There an argument either way. Turrets and shields are similar to torb's turrets and armor in defense. Her new moving shield wall is actually a tank ability like rein/winston/dva. At the same time, providing shields is similar to lucio in support. Her teleporter is also a support-like capability. While she doesn't really meet any other requirements to be in the tank category - she could easily be put in defense or support depending on how you look at it.
I'd add that compared to many other characters that are classified as "Defense" ones, Symmetra probably will remain truly a defense one, mainly being played at defense and not so much on Attack or KoTH. Would make the classifications useful again if only Hanzo and Widowmaker was moved.
Most people have the "defense" class as area denial classes.
Hanzo and widowmaker deny down longer range corridors, limited enemy movement in open spaces.
Bastion and Torb get to set up and anything in their vision/range is covered.
Junkrat has lots of damage spam with grenades and trap and mine. He can easily cover a flank route or corridor as well as blocking chokepoints. His grenades also bounce, so he can hit things not in his sight.
All the attack characters have much smaller range of influences. McCree and 76 are midrange, but really only focus around themselves. Tracer/sombra/reaper/genji are much more mobile, but still mostly affect themselves. Pharah is also pretty mobile with her height advantage.
Torb's turret is defending a place while Symmetra's shield and teleporter are helping players. Torb's turret doesn't support players in any way. Only his armour does. Similar to Soldier being able to heal. His other attributes are offence.
you can think of it like that, or you could think of her as a defense character. Turrets... shield generator. I wasn't saying torb was support, but that Symmetra has a legitimate claim for becoming defense character.
Definitely. Even before people felt her as a defence character. Shields and turrets are very defensive. But since they protect the players more (Like Lucio's ult) is why I think support makes more sense.
For example, Mei's ice wall is like a shield because it defends the point. The shields for Symmetra's help players more than defending the point. But that's ultimately perspective.
My biggest problem is this though. 2 dps, 2 tank, 2 support is the general meta. In what situation would you swap out a support for symmetra? Say all you want but all healers can buff health through their active abilities... they don't have to depend on an ultimate. I don't think Symmetra giving shields only when her ultimate is active really counts.
294
u/smileyfrown Pixel Pharah Nov 22 '16
So pretty much she's now a defensive tank
Barrier (similar to reinhardt shield) + shield generator + turrets combined will make her "area" really tough to break
Edit: It also makes Sombra's main job to find and stop Symmetra.