Overwatch’s next hero, the “Omnic Detective” who will help usher in the next arc of the shooter’s story, is set to join the roster next month during this year’s sixth season. As recently as September during Blizzcon, Blizzard said that this hero would join the support role when he was added, but there’s been a change of plans, it seems, as the synthetic sleuth will now be a damage hero, and the community has some feelings about it.
News of this came from an interview with game director Aaron Keller and associate director Alec Dawson by content creators Emongg and Flats, where the two revealed that the Omnic Detective’s name is Hudson (not Rigby, as previously speculated), and that his in-game role has changed over the course of development.
“As things developed, as the hero developed, as we look at the mechanics, how they match with the aesthetic, how they match with who the hero is supposed to be, how they’re supposed to be represented in our game, season six’s hero will be a DPS,” Dawson said. “During development, we iterated a lot, we playtested a lot, and the core mechanic and the thing that we were really falling in love with on this hero didn’t really match with being a support. We kind of leaned into the things we loved the most about the hero, and it definitely fit DPS a lot better. So we’re really excited for him pretty soon.”
Keller also added that Hudson was one of the best-received heroes in internal testing, but neither of them got too into detail about what Hudson’s play style will entail. So while it might sound exciting knowing that a hero a lot of people are already into is coming, the shift from support to damage has been polarizing among fans for a multitude of reasons that all mostly funnel back into the DPS role feeling crowded compared to the other two.
Casefile Status: Declassified 🗂️
We can’t wait for you to meet the newest Damage Hero, Hudson, in Season 6! pic.twitter.com/AWGVOrR7yy
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) November 12, 2026
The issue with the omnic detective (Hudson) isn’t the role swap, its the fact his broke the traditional support design of cute/attractive character and its just not happening now. Frustrating, especially since this would be the second omnic support since zen…. At ow1’s launch. pic.twitter.com/gWuTGo9Pe9
— Shroomiiee (@mushroomiiee) November 12, 2026
i think we all learnt a very valuable lesson today, lets not announce roles many many many months prior
problem solved https://t.co/xCib1v0Vv7
— Warn (@WarnTV) November 12, 2026
The switch from a “promised” support to a DPS stings for some support mains, as those who like to heal and enable big plays were already growing attached to the character just based on the design Blizzard unveiled in September. The damage role is far and away the most populated one in Overwatch, with 23 of the game’s 54 characters under the umbrella. Supports were thrown a bone in the current season as Sombra, who had been a damage hero since her debut in 2016, was reworked into a support hero, but now with Hudson becoming a damage dealer, it feels more like a trade was made.
Overwatch has released 10 heroes across 2026 as part of its soft reboot and the split between them has favored damage heroes, with Hudson making half of the 2026 roster DPS.
- Anran (Damage)
- Emre (Damage)
- Domina (Tank)
- Jetpack Cat (Support)
- Mizuki (Support)
- Sierra (Damage)
- Shion (Damage)
- D.Mon (Tank)
- Doctrine (Support)
- Hudson (Damage)
WE LOST THE FULL OMNIC TEAM COMP BRO https://t.co/vUrOENcn2c pic.twitter.com/eB0Nw98U7E
— Shroomiiee (@mushroomiiee) November 12, 2026
Whatever the reasoning might be, support fans and those who just want to see a closer divide between roles aren’t taking the late-game decision well.
“I’m sorry, but I believe that me and everyone else upset by this have a right to feel betrayed,” a support player wrote on Reddit. “I don’t understand how they didn’t catch an issue with his kit so fundamental that it forced them to change his role before release in early concept stages.
And if they thought that idea would be better for a DPS, then fine. Scrap it for now and give it to a new dps instead of changing the most fundamental aspect of this one. They should have reworked his kit to make him a better support.
And if you say that they didn’t have time to give him a new kit, then I will circle back to not understanding how they didn’t catch an issue with his kit so major until a month from release. They clearly had the Omnic Detective idea for a year now, that should have given them plenty of time to figure out how to give him a good support kit.”
Though some view this as an extension of Overwatch’s supposed DPS favoritism, others are more charitable, saying that sometimes these things just happen while making video games.
“It’s absolutely not a baffling decision if you have any idea about game design,” another redditor said. “Assuming they tell the truth and there is no other underlying conspiracy-esque reason for it, it makes perfect sense. If the hero simply felt like a DPS hero and was more fun as a DPS hero, he should be a DPS hero, it’s that simple. Design is an iterative process and sometimes you land on something you didn’t foresee.”
For now, we don’t know much about Hudson’s playstyle, so it’s unclear what part of his kit might have nudged Blizzard in the DPS direction. He’ll join the roster next month in season six, and perhaps Blizzard might give us more insight into this pivot when the hero is properly unveiled in the coming weeks.
