Moira

Moira
"Science will reveal the truth."
Real Name	Moira O'Deorain
Status	Active
Age	48
Nationality	Irish
Occupation	Geneticist Minister of Genetics
Base	Dublin, Ireland; Oasis, Iraq
Affiliation	Blackwatch (formerly) Talon (council member)
Voice	Genevieve O'Reilly (English)
Cosmetics	Cosmetic page
Quotes	Quotation page
Role	Support
Health	200
Character Video

Moira is a Support hero in Overwatch.

Overview

Moira’s biotic abilities enable her to contribute healing or damage in any crisis. While Biotic Grasp gives Moira short-range options, her Biotic Orbs contribute longer-range, hands-off damage and healing; she can also Fade to escape groups or remain close to allies in need of support. Once she’s charged Coalescence, Moira can save multiple allies from elimination at once or finish off weakened enemies.

Abilities

Biotic Grasp

Type

Weapon (Primary Fire)

Effect Type

Beam

Using her left hand, Moira expends biotic energy to heal allies in front of her.

Healing:

80 health per second

Ammo:

Up to 9 seconds

Reload time:

45 seconds recharging
9 seconds when dealing damage

Cast time:

0.3 second

Max. range:

15 meters

Projectile speed:

30 meters per second

• Details

Ability details:

• After she stops healing there is a heal over time for a short duration; it will heal 50 health over the course of three seconds (16.66 health / s for three seconds).
• The healing can heal multiple allies.

Biotic Grasp

Type

Weapon (Secondary Fire)

Effect Type

Target Locked Beam

Her right hand fires a long-range beam weapon that saps enemies’ health, healing Moira and replenishing her biotic energy.

Damage:

50 per second

Headshot:

✕

Healing:

Heals Moira for flat 33 health per second

Ammo:

∞

Max. range:

21 meters

• Details

Ability details:

• Despite the looks of it, Biotic Grasp does not use lifesteal mechanic. Healing from it is unaffected by damage boosts for Moira and damage reduction on her enemies.

Biotic Orb

10 seconds

Type

Ability

Moira launches a rebounding biotic sphere; she can choose between a regeneration effect that heals the allies it passes through, or a decay effect that deals damage to enemies.

Damage:

50 per second
(200 maximum)

Headshot:

✕

Healing:

75 per second
(300 maximum)

Duration:

10 seconds, or until depleted

Max. range:

5 meters (Tethering)

Projectile speed:

20 meters per second
5.5 meters per second (Caught the target)

Fade

6 seconds

Type

Ability

Moira quickly teleports a short distance while invulnerable to damage.

Duration:

0.8 second

Move. speed:

18.75 meters per second

• Details

Ability details:

• Moira cannot be healed or take damage while in this form.

Coalescence

Q

2125 points

Type

Ultimate Ability

Effect Type

Beam

Moira channels a long-range beam that both heals allies and bypasses barriers to damage her enemies.

Damage:

70 per second

Headshot:

✕

Healing:

140 health per second
50 health per second (Self-regeneration)

Duration:

8 seconds

Max. range:

30 meters

Move. speed:

9 meters per second

Strategy

Moira is a support hero that can flank the enemy back line with her immense mobility. Though Biotic Grasp's healing isn't a lock-on or instantly reach the target, she can heal multiple allies at the same time which giving her higher average healing when compare to other supports. To refill her healing resource and her health, she can easily track the enemy with lock-on beam that can reach to mid-range target. Fade provides her an immense mobility and invulnerable that makes her very hard to kill. Biotic Orb is very useful in both healing and dealing damage, especially when using in a tight space. Coalescence can both heal allies and dealing damage to the enemy, making it useful as the open attack since it bypasses barriers. While she is very mobile and strong fighter in 1v1 situation against so many heroes thanks to her lifesteal, she can easily be killed by tanks and any burst damage that can go through her health. Her healing has a resource that requires her to always deal damage, and her damage is very low even if it can lock-on the target. She doesn't have a real utility ability like other supports, in which her multiple healing is made up to fulfill the lackluster.

Weapons & Abilities

• Biotic Grasp [Primary and Secondary Fire]: Moira's primary weapon, that can either heal or damage depending on the firing mode.
  • Primary Fire (healing)
    • Fires a short range stream, that heals Moira’s allies for 80 HP per second in the cylinder in front of her. Unlike in case of other healers, Biotic Grasp's Primary Fire works on the resource system similar to that of the D.Va’s Defence Matrix. Moira has enough resource to perform up to 9 seconds of continuous healing.
    • When Biotic Grasp’s Primary Fire is not active, healing resource will regenerate, albeit very slowly (it takes around 45 seconds for it to come back up from zero). This process can be significantly sped up (around 5 times), by using Biotic Grasp’s Secondary Fire on the enemy hero.
    • When Moira’s healing stream disconnects from the ally, it will leave a heal over time effect, that will restore 50 HP over 3 seconds. Try to use this passive to preserve a little bit of healing resource, by stopping your Primary Fire when ally is less than 50 HP from being completely healed.
    • Take advantage of the passive healing Biotic Orb leaves. You can use it to heal your allies during downtime for a little cost in resource. It's also advisable to spray your your team when entering combat, to so that healing over time mitigates some of the early damage.
    • Using Biotic Grasp continuously is a viable option only if a single ally is in the immediate danger of dying, or you can hit multiple allies. Excessive spraying at single safe targets will burn through your healing resource very quickly.
    • Biotic Grasp will heal all allies in its area of effect, which is more or less a shape of a cylinder with 1 meter radius and 15 meters length. To optimize your healing per second and resource expenditure you should position yourself, so that as many allies as possible are in the area of effect.
    • Moira’s healing is extremely potent in chokes, where your allies are near to each other. Picture Numbani’s first point upper left route – your team will be in a small corridor, in which you will be able to catch them all in Biotic Grasp’s area of effect providing them all with 80 hps. In such scenarios, Moira outpaces any other healer’s healing throughput, excluding Zenyatta during Transcendence.
    • Using all of your healing resource in the spawn room before game starts may backfire spectacularly.
  • Secondary Fire (damage)
    • Emits a medium-range beam, that locks on the on the enemy target closest to the crosshair. It deals 50 damage per second, heals Moira for 33 health per second and replenishes Moira’s healing resource (the latter two apply only if the target is an enemy hero). There is no ammo or other limit to how long Biotic Grasp’s Secondary Fire can be channeled.
    • Biotic Grasp’s Secondary Fire has a lock-on effect, similar to Symmetra’s but with much less forgiving leeway. Aiming with it requires significantly more precision than in case of Photon Projector, thus using Biotic Grasp’s Secondary Fire is widely compared to aiming with Zarya’s Primary Fire.
    • Use this mode of fire to replenish your healing resource as often as you can, but prioritize healing over dealing damage. As Moira you are unlikely to kill your targets (unless they are out of position), but your healing can be game changing.
    • Healing from Secondary Fire is Moira’s main source of self-sustain.
    • Moira’s Secondary Fire has a surprisingly long range (unless you are in wide open space, you will be able to attack pretty much any target you can see). Use it to your advantage – Moira can easily poke enemies through chokes and can be a serious threat to Pharmercy due to the lock-on effects on her Biotic Grasp and Biotic Orb’s damage dealing modes.

• Biotic Orb: [First Ability] Moira shoots an orb in the direction she is facing, that will either heal all allies or damage all enemies in area of effect.
  • Mechanics:
    • Orbs will tether themselves to all viable targets in the 5 meters radius around them, either healing or damaging them, depending on the type. There is no limit to the amount of targets affected at the same time, but orbs have a set pool of healing/damage they can output (300 healing and 200 damage). Bear in mind that full HP allies are not a viable target for healing orbs.
    • Biotic Orb has a really high projectile speed, but slows down drastically when it enters the area with viable targets (roughly to walking speed, slightly higher). When viable targets leave Orb's area of effect it will move slowly for around half a second and then will speed up again.
    • Biotic Orb will rebound from solid surfaces. There is no limit to the number of bounces it can perform.
    • Pressing key, to which Biotic Orb is bound will activate an orb choosing mode. When in it, player can decide between the type of orb Moira will shoot, by pressing keys responsible for Primary or Secondary Fire, that will respectively shoot either healing or damaging orb. Reactivating Biotic Orb before choosing a type will exit the choosing mode, without firing an orb or consuming cooldown.
    • Biotic Orb’s hitbox, that governs bouncing from surfaces, is smaller than the visual cue. If you fire Biotic Orb very close to the corner, its outer edge will phase through it.
    • Damage from Biotic Orb does not restore healing resource.
  • General tips:
    • Use your orbs close to clusters of viable targets, so that as much of their healing/damage is used. Try to fire Biotic Orb at the most simple angles you can find, like in direction of the closest vertical wall or directly at your targets. Realistically, there is no way to reliably predict orbs trajectory beyond the second bounce. Using the geometry of the map to your advantage may seem tempting, but firing Orbs at tricky angles will, in most cases, make them fly away from the place you will need them, and in effect waste your cooldown.
    • Sending Biotic Orbs into small rooms or between two walls facing each other will make their movement limited and will likely result in them using their entire pool of healing/damage.
    • If you are not sure which orb to use the answer is: the healing one. 300 AoE healing outvalues 200 AoE damage in pretty much any scenario.
  • Using healing orb:
    • Use healing orb when your allies are close to each other and you determine that your primary healing may not be enough. Your combined healing will then reach a tremendous 140 hps for every target affected by both Orb and your Primary Fire.
    • When starting a push, you can fire Biotic Orb to instantly access its healing pool. Remember, that at least one ally should already be damaged, or your Orb will pass quickly through your team and go to waste.
    • You can send Biotic Orb to heal allies that are outside of your range or too far for you to safely reach them. Notably, you can send it after the diving Winston or ulting Genji, and it will provide them with healing without putting Moira in danger.
    • Bear in mind, that between activing Biotic Orb, choosing a type of it, preforming a shooting animation and wind up animation of Primary Fire around half a second of time is lost. You cannot heal during this time, so try not to use this skill at the cost of somebody else’s life.
    • When you want to send your healing orb in the direction of the ally in danger, but you are damaged yourself, Biotic Orb will tether to you and slow down, likely leaving your ally to die. There is no good way of getting around it - even Fading away from orb will not work since...
    • Biotic Orb, both your and other friendly Moira's, can heal you during Fade. It's to be tested whether other healing effects, that does not demand targeting are also capable of that.
  • Using damage orb:
    • You can poke at range with Biotic Orb to farm up your ultimate. Avoid doing that, if you predict that enemy will engage in less than 10 seconds, though. Shooting Biotic Orb into the doors of spawn room at the beginning of the game, can grant you 11-12% of ultimate charge.
    • When group of enemies is under the crowd control effect like Earth Shatter or Graviton Surge, it will usually be a good idea to send your Biotic Orb in to increase your team’s damage per seconds output.
    • Use damage orb in duels with enemies that do not pose an immediate threat to you, like enemy Mercy or Moira - it will help you quickly finish them off. When you are in danger of losing life, you should resort to healing orb instead.

• Fade [Second Ability]: Upon activation, Moira will become untargetable and invisible and her movement speed will be increased greatly. Moira cannot perform any action other than moving during Fade.
  • Mechanics:
    • Moira cannot be damaged while in Fade, but she also cannot be healed by abilities, that require aiming (Mercy's beam, Zenyatta's Orb). She can, however, pick up a healthpack and be healed by her Biotic Orb and possibly other area of effect heals (it remains to be tested).
    • Fade’s momentum can be preserved. At the end of the effect, player can perform jump to move slightly further than normally. Moira can also use small obstacles as ramps – dashing into them and jumping just before contact will give Moira some vertical momentum. It’s unclear whether it’s a bug or feature.
    • You can move freely during Fade. This includes turning around, changing direction of movement, jumping, stopping and standing in place.
    • Fade does not grant vertical movement. However, it can be used to change direction in the air – when you are knocked back off the platform, you can activate Fade and fly back to safety.
  • Uses of Fade:
    • Avoid lethal damage – invincibility granted by Fade allows Moira to survive situation, that would otherwise be deadly. Properly timed, it will allow you to dodge D.Va’s Self-destruct or Junkrat’ mines and get out of range of dangerous ultimates such as Tactical Visor or Blizzard. As Fade gives Moira untargetability it can be used to get out of the Graviton Surge.
    • Disengage from enemies – as healer, your survival is crucial for winning fights. Moira is better suited for duels than most of other healers, but when she finds herself in life-threatening situation she should Fade away. As you have freedom of movement and invisibility during this ability, make your best to break line of sight with attackers – it’s almost guaranteed to confuse them.
    • Reposition – During fights, Moira can use Fade to reach positon, that allows her to use her Primary Fire more efficiently. This use naturally combine with previous one, as the most optimal position for Moira is behind her team. During duels, you should use Fade to move behind your enemy to disorientate them and gain some free damage off your Secondary Fire.
    • Engage on singled out or weakened enemies – you damage dealing capabilities as Moira will usually be enough to execute damaged enemy squishies. However, using Fade this way you may find yourself out of position and without escape cooldown.

• Coalescence (Ultimate): Moira channels a beam in front of her, that heal allies, damages enemies and passes through barriers.
  • Mechanics:
    • Coalescence creates a long-range beam, that will shoot in the direction of your crosshair. It’s ideally straight and follows your controller’s movement without any delay. Aiming with Coalescence is similar to aiming with Zarya’s Primary Fire.
    • Coalescence will not stop at the first target hit. Instead, it will go through any hero and barrier on its way and affect every viable target in its area of effect, which is shaped like a cylinder with one meter radius and 30 meter length.
    • Coalescence will heal every ally in the area of effect for 140 health per second and will deal 70 damage to every enemy. Moira herself is not in the area of effect of her Ultimate. However, she is granted a 50 health per second regeneration during channelling.
    • While using Coalescence, Moira’s movement speed is increased and she hovers above the ground. The latter effect is similar to Zenyatta’s and does not grant ability to fly or slowfall (in other words, it’s a fancy walking animation).
    • Coalescence has a line of sight requirement built into it. If you fire around an obstacle, your allies may be inside of the Coalescence’s animation, but if Moira can’t see them, they will not receive healing (analogically for damage).
    • Coalescence is a channelled ability – Moira cannot use other abilities during it and channelling will be interrupted by stuns and hack.
  • Using Coalescence:
    • Use Coalescence liberally – it’s a low value ultimate, that recharges very fast despite its high charge cost.
    • Coalescence is at its peak efficiency when you are able to line up many targets in its area of effect. During channelling, use your increased movement speed to reposition yourself, so that as many heroes as possible are affected by your Ultimate. A perfect scenario for Coalescence is a fight in tight area, where both ally and enemy movement is limited.
    • Prioritize healing with Coalescence over dealing damage. It’s much easier to line up your allies than enemies, and Coalescence’s damage is very underwhelming for an ultimate ability, while burning through its healing is very hard.
    • That being said, if you are proficient in tracking, you should try to take down low HP targets. However, if your enemy receives any healing at all, you should usually let go of them – killing healed target with Coalescence’s 70 damage per second alone will simply take too much time.
    • Coalescence’s healing is not enough to outheal most of offensive ultimates – Tactical Visor, Death Blossom, well used Rocket Barrage, etc. will outpace Coalescence. However, using it Moira can significantly increase time to kill and allow allies to retreat to safety.
    • When using Coalescence, Moira becomes a fairly vulnerable target. Her self-healing is limited to 50 health per second (she can achieve over 100 with her basic abilities), and she cannot use Fade. When you are a target of an enemy Ultimate it’s a much better idea to ensure your safety first with basic abilities (namely Fade) and only then activate Coalescence.
    • Coalescence fares poorly as an ‘oh shit’ cooldown - Transcendence outpaces it in this regard in pretty much any situation I can think of. Thus, I recommend using Coalescence proactively, to support your pushes, or slow down enemy ones’.

General strategies

• Priorities:
  • 0. Think - the list below is not set in stone. During a course of teamfight you must make your own decisions based on the circumstances you are facing.
  • 1. Your own safety – while keeping your team alive is a reason you play healer, if you die your allies will soon follow, as they will not have a way to sustain themselves in a teamfight. Use Fade to avoid attackers and dodge lethal damage and keep your health high with the combination of basic abilities.
  • 2. Healing ally in immediate risk of dying - when one of your teammates is receiving damage very quickly or is on low health, you should prioritize healing them to prevent their death. Biotic Grasp is one of the strongest healing effects in the game, and will be able to outheal many sources of damage. Be careful with using Biotic Orb in these situations though – time that is needed to cast it and resume healing with Primary Fire may cost your ally life.
  • 3. Healing a group of allies - when multiple allies take spread damage while standing close to each other, Moira is the best healer to deal with it. Combination of Biotic Grasp and Orb healing effects will allow you to reach a short burst of stunning 140 health per second healing, that will outpace nearly all non-Ultimate damage, that enemies may throw at you. Healing in this scenario charges Moira’s ultimate at break-neck pace.
  • 4. Damaging low health targets - Moira’s lock-on Secondary Fire and damaging Biotic Orb will allow her to fairly effectively pick an elimination on low health enemies. If the target is receiving any healing though, Moira’s damage alone is likely not going to be enough to burn through their healthpool.
  • 5. Damage enemies, that are not behind barriers - it will allow you to recharge your healing resource quicker, heal yourself and help your damage dealers in burning targets down. This also builds up your ultimate charge. When you are certain, that enemy will not engage in the next 10 second, you may also use your Biotic Orb to harass targets behind barriers.
  • 6. Damage barriers - to put it simply: it’s not your job and you are terrible at it. If there is precisely nothing else for you to do, you may attack barriers with your Secondary Fire, but it will neither heal you nor restore your healing resource.

Story

"Science will reveal the truth."

Equal parts brilliant and controversial, scientist Moira O'Deorain is on the cutting edge of genetic engineering, searching for a way to rewrite the fundamental building blocks of life. Though O'Deorain will go to any lengths to make scientific breakthroughs, her work is still unknown to most of the world. But now that she has been freed from all constraints, it is only a matter of time before everything changes.

O'Deorain has a negative view on Overwatch, claiming that it was responsible for stifling scientific advancement for decades. She has no interest in world conquest (though is willing to work with those who might have such a goal), but is rather simply interested in humanity. She is a geneticist first and foremost, and that's the scope of her ambition. With very flexible morals, O'Deorain always wants to plough on ahead with her research, and has no patience for those who urge caution or restraint.

Her right hand is heavily scarred; it has been speculated that it is a result of experimentation or a genetic anomaly.

Background

“	We are bedevilled by the mysteries of creation. Science can reveal the truths that lie behind these many questions. What we learn can unlock the true potential of humanity.	„
	~ Moira O'Deorain

O'Deorain conducts her research

Over a decade ago, O'Deorain made waves when she published a controversial paper detailing a methodology for creating custom genetic programs that could alter DNA at a cellular level. It seemed like a promising step toward overcoming diseases and disorders and maximizing human potential. Dissent among her peers soon followed. Many considered her work to be dangerous because of its perceived ethical shortfalls, and O'Deorain was even accused of having the same unchecked desire for scientific advancement that some believed had caused the Omnic Crisis. In addition, other geneticists were unable to reproduce the results of Moira's research, which further called her discoveries into question. Instead of kickstarting her career, her paper seriously damaged her reputation. Overwatch was among those who condemned her research, and in O'Deorain's own words, tried to silence her.

O'Deorain experiments on Reyes

She received a lifeline in an offer from an unlikely source: Overwatch's covert ops division, Blackwatch. She was personally recruited by Blackwatch's commander, Gabriel Reyes, who wanted someone who could help advise him on matters pertaining to genetics. She continued her work in the shadows while developing new weapons and technologies for the organization. Freed from her shackles, her genetic research greatly accelerated. She had interactions with Blackwatch members Jesse McCree and Genji Shimada, all of whom had their likes and dislikes pertaining to each other. Among her experiments was one done Reyes himself. Her experiments on Reyes gave him super-human abilities, causing his cells to regenerate and decay at a hyper-accelerated rate. Her employment was a closely kept secret, until it was uncovered during inquiries following the Venice incident. Many high-ranking Overwatch officials disavowed all knowledge of her affiliation with them.

O'Deorain, now a member of Talon

After Overwatch was disbanded, O'Deorain was forced to turn to unconventional sources of funding. This time, she was invited to join the scientific collective that had founded the city of Oasis, and was selected to be their Minister of Genetics. Yet some whispered that the shadowy Talon organization had already been supporting her for years, aiding her experiments in exchange for utilizing the results for their own purposes. By the time of Doomfist's return to Talon (or after his return), Moira apparently had a seat on Talon's inner council. O'Deorain's goals of pushing forward human evolution meshed well with Talon's, and she found a patron for her research in Doomfist.

Trivia

• Moira was announced as the 26th playable hero for Overwatch at Blizzcon 2017. She is the second healer and fourth female hero to be released after Overwatch's premiere.
• Moira is an Anglicisation of the Irish name Máire, ultimately derived from the biblical Mary, as well as a Greek name meaning "fate." O'Deorain is an Irish name meaning "descendant of the exile."
• Moira was first shown to players as a member of the Talon Inner Council in the comic Doomfist: Masquerade, but was not given a name or speaking role.
• The day before her reveal, a research paper labeled "Draft: Repairing Degenerative Genetic Structures" was added to the Oasis map, hinting at Moira's occupation and involvement with Reaper.
• There is a story behind Moira's decrepit right hand, hinted to be the result of coming into contact with an anomalous genetic experiment.
• Moira's interactions with Widowmaker within the game indicate that she had a hand in her transformation to becoming a Talon assassin.
• Moira is the second hero after D.Va who can perform the "Quick Melee" attack with both her hands, chosen randomly.
• Moira has heterochromia on her eyes, the right one being orange while the left one is blue. However, it's not known if she born with it or she acquired it with one of her experiments.

Development

Early concept art of Moira.

Moira's early ideation began with a combination of both gameplay and story ideas, stemming from strong player demand for a new support healer. Their initial goal was to introduce a shady, morally ambiguous healer to contrast with the existing "benevolent healer" archetypes already in the game. The developers wanted her to have connections with various groups in the Overwatch setting. Initial concepts gravitated towards a set of designs with a mysterious androgynous appeal, with the first iteration being outfitted with a set of four mechanical tentacles. Feeling that the tentacles would be difficult to incorporate into gameplay, they progressed to a more conventional, toned-down design with a two-handed spray cannon and began incorporating scientific apparatuses such as tubes and cannisters into her look, but felt that her silhouette became too similar to Zarya's.

Thumbnails exploring different looks and weapons for Moira, including one inspired by the Omniblade (far right).

At this point they produced a number of thumbnails to experiment with different weapons and costumes while retaining her gaunt, androgynous appearance, with several that wielded a various clawed gloves and gauntlets, as well as a concept inspired by Sombra's original Omniblade design, incorporating baggy sleeves and throwable syringes. The latter design also introduced the idea of a duality between her left and right hands, with one used to deal damage and the other to heal. Elements from these thumbnails were pulled together to create her final design, incorporating the earlier scientific details with a color-changing liquid to differentiate her healing and damage dealing abilities.

Moira's initial gameplay design involved her having a large health pool, which she would spend as a resource to heal allies while draining health from enemies, but it proved to be too difficult to balance. In her final design she instead uses seperate Regeneration and Decay versions of her abilities, with her Biotic Grasp: Decay ability leeching health from enemies and enhancing the effectiveness of her Regeneration abilities. Because she is one of the few characters in the game to have both hands visible on screen at all times, great care was taken with her animations to convey how these different abilities worked and reflected her design and personality. Her Fade ability was also designed to be similar to Reaper's Wraith Form, showing that the two characters are connected. The original version of her ultimate ability was a transformation that involved biotic energy swirling around her and gave her a beam that could both heal and damage, but as the beam was the most interesting aspect of the ability they decided to make it her ultimate's sole focus.

Patch notes history

For more information, see Patch Notes

External links

• Official Site - Moira