This article is about the character. For Ashe's ultimate ability, see Ashe.

B.O.B. is Elizabeth Ashe's loyal, lifelong omnic butler and bodyguard.

Abilities

Ultimate Ability

B.O.B.

Q

2450

Type

Ultimate Ability

Effect Type

Melee (charge)
Movement (charge)
Hitscan (arm cannon)

!

!

!

!

!

Deploy Bob. He charges forward and knocks enemies into the air, then attacks with his arm cannons.

Damage:

120 (charge)
17 (arm cannons)

Headshot:

✕

Rate of fire:

8 shots/s

Health:

1000
1150

Cast time:

0 + 0.5 seconds

Duration:

1.5 seconds (immobilize base)
0.5 seconds (immobilize flying)
4 seconds (charging)
10 seconds (after stopping)

Max. range:

70 meters (charge)
40 meters (arm cannons)

Movement speed:

15 m/s

Spread:

1.45 degrees

collide^✱

When two abilities with this property clash, both heroes and Deployables suffer Knockdown.

deployable

A non-player entity with a unique health pool.

hitscan^✱

This Deployable's projectile attacks and healing with no travel time, hitting targets instantly.

immobilize^✱

This Deployable's charge attack removes control of hero movement.

movement^✱

A Deployable with enhanced movement that ends prematurely when interrupted by Displace, Hacked, Hinder, Sleep and Stun.

Ashe summons her trusted omnic sidekick, B.O.B., who charges forward and knocks enemies into the air, then lays down suppressing fire with his arm cannons.

• Additional details
• Keywords

Additional details:

• Damage per second: 136 while active
  • B.O.B can deal a total of 1326 damage over the duration.
• B.O.B. appears slightly to the right of Ashe and lands 5 meters in front of her, then charges in the direction Ashe is looking at. Once B.O.B. bumps into an enemy or a wall, or travels 65 meters, B.O.B. halts and begins shooting nearby enemies like a turret.
  • If B.O.B. bumps into an enemy (or enemies), B.O.B. inflicts 120 damage to them and flings them into the air.
  • If a charging B.O.B. collides with Charge, Rocket Punch, Shield Bash, or another charging B.O.B., both participants get knocked down for 1.7 seconds.
  • B.O.B. automatically uses Symmetra's Teleporter if it's in his path.
• Unlike other turrets, B.O.B. has spread, meaning if you are far away enough, not every single bullet will land, this is most noticeable at his max range.
• B.O.B. prefers to target enemies that Ashe damages with her rifle.
  • Otherwise, B.O.B.'s targeting most likely behaves the same as Torbjorn's turret.
• B.O.B. is treated as an additional player for most effects, such as contesting/capturing objectives or Wrecking Ball's Adaptive Shield.
  • B.O.B. can be healed, buffed (e.g. Nano Boost), and debuffed (e.g. Hack).
    • If B.O.B. is hacked, B.O.B. becomes inactive for 3 seconds.
  • Damaging or healing B.O.B. does not give ultimate charge, but damage boosting as Mercy does.
• B.O.B.'s charge cannot be blocked by barriers, Defense Matrix, Kinetic Grasp, Javelin Spin Deflect, Power Matrix and Kekkai Sanctuary or boosted by Amplification Matrix, but the shots fired by him interact normally with all of the mentioned.
• B.O.B.'s charge counts as a movement ability, and is interrupted by rooted and hindered.
• Damage amplification buffs on Ashe do not affect B.O.B., but he can be directly boosted by them.
• Damage from B.O.B. applies the healing reduction from the Role: Damage passive, as if he were a Damage hero.
• B.O.B. does not receive the healing reduction from damage role passive when hit by a damage hero.
• B.O.B. has the Role: Tank passive and is considered a Tank in most regards.
  • This includes receiving reduced critical/headshot damage, reduced knockback, reduced Sleep Dart duration, additional Hit points in Role Queue, etc.

Keywords:

collide^✱

When two abilities with this property clash, both heroes and Deployables suffer Knockdown.

deployable

A non-player entity with a unique health pool.

hitscan^✱

This Deployable's projectile attacks and healing with no travel time, hitting targets instantly.

immobilize^✱

This Deployable's charge attack removes control of hero movement.

movement^✱

A Deployable with enhanced movement that ends prematurely when interrupted by Displace, Hacked, Hinder, Sleep and Stun.

Story

Kind-hearted, B.O.B. is unable to speak. He communicates through body language such as blinks and hand gestures.^[1]

Background

B.O.B. served as the butler of Elizabeth Ashe's family. Her parents paid little attention to her, and care of their daughter was mostly relegated to B.O.B. Thus, B.O.B. was there when Ashe's parents weren't.^[2] He was present when she partook in target shooting on the family estate.^[3] Throughout her youth, Ashe spent a lot of time talking to B.O.B.,^[4] even though he couldn't talk back.^[1]

Omnic Crisis

When Ashe was thirteen, the Omnic Crisis began. On the first day of the conflict, her parents were away (again), and she angrily refused the food B.O.B. made for her, lashing out at the omnic due to her loneliness. She yelled at B.O.B. to leave her alone, and he walked off. Unknown to Ashe at the time, B.O.B., like every other omnic on the planet, had come under the control of Anubis. He fought in the war, and suffered damage as a result.^[1]

B.O.B. survived the conflict, and like all omnics, experienced the Awakening, making him sentient.^[5] When the war ended, B.O.B. returned to Lead Rose after two years' absence. Now fifteen years old, Ashe ran out to greet him, stopping a few feet away as she beheld B.O.B.'s physical damage, and sensed the mental change he had undergone, even if she couldn't explain it. However, she hugged him, and slowly, tenatively, B.O.B. embraced her.^[1]

B.O.B. returned to service in the Ashe family, and remained at Ashe's side.^[5]

Deadlock Rebels

Three years later, on the day of her graduation, Ashe was arrested yet again, causing her parents to disinherit her. She teamed up with B.O.B, intent on recovering her fortune.^[6] When Ashe founded the Deadlock Gang, B.O.B. remained at her side and partook in heists himself.^[3]

This section is a stub section. You can help by adding any available information to this section.

Misc. Events

At some point after joining the gang, B.O.B.'s chassis was fitted with armor plating.^[7]

At some point after Jesse McCree left the gang, Ashe had B.O.B. upgraded with arm cannons.^[8]

Reunion

B.O.B. and other gang members took part in a heist on Route 66. A military cargo train was derailed, and they began to help themselves to the spoils, before Cassidy arrived on the scene. He told the gang that they could help themselves to the spoils bar a single crate, which he wanted for himself. This piqued Ashe's interest, and she ordered B.O.B. to open the crate. He obliged, and both servant and master looked at the contents with interest. Ashe told Cassidy to tell her what it was, but he refused, and a standoff developed, followed by a gunfight. Despite being outnumbered, Cassidy quickly incapacitated most of the crew, though grabbing a Route 66 signpost, B.O.B. was able to deflect some bullets away from Ashe. His master yelling at him to do something, B.O.B. activated his arm cannon and opened fire, forcing Cassidy to take cover. However, Cassidy threw some grenades their way and used his revolver to detonate them. The resulting blast separated B.O.B.'s head from his body.

In the aftermath, Cassidy loaded the gang members on a hover dolly, sending them down the road. He hoped there were no hard feelings between him and B.O.B., to which the omnic simply blinked. To add insult to injury, Cassidy took off on Ashe's own hovercycle, heading straight past them. After venting her frustrations, Ashe asked B.O.B. what he was looking at, a question to which again, the omnic remained silent.^[8]

Luck of the Draw

Months after the showdown with McCree, and not long after Null Sector's attack on Paris, Ashe agreed to a meeting with the Jackpot Gang in the Spectacle Resort & Casino, Las Vegas. B.O.B. was among the members of the Deadlocks who accompanied her. He stood at Ashe's side when they met with Lark and Folly of the Jackpots, and kept Ashe's temper in check. The meeting was interrupted by Null Sector, which attacked the city similarly to how they'd attacked Paris.^[1]

B.O.B. and the Deadlock Rebels remained in the casino along with Lark and Folly, along with some civilians who were too smart (or scared) to run into the Las Vegas Strip, which was crawling with warbots. They holed up in the casino as Vegas was overrun by Null Sector.^[1]

14 hours since the initial attack, while watching events from a window, Ashe was confronted by a search drone. Ashe raised the Viper to take a shot, despite knowing it would give away her position, but B.O.B. crushed it, saving Ashe from exposing them. Ashe bitterly reflected that they should never have come here.^[1]

Eight hours later, the situation hadn't improved—the Deadlocks still couldn't call for help, and Ramattra's message of "liberation" was being broadcast across the city. B.O.B. didn't have any ideas to escape, and nor did anyone else for that matter. They were interrupted as a voice came from outside the ballroom, requesting entry. Ashe suspected it was a ploy, but she couldn't bring herself to forsake the possibility that the plea for help was genuine. She ordered B.O.B. and Bars to cover her while she opened the doors, finding two humans and an incapacitated omnic, all of whom had fled from another establishment on the Strip. Jumping the gun, Lark tried to remove the helmet clamp from the omnic's head, only to inadvertantly kill her.^[1][1]

Things were tense, as Lark suggested using Bars and B.O.B. as bait, as it was clear that Null Sector was only really interested in "liberating" omnics, otherwise mostly ignoring humans. She insulted B.O.B., pointing out that B.O.B. didn't even talk, and that this could be an opportunity to get a new model. Ashe raised her rifle, but B.O.B. put a hand on her shoulder; a calming gestured that seemed to say, "It's all right." However, Ashe was still irate at the disrespect shown to B.O.B. She tossed him the Viper, who with Bars, kept the rifle trained on the Jackpots. Folly backed down, but Lark assaulted Ashe, only for Ashe to knock her out. Ashe retrieved the Viper from B.O.B., and made it clear that neither he nor Bars would be used as bait.^[1]

The group headed for the casino's roof to escape in the sightseeing ships stationed there. Despite the hatred she'd shown earlier, B.O.B. picked up Lark's comatose form, much to Ashe's amusement. They made it to the roof without incident. P.T. took the first ship with the civilians, Zeke, and Terran. Ashe planned to have B.O.B. take the second ship which would take the Jackpots, herself, and Bars. The first ship got away, but before the second could take off, they were confronted by warbots. B.O.B. put Folly in the cockpit and after giving Ashe's shoulder a squeeze, leapt out to confront the warbots, even though it would mean his destruction or enslavement.^[1]

Ashe leapt out of the ship and the two fought against Null Sector together. B.O.B. ran out of ammo and started to take damage, but Ashe realized that Null Sector was trying to subdue rather than destroy him. They kept fighting, but B.O.B. was damaged further, and Ashe ran out of ammo herself. They were surrounded by warbots, and a Subjugator approached, ready to apply a neural suppressor to B.O.B. However, they were saved by Bars, who shot at the warbots from the returning ship. The two escaped and headed back to Deadlock Gorge, Ashe chastising B.O.B. for his actions, but also thanking him for them.^[1]

Trivia

• B.O.B.'s name stands for "Big Omnic Butler," but can also stand for "Big Omnic Bodyguard" or "BOB, Omnic Butler."^[9][10]
• Michael Chu has joked that B.O.B. can be considered "hero 29.5" (Ashe being the 29th hero of the game).^[4]
• As of October, 2023, B.O.B has been called out 182,522,380 times.^[11]

Development

B.O.B. is a rare exception among characters in Overwatch, having required virtually no iteration before reaching a finalized design that satisfied the team, with Jason Hill comparing him to a unicorn and saying "B.O.B. was just meant to be."^[9] The initial pitch for B.O.B. came from Jason Hill; up to the point of his design, the only omnic types had been the standard humanoid omnic or Bastion. He reasoned that omnics "should come in all shapes and sizes." The artwork initial as done by Mio,^[12] while the concept was refined by Jungah Lee.^[13]

References