Illari is the latest Hero to be introduced to Overwatch 2, launching in the most recent Season 6 Invasion update. Illari has a very promising hero kit and a lot of potential as a strong Support Hero, so many players are looking to pick her up and add her to their Hero pool as soon as possible. If you’re in the same boat, then follow along below, as we have all the information you’ll need to know about Illari’s abilities and how she can be played with success in your future matches.
Illari’s Hero Kit: All Abilities, Explained
Illari has a unique and versatile Hero kit that can provide a lot of value to her team, as well as give her the ability to play very offensively for a Support character, helping her team to secure picks and disrupt plays. Here’s a complete breakdown of each ability Illari is equipped with, and what they do in combat:
Solar Rifle
Illari’s Solar Rifle is her primary weapon, granting her the ability to both deal damage to enemies and heal allies with a tracking beam. Much like the rest of Illari’s character and kit, her Solar Rifle is powered by the Sun and consumes solar energy, indicated by a readable meter on the screen.
Primary Fire
The Primary Fire of Illari’s Solar Rifle is a long-ranged auto-charging rifle shot, enabling her to deal damage to opponents. Mechanically, this shot feels most similar to a Sojourn Railgun shot but deals less damage. Also, due to her primary fire being optimized for long-range, it’s generally much weaker in close combat, meaning that finding and maintaining the correct distance with your positioning is key when utilizing this ability.
Secondary Fire
Illari’s Secondary Fire is a medium-range healing beam that provides additional quick healing for topping off your team in big team fights. This operates most mechanically similar to Zarya’s primary fire beam, just at an extended range. This Secondary Fire beam also consumes the solar energy that powers Illari’s Rifle, so it’s important to use it in smaller bursts rather than for extended periods, as the rifle will need to recharge after a few seconds, and this can take up crucial time during a team fight.
Outburst
Outburst is Illari’s first Hero ability, bound to the LShift key by default. Outburst is a movement ability that propels Illari in the direction that she is currently moving towards when activated. You can also hold the jump key to gain more vertical momentum and reach various high grounds. Additionally, Outburst also provides a knockback to all enemies within the area of effect, giving Illari a good chance at escaping from any potentially troubling situations.
Healing Pylon
Healing Pylon is Illari’s second Hero ability, bound to the E key by default. Illari’s Healing Pylon is a small turret-like device that can be attached to any surface on the map, such as walls, floors, and rooftops. Once this Pylon has been deployed, it will automatically heal wounded allies on Illari’s behalf, performing small burst heals at a time, quite similarly to Lifeweaver’s Healing Blossom.
The range on Illari’s Healing Pylon is surprisingly decent, so you can use this to your advantage to position the device in clever areas of the map where your team will benefit most, such as a strong defensive high ground, or a Control Point, before the initiation of the next team fight.
Captive Sun
Captive Sun is Illari’s Ultimate Ability. Upon activating her ult, you will be able to rise into the air and fire down an explosive ball of solar energy onto your opponents. Anyone who is hit with this ball of solar energy receives a slowed status effect and will explode after taking significant damage. The most interesting and entertaining aspect of this ability is the potential for racking up a kill chain based on explosion damage, which we’ll explain more below.
How to Play Illari in Overwatch 2
With such a versatile kit to work with, this gives Illari the advantage of being quite straightforward to pick up for players of all skill levels. Illari also has the flexibility to be played in a variety of different playstyles, from aggressive and offensive, flanking, or even more conservative and heal-focused, depending on your preferences. Further, Illari has no map disadvantages at first glance and fits into most team comps nicely, meaning she’s a great pick in most circumstances.
Positioning Of Illari’s Healing Pylon
Illari’s Healing Pylon works quite similarly to Symmetra’s Sentry Turrets, also capable of being stuck to walls, floors, roofs, or various other objects around the map. You can benefit from this by positioning the Pylon somewhere that is advantageous to your team and also more difficult for the enemy to see or fire at, as the Pylon is relatively easy to destroy when under focus fire.
For example, my team was currently holding one of the flashpoints on New Junk City with the enemy struggling to approach and push on to initiate a close-range fight. Because of this, I positioned the Healing Pylon in the curve of the rooftop above the flashpoint, as this way it was protected from the enemy, and could send heals down to all of my teammates within range across the entire flashpoint.
Using Outburst to Reposition Yourself, Increase Movement & Disrupt Dives
Illari’s Outburst is a great movement ability that can be used in many different circumstances. Because of Illari’s long-ranged weapon, she operates best from within the backline. This means she’s a prime dive target for heroes such as Winston, D.Va, Hammond, Tracer, and Genji.
However, Outburst provides her the perfect opportunity to escape to safety when these heroes dive on her, due to the knockback from the ability, which creates space from the enemy and allows your team to peel, or you the chance to reposition to high ground. Illari’s Outburst operates on a seven-second cooldown, so it’s also great to use in repetition for getting back to your team quickly on larger maps such as the Flashpoint locations.
Optimizing Her Weapon Based on Distance
Illari’s Solar Rifle is intended to be used from two different distances, long-range for her damage-based rifle shot, and medium-range for her healing beam. One of the most important priorities to consider when picking up Illari is spending the time needed to learn these distances so that you’re able to position yourself accordingly to provide the most value to your team. Illari also has huge potential for repositioning herself during a team fight thanks to Outburst, as well as flanking, or getting aggressive when needed due to the versatility of her kit.
Captive Sun Combos & Team Synergy
As you can see above, Illari’s Captive Sun Ultimate has the potential to be devastating for the enemy and cause a complete wipe during team fights. Because the explosion part of her Ultimate is detonated when an enemy takes a specific amount of damage, pairing Illari’s Captive Sun with other Hero abilities in a combo can be lethal, such as Orisa’s Javelin Spin on the group of bunched enemies in the clip above.
Illari’s Captive Sun pairs very well with Ana’s Anti-Nade, Sojourn’s disruptor shot, Echo’s Sticky Bombs, Pharah’s Rocket Barrage, Sigma’s Gravitic Flux, and Sombra’s EMP, just to name a few. Don’t be afraid to test out different combos and strategize with your allies to make the most out of this powerful Ultimate.
That’s everything you need to know about Illari’s Hero abilities and her potential in combat. Now that you’re all caught up on this bright new Support Hero, why not take a look at our guide covering everything new this Season 6 Invasion, and discover the other new features and game modes included in this content update?
