do? Anran comes into play as a new DPS hero, meaning she is supposed to ensure that enemies quickly meet their demise or (in her case) turn to ashes.
- Zhuque Fan: Anran shoots two fiery projectiles in rapid succession. If an enemy is hit by 4 projectiles in quick succession (or 2 critical hits), they are set on fire and take additional damage.
In the alternate fire mode (right click), she can swing her fan to stoke the fire on enemies and significantly increase the burn damage they suffer. - Wildfire: Anran charges forward, causing burn damage to all targets she comes into contact with. Targets can be hit multiple times as long as a bit of distance is established between touches.
- Dancing Flame: Anran becomes temporarily invulnerable, transforms into a flame, and jumps from enemy to enemy to deal damage. The more enemies are nearby that she can jump to, the longer the invulnerability lasts.
Additionally, Anran is unique because she has 2 ultimates:
- Ultimate 1 – Crimson Ascent: Anran ascends into the sky and has a few seconds to select a target area. Then she charges to the location, exploding in a powerful flame and applying a burn debuff to all enemies hit.
- Ultimate 2 – Crimson Return: If Anran dies and the ultimate is ready, she can activate it up to 5 seconds after her death to resurrect in place. In doing so, she explodes and sets all enemies on fire, but deals less damage than the first ultimate.
How does Anran play? Anran is quite an agile DPS character who, although she cannot keep up with the speed of a Tracer, still feels comfortable at medium and close range. Her perks allow her to continually rush through enemy groups with “Wildfire” in quick succession and use “Dancing Flame” to become invulnerable while still damaging opponents. Her resurrection thanks to the ultimate even allows so-called kamikaze attacks to be a viable strategy to attack enemies a second time “from the inside.”
However, Anran also lives quite dangerously. To stoke the fire with her fan, she has to get relatively close to her target and usually has to leave the “safe” area behind the shields of her tanks.
The standard face of Anran that hardly anyone likes
One point of criticism that has crystallized in the community in recent days is the appearance of Anran, or more precisely: her face. Because this has caused some displeasure and a lot of suggestions on how to fix the problem.
What is the problem with the face? Just a few hours after Anran was made available in the game in the form of a “playtest,” there was a flood of criticism on social media platforms like X or the Overwatch subreddit. Because as good as the general plans for Overwatch were received, one thing bothered: Anran’s face. Many view it as rather carelessly developed, as it depicts the “standard cute girl” face.
This is criticized especially because Anran’s face was already seen earlier in a cinematic and was much more distinctive. Now she seems to many like a reproduction of Juno – and some examples where the faces were overlaid make this clear:
This is what is termed “Same Face Syndrome” and is evident in Anran’s case. Therefore, the community is correspondingly loud and wishes that Blizzard makes some design adjustments so that Anran is unique – and not just (in terms of her face) a carbon copy of Juno.
How do you like Anran? Have you already tried her in the game before she fully appears on February 10 together with 4 other heroes? Or have you long found your “mains” and are likely not to stray from them for the fiery lady? If not, then maybe the new heroine Domina is made for you …
