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Numbani
Numbani3

Type
Hybrid (Assault > Escort)
Location
Africa
Terrain
Urban

Numbani is a Hybrid (Assault into Escort) map in Overwatch.

Official Description

Known as the "City of Harmony," Numbani is one of the few places where omnics and humans live as equals. This collaboration has led to the creation of one of the world's greatest and most technologically advanced cities in the short time since its establishment after the end of the Omnic Crisis. As part of this year's Unity Day festivities celebrating the city's founding, the gauntlet of the infamous Doomfist is being exhibited at the Numbani Heritage Museum.[1]

Story

One of the world's most peaceful[2] and foremost centers of scientific discovery and exploration,[3] Numbani is an utopian city on the edge of the African savanna, somewhere near Nigeria.[4][5] Called the City of Harmony, omnic-human equality is at the core of Numbani.[6][7] Omnics and humans built Numbani together, and their mutual cooperation is the driving force behind Numbani's success.[8] It celebrates an event called "Unity Day".[9]

At some point after the Omnic Crisis, it was identified as an area with an active threat.[5] It is currently under threat by Doomfist.[8] To defend itself against those that would see the omnic-human relationship harmed and to defend against Doomfist, the citizens of Numbani developed the OR15 defense robot.[2]

OR15

Atlas News report on Numbani airport attack

At some point after Overwatch's recall, the Numbani airport was attacked by Doomfist who destroyed several OR15 defense robots.[2] As a result, flights in and out of Numbani were suspended.[10][11] Doomfist's gauntlet was also stolen.[12]

Gameplay

Numbani is a Hybrid of the Assault and Escort modes. The attacking team must gain control of the capture point outside of Aetria, and then escort the payload, which used to hold Doomfist's Gauntlet (As of 1.8. Patch, was removed) , to the Numbani Heritage Museum.

Strategy

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The various raised platforms and walkways scattered throughout the map can be used by both the attacking and defending teams who have heroes with movement abilities such as Tracer, Hanzo and Widowmaker. Controlling these high ground areas can give your team a very strong advantage when attacking, and can deny that same advantage when defending.

Attack

Numbani requires a fast team with high mobility and strong ranged abilities, around every corner there can be a long sight line for heroes such as McCree and Soldier: 76 to take advantage of. When attacking on Numbani, it is recommended to take advantage of and attempt to control the various catwalks and ledges as much as possible, as the high ground in this map allows high mobility heroes like Hanzo and Genji to move into position behind your team without ever stepping near the payload. The spawn distances for attackers is about equal with the defenders, so taking a strong position on or near the point is more valuable than on a map with a very short attacker spawn like King's Row.

Assault

There are three main paths your team can take when assaulting the first point on Numbani, the first is a straight run past the buses, past the small room with the health pack, and onto the point, this is most often called Mid or Street. This is the easiest path to defend and It is recommended to avoid this path whenever possible.

The second option is a path that wraps around the far left side of the point, past the stairs and opens up your team to a cliff. Just after the cliff the path opens up into a set of stairs to the left with the point directly in front, this path is most often called Left or Side path. This is a fairly easy path to defend, and so this path is most often taken as a surprise, because if defenders are positioned on Top, there is a chance your team can slip by underneath the bridge and make your way up the stairs.

The third and fourth options, most commonly referred to as Top and Bottom, are the most common paths taken on Numbani. The Bottom path is entered through the first door near the second bus, this will take you through a room with a large health pack and bring you directly onto the point. This path is similar to Mid, but it provides cover from defenders positioned on Top and gives you easier access to the stairs. The Top path is taken by moving left up onto the ledge and up the large set of stairs near the entrance to Bottom, this path has a very hard choke to push through and is the only path without a large health pack, but gives you the strongest position to take the point.

The main goal of Numbani first point is to enter in through any of the four paths and take the high ground as fast as possible, because of the distance from spawn being about equal for attackers and defenders, taking an advantageous position is very valuable and losing a teammate during a push is much worse than on other assault or hybrid maps. Once your team has secured the high ground, you have the option to stay and fight the defenders positioned on the far bridge, wrap around the back of the point or drop down onto the point. It is usually correct to avoid dropping onto the point until at least 2 of the defenders have been killed to force them off of high ground to try and contest, at which point it will be easy to clean up the remaining defenders and take the point.

Escort

Characters like Lúcio, Mei, And Reinhardt are very strong on this map, due to their mobility. Mei can blow off any enemy easily by walling some certain places off. Lúcio can blast people into walls or rooms for a more vertical advantage, and Reinhardt can use the large city structure like walls and such to charge his enemies to their death.

Defense

Heroes like McCree, Widowmaker and Genji are good for this map, due to the many ledges and walkways that allow them to get a heavy vertical and tactical advantage. Genji can escape to a large slew of rooms and ledges to avoid death. Widowmaker can use her grappling hook to send herself flying across the map onto something like the payload or a walkway. McCree can use one of the various flanking spots to use his Flashbang + Fan The Hammer + Tactical Roll to easily pick off squishes like Tracer and Soldier: 76.

Assault

The first point on Numbani has four main locations to pay attention to as a defender, you have the main point which you are trying to defend, the ledge near Top and the staircase, the far bridge and walkway on the opposite side of Top closer to defender spawn and the main entrance aka Mid. There is also a door on the back side of the point that leads into the rest of the map that some heroes may use to escape, but staying in this area is often a bad idea.

When positioning your team, it is recommended to place ranged healers like Ana and Zenyatta and ranged offense heroes like McCree on the far bridge and walkway, making use of the long sight lines and cover there, while the more close ranged heroes like Mercy, Reinhardt and Reaper can be positioned on Top to cover the choke. This position gives your ranged healer and DPS role a large view of the point while still being within their effective range, and the rest of your team is in a good position to control the position that gives the attackers the most options. If the attacking team decides to avoid Top and go a different path, then the healer or ranged DPS will be able to spot them and notify the rest of the team to position accordingly.

Remember that dropping onto the point with attackers on the high ground makes you very vulnerable, so try to avoid leaving your position unless it is absolutely necessary.

Escort

A defending Junkrat's resting emote can be used to get an advantage by emoting in a bush and contesting the point or payload while remaining hidden. This is often called 'The Sexy Junkrat'

Locations

Numbani

Numbani promotional image

Known Nationals

Numbani, flag

Flag of Numbani

Trivia

Numbani-cnpct

The original Numbani concept

  • The origins of Numbani lie in the development of Titan. The initial concept was designed by Peter Lee. He designed the city, but in the Titan setting, Numbani was a very different city in terms of tone. As Overwatch was developed, the story was taken in a different direction, as it became a city of peace and harmony between omnics and humans.[13]
  • The Numbani flag does not correspond to any real-world African flag. While its geographic location has been established,[5] it's unknown which country it resides in, or whether it is a city state.
  • The Adawe International Terminal and Adawe Avenue may or may not be a reference to Gabrielle Adawe, United Nations under-secretary-general and key architect of Overwatch.
  • Atlas News runs a weekly "Spotlight on Numbani" segment.[3]
  • Numbani Tours offers vacations to the city.[6]
  • The name Numbani is possibly derived from the Swahili word "nyumbani," meaning "home."

360° Panorama

References

  1. Overwatch Visual Source Book
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2017-3-2, Developer Update | Introducing Orisa | Overwatch, Youtube.
  3. 3.0 3.1 2017-02-21, AN INTERVIEW WITH INVENTOR EFI OLADELE. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2017-02-23
  4. 2015-08-11, "Here, Lúcio plays on the attacking team in Numbani, a hybrid Point Capture/Payload map set in a utopian city on the edge of the African savanna," Youtube.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 2015-07-07, Soldier: 76 Origin Story, YouTube.
  6. 6.0 6.1 2015-07-24, [SPONSORED] Visit Numbani—the City of Harmony. Book your vacation today with Numbani Tours! Twitter.
  7. 2015-08-08, gamescom 2015 Livestream: "Humans and robots here live in peace, they're united as one people, they have equal rights, and because of that they've been able to build this amazing first world city." Youtube.
  8. 8.0 8.1 2015-11-07, Blizzcon 2015 - The World of Overwatch: "But, also, they are threatened by the villainous hero Doomfist." Youtube, uploaded on 2015-11-16.
  9. 2015-08-04, Doomfist exhibit opening Numbani Unity Day, Twitter.
  10. 2017-02-24, Overwatch Tweet, @PlayOverwatch, Accessed on 2017-02-24
  11. 2017-02-24, An Interview with Inventor Efi Oladele, PlayOverwatch. Accessed on 2017-02-21
  12. 2017-02-21, The Overwatch Character Teases Continue In-Game, GameSpot. Accessed on 2017-02-25
  13. Game Informer #81: Designing Overwatch: From Titan to Torbjörn
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