And here’s Es.P.E.R., another Hero concept I’ve been nursing for a very long time, without a design or a proper kit. Es.P.E.R. was actually the first Tank Hero concept I came up with, and I’m glad to see it finally fleshed out and completed.
I have a real soft spot for this good robot, I just think they’re neat!
Stats, Bio, Backstory, etc. under the cut~
Real Name: The Essential Protection and Emergency Rescue Unit
Alias: Es.P.E.R. / Esper
Role: Tank / Job: Extremely Versatile Flex Tank with Crowd Control and Healing Utility
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Hit Points: 350 / Health: 275 / Armour: 75
Primary Weapon: Light Darts
Ammo: 120 / Reload Speed: 1.75 Seconds / Rate of Fire: 3-12 Shots per Second
Damage: 9 - 12 / DPS: 27-36 - 108-144 / Falloff Range: 15 - 30M / Attack Type: Rapid-Fire Linear Projectiles
Primary Fire, Light Darts: Launch needle-thin shards of hardlight, piercing barriers and slipping past armour to deal damage. Light Dart damage drops off by 1 every 5M, and darts are fired in a tight circle pattern which becomes single pinpoint at the 45M mark. Light darts pierce placed barriers, ignore damage reduction from armour, and deal double damage to personal temporary barriers. Es.P.E.R. builds up their rate of fire while fire is maintained, starting at 3 shots per second and building to 12 over 1.5s. / Projectile Speed: 88 Meters per second
Ability 1, Shift Focus: Activate to choose between Es.P.E.R.’s other two forms, allowing for rotation between Tank Form, Support Form and Damage Form. Es.P.E.R.’s Healthpool and secondary ability changes between forms, and they also gain a unique passive bonus in each form.
In Tank Form, Es.P.E.R. gains an additional 250 Armour, and all damage they receive is reduced by -20%.
In Support Form, Es.P.E.R. gains an additional 100 Shields, and they continuously regenerate health at a rate of 5Hps, which increases to 45Hps outside of combat (after 3.5s without dealing or taking damage).
In Damage Form, Es.P.E.R.’s HP is their base 350, but their rate of fire becomes 5, increasing to 15 after 1.25s of shooting, their reload time is reduced to 1.4s, and their base movement speed is increased by +10%.
Tank Form is Es.P.E.R.’s default Spawn form, but getting Hacked or otherwise disabled reduces their HP to the 350 base for the duration, regardless of their current form. / Cooldown: 4s from Use
Ability 2, Tank Form, Force Pulse: Send out a shockwave which flings enemies in a 10M area around Es.P.E.R. away, dealing a small amount of damage upon knocking them away, and slightly more damage if they make contact with a wall. Force Pulse is not stopped by barriers, however passing through a barrier halves the effectiveness of the knockback. The shockwave expands as a ring from the centre of Es.P.E.R., expanding at roughly 15Mps up to the 10M AoE. / Maximum Knockback Distance: up to 20M from Es.P.E.R. / Initial Knockback Damage: 25 / Wall Contact Damage: 25 / Cooldown: 6s from Use
Ability 2, Support Form, Heal Pulse: Send out a healing pulse, granting nearby allies a short lived healing over time buff and a small amount of damage resistance. Heal Pulse is not stopped by barriers, and travels at a speed of 15Mps, stopping after it has travelled 30M. Healing from Heal Pulse is not affected by Heal Boost effects, and cannot be reduced by more than -40% from Anti-Heal effects. / Healing Per Second: 50 (Minimum of 30) / Damage Resistance: -10% / Duration: 2.5s / Cooldown: 6s from Use
Ability 2, Damage Form, Discordant Pulse: Send out continuous pulses of sound and light which hurt and confuse enemies. Discordant Pulse is not stopped by barriers, and barriers affected by it take 200 damage per second. Briefly surround Es.P.E.R. with an AoE which damages and slows enemies, as well as disabling the activation of their abilities for a short moment (Does not cancel active abilities, interrupt channelling, or count as a stun). Only enemies currently and immediately within the AoE are effected by it, and having their body be more than 50% outside it for any amount of time instantly stops the effects. / AoE: 10M / Damage Per Second: 50 (In increments of 5) / Slow Effect: -20% / Duration: 2s / Cooldown: 6s from end of Duration
Ability 3, Slipstream: Fly in the direction you are currently moving, creating a temporary slipstream which you and your allies can use to quickly move from end to end, even up and down. A created Slipstream lasts for 18s, or until a new one is created, and gives a +50% speed boost to anyone riding it, with a minimum speed of 6Mps. / Movement Speed on Use (Es.P.E.R.): 15Mps / Duration on Use (Slipstream Creation): 1.5s (22.5M maximum length) / Cooldown: 6s from end of Duration
Ultimate, Projected Fortress: Project a spherical barrier which pushes enemies back and stops then from entering the area it covers either until the barrier has lost half its health, or two thirds of its maximum duration has passed, at which point enemies become able to pass through it like any other barrier. While Projected Fortress is active, using any of Es.P.E.R.’s Pulse abilities will simultaneously cause the Projected Fortress barrier to send out an identical pulse, the effects of which can be stacked. The barrier will remain in the location it was projected from, including in mid-air, and both Es.P.E.R. and their allies can pass freely through it. / AoE: 14M / Barrier Health: 2500 / Maximum Duration: 12s / Required Charge: 2075
Passive, Es.P.E.R. Field: Es.P.E.R. constantly projects a personal barrier called an Es.P.E.R. Field, capable of taking a small amount of damage before being broken which protects their HP from high damage attacks at the start of a fight. The Es.P.E.R. Field regenerates its health passively after 2s of not taking damage if it has not been broken, and if it is broken, it goes on a 12s cooldown before coming back online with full health. It does not protect Es.P.E.R. from status effects, unless the application of said status effect requires the taking of damage, such as Burn, and certain Slows. Effects such as Stuns, Anti-Heal, Poison, AoE Slows, Knockback and Hack all ignore the Es.P.E.R. Field. When Es.P.E.R. reloads their Light Dart Ammo, the amount of ammo reloaded divided by 10 is taken off of Es.P.E.R. Field’s cooldown while it is offline, instantly reapplying it on a full reload. / Field Health: 35 / Self Regeneration Rate: 10 per Second
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Ultimate Voiceline (Self & Allies): Do Not Be Afraid. I Will Protect Us.
Ultimate Voiceline (Enemies): Initialising Projected Fortress.
Hero Select Voiceline: Es.P.E.R. Unit Online. I Am Ready to Protect You.
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Home / Base of Operations: Kalibo, The Philippines (Formerly), Watchpoint: Gibraltar
Nationality: N/A
Sexuality: N/A / Gender: N/A / Pronouns: They/Them
Age: 3 / Date of Birth: 29th of August
Height: 2ft 4in (Body + Legs & Ears) / 3ft 9in ( + Arms) / 6ft 1in (Floating)
Affiliation / Allegiance: The Arrowhead Corporation, Overwatch (Recalled)
Backstory: The Es.P.E.R. Unit is an experimental piece of personal protective machinery, a nostalgic throwback to what robotics looked like 2 decades before the Omnic Crisis; much more paired back in terms of personality and learning algorithms, but with a far greater focus on pre-programmed responses and adaptability.
Or at least, that was the pitch.
In truth, Es.P.E.R. became something of a passion project for Irlo Abayan and a few of his closest colleagues at Arrowhead, and eventually, his son, Bayani.
The creation of sentient A.I. has been a very taboo subject since the Crisis, for a number of reasons and in a number of ways. But the Es.P.E.R. project took a number of turns, and as one thing lead to another, before they really knew what they were doing, Es.P.E.R. was alive; constrained behind certain technological limitations, but alive.
Es.P.E.R. became a colleague in their own right, and even something of a family member, to the Abayan’s. And when Visor set out to help Overwatch rebuild, Es.P.E.R. came with.