Zarya

Lore & Background

As a young woman in Siberia, Aleksandra's village was attacked by a robotic force called 'omnics', which devastated the region. Seeking strength to protect her people and homeland from future assaults, she became a bodybuilder and weightlifter, and was expected to break a number of records in the world championships. However, dormant omnics reactivated in the area on the evening of the tournament, and she withdrew from the competition to join local defense forces. To this end she uses a particle cannon, originally stated to have been torn off an enemy vessel, but later retconned to be a company's experimental weapon deemed too heavy for others to use. Her story is further fleshed out in the digital comic book series, first appearing in Zarya: Searching, the fifteenth issue of the 2016 Overwatch tie-in comic book series. In it, she is tasked by the CEO of the company that developed her weapon to track down the terrorist hacker Sombra. Working hesitantly alongside a friendly omnic named Lynx, they track down and capture Sombra, only for the hacker to reveal that the CEO has been receiving technology from partnerships with the enemy forces. Rescuing Lynx after Sombra hacks him, she decides to keep the information secret for the good of the Russian people. Later she appears in the fourth issue of Overwatch's New Blood comic miniseries, where gunslinger Cassidy asks her to join the global peace-keeping force 'Overwatch', and she accepts after they defend her hometown from omnic forces. She later fights alongside him and the other Overwatch members as they protect the South Korean city of Busan from attack in issue 5.

In Their Own Story

The wind howled across the frozen training grounds of the facility, biting at exposed skin. Aleksandra adjusted her grip on the heavy particle cannon, feeling the familiar hum of energy beneath her palm. She lifted her personal shield, watching as the blue light shimmered into existence, deflecting a simulated missile strike from the drones overhead. Her muscles tensed, absorbing the kinetic impact, converting it into fuel for her next shot. There was no rest for those who protected the weak, she reminded herself. The snow fell silently around her, but the war never truly slept.

Reader's Guide

In Overwatch, Zarya is classified as a Tank-class character, designed to absorb large amounts of damage from the enemy team while protecting her teammates. Her weapon has two firing modes: one that fires a steady stream of energy in a beam, and another that lobs a projectile that explodes upon impact dealing splash damage. She has two activated abilities that deploy a shield (sometimes called 'bubbles' by players) on herself for a short period, or on a targeted ally for a shorter period. This shield absorbs incoming attacks and projectiles until its duration expires or it absorbs a certain amount of damage. Damage absorbed is converted into a boost to Zarya's own outgoing damage due to her 'Energy' passive ability, with the amount diminishing slowly when not being replenished or entirely if Zarya is killed. Her ultimate ability, 'Graviton Surge', requires charging before use. Once full, it fires a projectile that upon contact explodes into an area of effect field that pulls enemies towards it and immobilizes them for a short period. Game Director Geoff Goodman stated her primary concept was to develop a tank character that 'wanted to take damage'. They originally considered her gaining shields from absorbed damage, but instead focused on her shields powering up her weapon due to the lower damage output Tank-class characters in Overwatch were defined by. Graviton Surge was the first move they developed, and the team felt they had nailed it from the start, with only slight tweaking required. They experimented with a different ultimate that would simultaneously project shields to all teammates, but felt it was 'visually messy' and didn't have the same impact. Goodman added he felt the move fit her personality, stating '[Zarya's] personality and background really lean into this 'c'mon and try to hit me' vibe that our game design was built on.'

Did You Know?

• Zarya stands 6 feet 5 inches (195 cm) tall, making her one of the tallest characters in Overwatch.
• Her tribal tattoo on her left upper bicep reads '512', representing her weight lifting world record in kilograms; an earlier version read 312 instead.
• Zarya was added to Heroes of the Storm during its 'Machines of War event' in September 2016 at the request of that game's director Jade Martin, due to her heavy use of the character in Overwatch.
• Several of Zarya's skins were modified during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, with Blizzard removing the 'Z' symbol that had become representative of the pro-Russian war position.
• Her design was significantly altered for Overwatch 2: her haircut changed to a ponytail with side fade, her arm tattoo extended into a full sleeve, and her armor was heavily modified to a black and white appearance with reduced visible wires and ports.