Overwatch devs confirm Tracer is still the mascot, tease laser-eye hero, and reveal Doctrine's origins

At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard sat down with press to talk about Overwatch's newest support hero Doctrine, Tracer's enduring status as the game's mascot, and a bizarre piece of development history — Tracer once fired lasers straight out of her eyes.

Game director Aaron Keller revealed that back in late 2013, when the Overwatch engine was first being built, the team didn't have a projectile system yet. So when Tracer fired, the game just shot two red lines from the camera position — literally out of her eyes. "We had a blast running around, just shooting lasers at each other," Keller recalled. That placeholder was eventually replaced by the pulse pistols players know today, but associate game director Alec Dawson didn't rule out a laser-eyed hero making it into the roster someday. "I think shooting lasers out of your eyes is pretty cool. Yeah, we can figure something out," he said, adding that "the possibilities are endless." On the mascot question, art director Dion Rogers was unambiguous: "Tracer is still the mascot for Overwatch. Very much. 'Tracer orange' is a quote the team uses all the time. The little cheeto on top of the sigil is orange. She's still that girl."

Doctrine — Hero 54 — is a vampire-themed support character with ties to Doomfist, hailing from Zimbabwe. The concept originated with lead narrative designer Miranda Moyer, who asked what a vampire would look like in the Overwatch universe. Rogers explained that the vampire angle unlocked everything from kit design to art direction, while the scientific side of the character was preserved: his cape still reads like a lab coat. Lead Hero Producer Kenny Hudson noted that Doctrine is nearly the last of ten heroes added to Overwatch in 2026, a remarkably dense content year for the game. Blizzard also confirmed two existing heroes are getting substantial reworks alongside Doctrine's arrival.

Both Rogers and Hudson were bullish on what comes next, with Rogers saying "there's a lot more we're cooking" and Hudson framing the goal as setting new targets rather than revisiting old ones. Whether that includes a laser-eyed hero remains to be seen, but Dawson's enthusiasm during the interview suggests the idea is at least on the table.