'Overwatch' hero Orisa is officially out -- just not in competitive modes

Orisa is here. Mostly.

After three weeks on Overwatch's public test region, the new tank hero Orisa is available to play on all platforms today. For those who want to jump into the action with her in competitive, though, you'll have to keep waiting.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Orisa, the quadrupedal robot with an automatic weapon for an arm, is an interesting new hero that blends together a few different elements from existing heroes and gives them a unique spin. Like with any new hero, Orisa and her abilities are shaking up the meta. But for the first time ever Blizzard is only making her playable in non-competitive modes -- quick play, arcade and play vs. AI -- to give players time to get used to her before she shakes up competitive, too.

Overwatch principal designer Scott Mercer made the announcement on the Overwatch forums, saying Orisa will be disabled in competitive for one week:

When patch 1.9 releases tomorrow, Orisa will not initially be available for Competitive Play. We want to give players some time to learn about and play Orisa before she's placed into the crucible of Competitive Play.

Orisa's game-changing abilities include a deployable shield, a defensive ability that reduces the damage she takes and makes her impervious to movement-impairing attacks, a mini, detonatable graviton surge and an ultimate that increases the attack output of nearby allies within line of sight.

For a more in-depth look at Orisa, take a look at our ability breakdown and our guide for how best to use her.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Orisa is the youngest Overwatch hero to join the roster, only recently built by the 11-year-old genius from Numbani, Efi Oladele. She was modeled after OR-15 defensive robots (with a few upgrades) which were used to combat Doomfist.

Since Overwatch released in May 2016, Orisa is the third new hero to come out post-release, bringing the hero roster up to 24.