Pharah

Lore & Background

Fareeha Amari is an Egyptian woman introduced in the 2016 first-person shooter Overwatch, voiced by Jen Cohn. Her mother, Ana, was a member of the global peace-keeping force "Overwatch", before vanishing. Aspiring to follow in her footsteps, Fareeha enlisted in and rose up through the officer ranks of the Egyptian army. Before she could join Overwatch, the organization disbanded, and she instead became an officer at a private security firm. Under the call sign "Pharah", she is tasked with defending an artificial intelligence research facility. She later returns in the game's sequel, Overwatch 2. Her story is further fleshed out in the digital comic book series, first appearing in Pharah: Mission Statement, a digital comic released in 2017. In it, an aggressive artificial intelligence called "Anubis" at the facility breaches containment and proceeds to take control of surrounding robots to attack everyone, including Pharah and her team. When her team captain is killed in the attack, she rallies the remaining members to attack and destroy Anubis, and through its use of a hive mind, traps it in a feedback loop. Afterwards, the team promotes her to be their new captain. She later appears in the second issue of Overwatch's New Blood comic miniseries, protecting a community from the terrorist group Talon, when she is approached by her childhood friend Cassidy, and later her estranged mother. Though they ask her to join a restored Overwatch group, she declines, stating that she is needed in her home more. After Talon attacks again, they work together to fight them off, and while Pharah decides to remain where she is, she is willing to revisit the idea of joining them at a later date. In issue 5 of New Blood, Pharah is shown to have joined the group between chapters, helping to defend the city of Busan from attack. Pharah appears in As You Are, one of many short stories released by Blizzard as part of the 2023 Pride event for Overwatch 2. In it, when asked if she has any romantic interest in Cassidy, she laughs and responds no, stating that she is a lesbian.

In Their Own Story

In the 2016 Overwatch tie-in comic Pharah: Mission Statement, an aggressive artificial intelligence called "Anubis" at the facility breaches containment and proceeds to take control of surrounding robots to attack everyone, including Pharah and her team. When her team captain is killed in the attack, she rallies the remaining members to attack and destroy Anubis, and through its use of a hive mind, traps it in a feedback loop. Afterwards, the team promotes her to be their new captain. In the second issue of Overwatch's New Blood comic miniseries, Pharah is protecting a community from the terrorist group Talon when she is approached by her childhood friend Cassidy, and later her estranged mother. Though they ask her to join a restored Overwatch group, she declines, stating that she is needed in her home more. After Talon attacks again, they work together to fight them off, and while Pharah decides to remain where she is, she is willing to revisit the idea of joining them at a later date. In issue 5 of New Blood, Pharah is shown to have joined the group between chapters, helping to defend the city of Busan from attack. In the 2023 short story As You Are, when asked if she has any romantic interest in Cassidy, she laughs and responds no, stating that she is a lesbian.

Reader's Guide

In Overwatch, Pharah is classified as a Damage-class character, designed to provide a more offensive role in team compositions. Her short term flight ability makes her one of the most mobile characters in the game, able to reach any point on a map and far more height. By holding the jump button, she can utilize her passive "Hover Jets" ability to gain upward momentum slowly until the button is released. Pharah's main form of attack, her rocket launcher, fires a long range projectile that explodes to deal splash damage, hitting enemies caught in the radius, with a direct hit doing significantly more damage. The attacks can also damage her. In a Reddit "ask me anything" thread with the Overwatch developers, Geoff Goodman compared Pharah's gameplay to that of another first-person shooter, Tribes. Pharah also has several abilities that require activation, though the first two have a cooldown period after use and are unable to be used again during that duration. "Jump Jet" gives a burst of upward movement, at a much higher pace than "Hover Jets", and can enable her to reach high ground areas more quickly. Alternatively Pharah's "Concussive Blast" fires a projectile that pushes away any characters caught in its blast radius, including Pharah, but will not damage her allowing it to be used for mobility. Lastly her 'ultimate' ability, "Barrage", must be charged before use.

Did You Know?

• Pharah was originally conceived by Geoff Goodman as a male character named 'Rocket Dude' with a rocket launcher and a jetpack.
• Her internal codename during development was 'Rocket Queen', in reference to the Guns & Roses song of the same name.
• The name 'Pharah' was originally considered for the character herself, not for the angel-themed hero who later became Mercy.
• Pharah stands 6 feet 1 inch (185 cm) tall and has an Eye of Horus tattoo under her left eye.
• In a 2023 short story titled 'As You Are', Pharah was revealed to be a lesbian.