Juno: Our Newest Support Hero That’s Out of this World
Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Juno, the newest space girl from Mars, has shown up and out on August 20th with all sorts of nifty tricks and gadgets, and a compelling backstory to boot. She’s the first human we’ve seen come from out of this world, and with both an extremely fun color palette and her blaster to boot, what are we to make of Juno? Well, here’s what we know now, and here’s how she’s played for the community so far since release.
From the Stars
Our colorful Martian had a bit of a rocky journey making it to Earth, born on Mars to Jiayi and Dr. Khiem Van Minh, becoming the first official Martian. Unfortunately, she was also the last, when it was discovered that their terraforming on Mars was causing dangerous storms, causing her parents, along with their other colleagues forming the team for Project Red Promise, to build a ship to allow Juno to go to Earth. She left alone, eventually making her way to Earth through her skills and Athena’s assistance. But Juno has only one goal in mind being on Earth: To save her home and her family, and she’ll do whatever it takes to reach it.
Abilities and Skills
She is far more than her space pop style though, being able to provide a variety of supportive boosts to allies. Martian Overboots assist her in her semi-airborne role, helping her get higher up into the air and falling down slower after. Mediblaster is her weapon, providing both healing to allies and damage to enemies, and will a falloff at around thirty to fifty meters, she’s best played as a midrange support. Her Pulsar Torpedos hone in on enemies and allies, providing immediate damage to enemies once activated and immediate and over time healing to allies. Glide Boost allows her to get that boost into the air, and although it has no vertical component, Juno can get herself higher in the air through architecture around the map along with Martian Overboots to jump up a bit higher. Hyper Ring, her area of effect movement ability, fires a speed ring onto the ground, giving any ally within five meters of Juno or the ring a speed boost and refreshing whenever they come into contact with a ring, which could be useful in closing in on enemies and engaging in fights. Lastly, her ultimate Orbital Ray is almost like a laser Mercy ult, Juno calling down a laser that heals one hundred health per second, along with a damage boost, as it travels across the map entirely undeterred by any barriers.
Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Juno is a very cute character, floating around in an orange and blue space suit with purple and pink hair. Her base skin is all bright colors and futuristic technology, calling out to her life on Mars. But my favorite part about Juno is her guns. Whenever her guns point at an ally, a small smiley face pops up on the screen of her weapon. An enemy? A little frowny face. Overwatch always does a good job separating healing and damage, but this is the cherry on top when it comes to her technological cuteness. Try playing her for a match and seeing it for yourself!
