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Overwatch Reveals New Hero Doctrine at BlizzCon 2026: Abilities, Playstyle, and More
Overwatch has unveiled its newest hero, Doctrine, on the BlizzCon 2026 stage. The vampire‑inspired hero will join the game's roster as a Support in Season 5.
What's even more exciting is that Doctrine's limited‑time Hero Trial went live immediately after the announcement, allowing players to hop into Quick Play and get a feel for him before he permanently joins the servers next season.
Doctrine's hero trailer opens with Doomfist, Sombra, Widowmaker, and Reaper breaking into the upcoming Escort map, Watchpoint: Grimsvötn, a Supermax Detention Facility, to extract him. The team faces resistance from the watchpoint's security forces, and after a tough fight, Doomfist succeeds in reconnecting with his old friend.
We're then introduced to the new hero, who initially appears old and shriveled. However, after wearing an armband handed to him by Doomfist, Doctrine is fully rejuvenated and returns to what appears to be his original form.
With Doctrine joining Overwatch, Blizzard has fulfilled its promise of releasing 10 new heroes in 2026. Read on to learn more about the hero.
Doctrine Hero Trial is Now Live in Overwatch
Weeks ahead of his official in‑game debut, Doctrine is now available for trial in Quick Play. You can also head to the Practice Range to familiarize yourself with the hero before taking him into live matches.
Doctrine's Hero Trial will end on Monday, September 14 (Pacific Time). Over these two days, players worldwide can try their hand with the new hero and provide Blizzard with sufficient data to make any necessary adjustments before Doctrine's official launch in Season 5.
Doctrine’s Ability Kit
Since Doctrine's Hero Trial is already live, we've been introduced to his ability kit. With this hero, Overwatch has introduced a new type of ability: an "Infuse" buff that Doctrine can apply to himself to boost his own damage, healing, and abilities.
While damage and healing buffs are nothing new to the game, Doctrine's ability to heighten the effects of his own kit is something we're not used to seeing in Overwatch. Here's a look at the new Support's full kit:
Weapon
Eternal Scepter
- Mid-range weapon that heals allies and damages enemies.
- Infused: Fires a larger piercing blast.
Abilities
Infuse
- Add a powerful effect to your next ability.
Shrouded Momentum
- Rush horizontally with damage reduction.
- Infused: Gain free-flight.
Invigorating Drones
- Deploy drones to an ally, granting attack speed and healing.
- Infused: Also deploy drones to yourself.
Ultimate
Deliverance
- Launch a swarm of drones that reduces enemy maximum health and grants allies overhealth.
Passives
Subrole: Survivor
- Movement abilities start passive health regeneration.
Perks
Minor (Level 2)
-
Saving Grace: Invigorating Drones heal for 40 health when applied.
-
Sanguine Siphon: Heal for 50% of damage dealt with Infused Eternal Scepter.
Major (Level 3)
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Transfusion: Reduce Infuse cooldown based on damage dealt and healing provided.
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Cost of Life: Sacrifice 25 maximum health. Eternal Scepter healing is increased by 20%.
Doctrine’s Abilities and Playstyle Explained
As mentioned, Doctrine has a unique kit with an interesting set of utilities. His weapon of choice is a mid‑range scepter that can both damage enemies and heal allies.
Despite being a mid‑range weapon, the Eternal Scepter has an impressive falloff range of 30-50 meters. Up to 30 m, Doctrine deals 60 damage (90 for headshots), gradually dropping to 18.
Healing follows the same range, restoring 18-60 HP depending on distance. With the Infuse buff active, damage increases to 27-90, while healing is boosted to 36-120. Both ranges also receive a 10m extension when Infused.
As part of the Survivor subrole, Doctrine has a movement ability called Shrouded Momentum, which allows him to dash horizontally with a movement speed bonus and 50% reduced damage taken. The ability takes a unique turn when Infused, allowing the hero to fly freely.
Doctrine's Invigorating Drones serve as a quick way to provide massive healing with a single click. When Infused, the ability also heals Doctrine himself alongside the targeted ally. This can be further boosted with the Saving Grace Minor Perk, which grants an additional 40 HP instant heal.
With his ultimate, Deliverance, Doctrine launches a moving swarm of drones that reduce the maximum health of enemies within range by up to 50% and grant nearby allies up to 150 HP overhealth. This is the only ability in his kit that cannot be Infused (and rightly so).
Unlike most Support ultimates, which either grant overhealth or damage and debuff enemies, Deliverance does a fair bit of both and can be crucial in shifting the dynamic of team fights. While the ability does appear strong right now, we'll have to wait until closer to the official release to see whether it will be balanced.
Doctrine's perks work well with his overall kit. Saving Grace, as mentioned earlier, improves his drones' healing potential. Sanguine Siphon, on the other hand, serves as an efficient self‑heal tool. Considering Doctrine can already self‑heal with his Infused drones and activate passive health regeneration through his movement ability, the former appears to be the more impactful perk.
As for Major Perks, Doctrine's Transfusion allows him to reduce Infuse's 8‑second cooldown by dealing damage and healing. Based on his kit, Doctrine appears to be a hero who will need to stay active on the battlefield. And with Infuse having remarkable effects on both Doctrine and his teammates, this perk could prove highly useful.
Doctrine's other Major Perk, Cost of Life, increases his weapon's healing by 20%. However, this comes at the cost of his maximum health dropping from 250 to 225. With this perk equipped, the hero can heal 22-72 HP, which is boosted to 43-144 HP when Infused. This can have a massive impact on Doctrine's healing potential, but with survivability at risk, players would benefit from equipping the Sanguine Siphon Minor Perk before it.
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Featured Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
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