Day: January 13, 2026

January 13, 2026 Nix Du 4:33 am Topic: Overwatch Design Studies Fan design of Overwatch’s heroes, levels, events, and balancing. Sort by: Best Expand Menu 💡View Design Process ⬇ Hero Info Aside from his position as Talon’s accountant, Maximillen is the figure behind many impactful events. Gambling on the edge of conflicts, he uses wealth and connections to build his own power. RoleSupport SubroleTactician Health150 health + 100 shields Perk XP1750 (minor) 4600 (major) Passives Subrole: Tactician Passive️ Store excess ultimate charge. Ult charge stored: up to 25% Backed Hand Passive️ Give your excess ultimate charge to your Ace. Ult charge given: up to 25% Additional notes Voice Lines Ace is selected with Max’s ultimate “Ace in Play”. Only grants excess charge stored via the Tactician subrole passive. Grants via ult points instead of fixed percentage. The target ally hears a surging sound on activation. Weapon Executive Wristwatch ️ Type Weapon (Primary Fire) Effect Type Hitscan Two-round burst hitscan weapon. Damage: 40 (per round) Headshot: ✓ (x2) Rate of fire:2 rounds per 0.8s (0.3s between the two rounds) Ammo:24 Reload time:1.5 seconds Additional notes Voice Lines Shot radius: 0.12m (same as Illari) Damage falloff range: 25-45m (longer than Ashe, shorter than Illari) Damage falloff rate: 50% Recovery time reduces when alternating between primary and secondary fire. Elimination: “The house always wins.” Breach Laser ️ Type Weapon (Alternate Fire) Effect Type Beam – Hitscan Three short beams with a rotating triangular spread. Damage: 135/s (45 per beam) Headshot: x Range: 15m Spread:3.6 degrees (initial) – 2 degrees (after 0.75s) Additional notes Voice Lines Beam radius: 0.1m (less than Symmetra’s minimum radius) Rotation speed: 180 degrees/s Narratively, Max uses this weapon to cut holes on doors and walls, hence the name and the spinning 3-dot pattern. Elimination: “Think twice before you get close.” Abilities Spade E️ Type Ability Cooldown 8 seconds Effect Type Melee + Projectile Slash with a card and fling it out. Place a Spade on enemies hit, allowing allies to lifesteal from them. Damage: 40 (slash) + 40 (projectile) Headshot: x Slash Range: 4m Projectile Speed:70m/s Projectile Size:0.35m Spade duration:4s Ally Lifesteal Rate:30% (15% on tanks)Stops applying when ally already has more than 40% lifesteal. Additional notes Voice Lines The slash and projectile themselves lifesteals too. The slash’s animation allows enemies at range to react to the following projectile. Enemies with Spade see a overlay effect on their screen. Healing from Spade charges Max’s ultimate ability. To self/target: “Bleed the pot.” To allies: “Claim your cuts from them.” Heart Shift️ Type Ability Cooldown 1 second Effect Type Targeted + Area Place area healing on an ally, which grants movement speed too when an enemy is eliminated inside. Selection Range: 25m Area Healing: 25/s Area Healing Radius: 12m Speed/Damage Boost:25% Boost Duration: 2.5s afer elimination Additional notes Voice Lines Max cannot place Heart on himself. Heart expires after losing Max’s LOS for 5 seconds. “Go earn your healings.” “Make my investment worth it.” “Go, impress me.” On elimination: “Well done.” On elimination: “Stay in motion, agent.” Ace In Play Q Type Ultimate Ability Cost 2400 pts Effect Type Targeted Place an Ace on an ally. The ally instantly revives for one time during the effect, then places a Spade on their eliminators. Enemies don’t know who carries the Ace until they get very near. Selection Range: 25m Cast Time: 0.6s Initial Healing: 100 Ace Uptime: 7s Ace Reveal Range: 5m Ace Health On Revive:Up to 350 Additional notes Voice Lines Enemies can hear when Max ults, but can’t see the Ace icon over the ally until they’re up close. All enemies see the Ace icon from the moment when one enemy sees it. Ace’s secrecy enables lots of mind games for example, Max can place the Ace on himself, but tell an ally to charge in anyway, tricking the enemies into thinking the ally have the Ace. The Ace cannot revive from an environmental death. With Max’s passive, he always gives excess ult charge stored to his Ace. This can be used to quickly ready an important ally ult. In the middle of the fight, Ace’s 100 instant healing can save an ally, but might also spoil who received it. On deploy, to enemies: “An Ace is on the table. Play wise.” On deploy, to Ace/self: “Fear nothing, my Ace!” On deploy, to allies: “Ace has been deployed.” On revive, to enemies: “YOU MISPLAYED.” On revive, to Ace: “Now, shall we continue?” Perks Contingency Minor Perk You can damage and kill your Ace. This puts a Spade on yourself too. Feed the Greed Minor Perk Hitting enemies with Spade restores ammo. Shared Pot Major Perk Heart’s radius increases by 50% for 3s when an enemy is eliminated inside. Liquidation Major Perk Reset Spade cooldown when your Heart carrier dies. Design Process Weapon Weapon feels closer and closer Max’s identity as they iterate. After Zen and Lucio, Max will be the third support that doesn’t heal with a mouse button. The House ️ 🔫 Discarded for: Identity mismatch. Leave the red dot weapon for a pistol oriented DPS. Smart pistol with red dot scope. Executive Wristwatch ️ Discarded: Projectile shots encourages choke spam, not a match for Max’s personality of precision and calmness. Four-round burst dart projectile weapon. Tracker Chip ️ 📟 Discarded for: Discouraging enemies to engage for half of the fight. Make your next shot reveal target position. Press again to detonate the chip. Executive Wristwatch ️ Final design Two-round burst hitscan weapon. Breach Laser ️ Final design – first “shotgun beam” in the game Three short beams with a rotating triangular spread. Sustain Max started with a “mobility + self sustain” ability, borrowing the tech of Kiriko’s clone power in Stadium. I then wanted to jump out of the “movement and heal” cliche and design a different sustain ability. “Marking enemies for lifesteal” came to mind. After a few changes, the ability allows Max to do the “Slash and Laser (alt fire)” combo to survive close combat.