Overwatch 2: Illari’s kit and abilities explained

Illari has finally arrived at Overwatch 2 with the arrival of Season 6. The Overwatch 2: Invasion update is headlining its new PvE modes, but don’t forget about Illari, the newest support hero in the game. Illari marks the game’s tenth support hero, following Lifeweaver who was released in Season 4. While Lifeweaver gave support heroes a new main healer with a passive playstyle, Illari is all about aggression, getting picks, and dealing insane damage while also outputting some heals at the same time. For those who are excited to fly with Illari in Overwatch 2, take a look at her kit and abilities below.

All of Illari’s abilities in Overwatch 2 explained

Primary Fire & Secondary Fire: Solar Rifle

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Illari’s main weapon is her Solar Rifle, which harnesses power from the sun. This bright and shiny weapon can both heal and DPS enemies with the same gun, using two different ammo supplies. This makes Illari flexible as a support character who can do both, contribute to team damage and heal your allies. Her Primary Fire is her main damage-dealing ability. Her Primary Fire has 14 bullets before you’ll need to reload. The power of your shots also ramps up over time after not firing your gun, taking approximately one second to reach max charge in between shots. (You can fire your gun more rapidly, but this will result in lower damage for each shot.) A fully charged shot can two-shot Tracer if you headshot her, so its damage is nothing to scoff at.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Her Secondary Fire is her main source of healing, firing a Zarya-like beam that heals allies it comes in contact with. Her heals do not take from her Primary Fire’s ammo supply and instead run on their own Moira / Orisa-like meter. She technically has no ammo, and instead has a resource meter. If you deplete her resource meter, you’ll have to wait until it completely refills until you can heal again. Unless it’s an emergency, you’ll need to manage this resource carefully and ensure you aren’t constantly healing to maximize your uptime.

First Ability: Outburst

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Outburst is Illari’s main movement and self-peel ability. It emits a field of light around Illari that deals very little damage to enemies struck by it but also knocks them back, giving Illari some environmental kill potential. Mainly, you’ll want to use this ability for the mobility Illari gets after using this ability. When using Outburst, Illari will leap into the air, propelling you in a certain direction. Holding the “Jump” button will propel you farther.

Second Ability: Healing Pylon

Screenshot by PC Invasion

This ability allows Illari to throw down a healing turret. This turret has 150 HP and can be destroyed by enemies. Additionally, this Healing Pylon can latch onto walls, allowing you to place it in some more safe positions. (Although, you can just toss it down on the ground, as well.) Only one Healing Pylon can be placed at a time, and it will last indefinitely until destroyed by an enemy or Illari herself. (You can destroy your own Healing Pylon by placing a new one, or pressing the “Interact” key.)

Ultimate: Captive Sun

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Captive Sun is Illari’s trademark ability, which allows her to soar into the air like Sigma or Pharah. While soaring in the air, Illari can fire projectiles that deal high damage to enemies struck by them. At first glance, it seems like this Ultimate is purely offensive, dealing great damage per shot. However, these shots also apply a number of debuffs. Enemies hit by these projectiles will be slowed, and after they take more damage after getting hit by these shots, enemies will subsequently explode.

That’s everything you need to know about Illari and her abilities and kit in Overwatch 2. Illari seems to be a stark contrast to Overwatch 2’s last Support hero, Lifeweaver, who was purely defensive. Instead, Illari is an offensive tour-de-force, dealing some insane damage while outputting high heals. Her aim-intensive kit seems to have a high skill ceiling, so be sure to practice Illari while you can before she’s available in Competitive mode.