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Numbani
Numbani Loading Screen

Type
Hybrid
Location
Numbani Numbani (Africa) (in Nigeria)

Numbani is a Hybrid map in Overwatch. One of the 12 maps included in the game's release on 24 May 2016.

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]

Background[ | ]

The glass on the buildings blended into the too big, too blue sky, and nearly every tiered balcony boasted a garden of some sort, so that it was difficult to tell where the structures ended and nature began.
~ Efi Oladele observing Numbani
Numbani 2

Numbani

Referred to as the City of Harmony,[2] Numbani is a utopian city on the edge of the African savanna, somewhere near Nigeria.[3][4] It is one of the world's most peaceful[5] and foremost centers of scientific discovery and exploration,[6] leading the world in education, commerce, biometrics, and nanotechnology.[7]

Omnic-human equality is at the core of Numbani.[2][8] Omnics are fully integrated into human society in Numbani, performing a variety of roles, whereas elsewhere, omnics are lucky to have blue collar work at best.[9] While some humans in Numbani are distrustful towards omnics, they're the exception rather than the rule.[7]

Numbani 3

Numbani

Nature is integrated within the Numbani cityscape. Nearly every resident's balcony features a garden. A tram system runs throughout the city, above its streets. In the streets themselves are driverless cabs.[7] It forms part of the hyperloop line.[10]

The city celebrates an event called Unity Day,[11] which, depending on who you ask, is the city's most important holiday. OmnicCon is held within the city as well. It has a national anthem in the form of the Numbani Harmony Anthem, and the Declaration of Unity is its founding document. The Numbani Civic Defense Department functions as its police force, and prior to their destruction, OR15 units patrolled the streets in order to keep the peace. The city uses the naira as its currency.[7]

History[ | ]

The city was established by Gabrielle Adawe as part of her peacemaking efforts after the end of the Omnic Crisis.[12] Omnics and humans built Numbani together, and their mutual cooperation is the driving force behind Numbani's success.[13]

At some point after the Omnic Crisis, it was identified as an area with an active threat.[4] It had to deal with raids by Akinjide Adeyemi, the second Doomfist, who earned the moniker of "Scourge of Numbani." Adeyemi was killed by his protoge, Akande Ogundimu, who took both the Doomfist moniker and gauntlet as his own.[14]

When Tekhartha Mondatta was assasinated by Widowmaker, his death set off a wave of human-omnic violence across the world. Numbani was an exception to this however.[7]

The Hero of Numbani[ | ]

You're ruining everything. Someone's got to stand up to you. I'm not afraid. I won't let you destroy my city!
Destroy Numbani? Why would I do such a thing like that? Listen, child. I'm no monster. Numbani leads the world in education and commerce. In biometrics. In nanotechnology. This city is primed for greatness. All it needs is a little chaos to bring out its best.
~ Efi Oladele confronts Doomfist
OR15

Atlas News report on Numbani airport attack

Years after Overwatch's disbandment, this third Doomfist escaped from his cell.[15] 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. However, they were destroyed by Doomfist who attacked Numbani's airport[5] on Unity Day.[7] As a result, flights in and out of Numbani were suspended.[16][17] Doomfist's gauntlet was also stolen,[18] and the city was under threat by him again.[13] There had been rumors of an anonymous threat beforehand, but the citizens had expressed outrage when it was suggested that the Unity Day celebrations could be cancelled, and had promised to show up on the streets whether the city allowed it or not.[7]

Doomfist sought to spread discord between humans and omnics, and the city's police was powerless to stop him.[19] In his mind, Numbani's existence as the City of Harmony would always be in opposition of Talon's goals of creating a chaotic world.[9] To this end, Talon agents hacked into omnics, causing them to malfunction. While no serious harm occurred, it did lead to tensions between humans and omnics within the city, including at least one street brawl that the civic defenders had to break up. Doomfist took his reign of terror a step further when he destroyed the statue of Gabrielle Adawe in Peace Park. Addressing the city's citizens directly, stating that Numbani's ideals of unity had made the city weak. That the power of omnics was growing while humanity's power was waning, and that soon, omnics might have the upper hand. He declared himself to be the city's 'shepherd.'

Talon ramped up its game when it attacked the Numbani Heritage Museum. They were confronted by Orisa; an omnic built by Efi Oladele out of an OR15 wreck. She was able to hold her own for a time, but Doomfist was able to incapacitate her without much difficulty. Efi confronted Doomfist himself at this point, who sneered at her accusation of him wanting to destroy Numbani. In his mind, he was saving it, wanting to to inflict a little chaos to bring out the best of the city. Orisa reactivated and forced Doomfist and his lieutenants to retreat. Afterwards, civic defenders arrived on the scene. In a subsequent interview, Efi stressed the need for Unity Day to go ahead.

A Unity Day concert went ahead, with performances from Tonal Abyss and Lúcio Correia dos Santos, with tickets sold out in three hours. The event was disrupted by Doomfist and Talon, but they were fought off by Orisa and Lúcio. With his defeat, things started to calm down in Numbani. The omnics who had been affected by Talon's hacking were cured, with help provided by the Adawe Foundation.[7]

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 the 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 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 Cassidy 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 Cassidy, 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. Cassidy 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 Cassidy 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'

Known Locations[ | ]

Numbani

Numbani promotional image

Known Nationals[ | ]

Flag of Numbani

Flag of Numbani

Human[ | ]

Omnic[ | ]

Trivia[ | ]

  • The Numbani flag shares many similarities with Hamburger SV's, German football team's badge.
  • The Adawe International Terminal and Adawe Avenue were named for Gabrielle Adawe, United Nations under-secretary-general and key architect of Overwatch.
  • Atlas News runs a weekly "Spotlight on Numbani" segment.[6]
  • Numbani Tours offers vacations to the city.[2]
  • The name Numbani is possibly derived from the Swahili word "nyumbani," meaning "home."
  • At the attacker's spawn, there were posters nodding to other maps such as King's Row, Volskaya Industries, Temple of Anubis, and Hanamura. The Temple of Anubis poster has been replaced with a Havana poster.
  • In early gameplay previews, Numbani originally had sunset lighting but was changed into daytime in the release for unknown reasons.

Development[ | ]

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.[20]

It has been observed that Numbani appears to take inspiration from Afrofuturism.[9]

360° Panorama[ | ]

References[ | ]

  1. Overwatch Visual Source Book
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2015-07-24, [SPONSORED] Visit Numbani—the City of Harmony. Book your vacation today with Numbani Tours! Twitter.
  3. 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.
  4. 4.0 4.1 2015-07-07, Soldier: 76 Origin Story, YouTube.
  5. 5.0 5.1 2017-3-2, Developer Update | Introducing Orisa | Overwatch, Youtube.
  6. 6.0 6.1 2017-02-21, AN INTERVIEW WITH INVENTOR EFI OLADELE. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2017-02-23
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 The Hero of Numbani
  8. 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.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 2020-06-18, The new Overwatch novel puts Efi, Orisa, and Numbani on center stage. Blizzard Watch, accessed on 2020-07-19
  10. 2022-10-10, We visit the streets of sunny Portugal on the new Overwatch 2 Push map Esperança. Blizzard Watch, accessed on 2022-11-02
  11. 2015-08-04, Doomfist exhibit opening Numbani Unity Day, Twitter.
  12. Plaque honoring Gabrielle in Adawe International Terminal
  13. 13.0 13.1 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.
  14. 2017-07-06, Doomfist - Heroes - Overwatch. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2017-07-08
  15. 2017-07-06, NEW HERO – COMING SOON Doomfist Origin Story | Overwatch. YouTube, accessed on 2017-07-08
  16. 2017-02-24, Overwatch Tweet, @PlayOverwatch, Accessed on 2017-02-24
  17. 2017-02-24, An Interview with Inventor Efi Oladele, PlayOverwatch. Accessed on 2017-02-21
  18. 2017-02-21, The Overwatch Character Teases Continue In-Game, GameSpot. Accessed on 2017-02-25
  19. 2019-10-03, NYCC 2019: New Overwatch Book – The Hero of Numbani. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2019-10-19
  20. Game Informer #81: Designing Overwatch: From Titan to Torbjörn
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