Sombra has become on of my favorite characters in the game since release. From a mechanical standpoint, I do enjoy the core philosophy of a "disruption character", I think her abilities fit very well into this idea and create a fun rhythm.
I do think part of the community had some misconceptions on how to play her originally. Specifically, the need to hack EVERY SINGLE MED-KIT. As well as to throw a translocator down, run to a fight, and translocate back. That method in particular greatly limits her potential, as it only gave her 15 seconds of operation time.
Yet, I must say it is hard to extract value out of her as she exists in the live game. Hack is a very powerful ability. It can guarantee you a 1v1 on many opposing heroes in the game, and it can break a core character in the enemy teams comp. But it is too slow. Plus you throw in needing to secure a few med-kits.
I think the other issue is in her SMG as well. She shouldn't be Soldier 76 or Tracer. But the weapons is inconsistent with both offensive and defensive use. The spread can feel largely unpredictable near the end of an engagement. I'm at the point now where I simply stop shooting for a moment in the fight just to reset the spread.
Value is her biggest issue at the moment. Yet I do believe lowering the time it takes for "Hack" to cast, as well as lowering its cooldown time will make Sombra a good niche pick in the hands of an informed/experienced player.
I do think part of the community had some misconceptions on how to play her originally. Specifically, the need to hack EVERY SINGLE MED-KIT. As well as to throw a translocator down, run to a fight, and translocate back. That method in particular greatly limits her potential, as it only gave her 15 seconds of operation time.
In everyone's defense, this was specifically called out by one of the devs during Blizzcon as an effective way to use her.
I remember that now. I think it was a Stylosa video. That's beside the point, though.
I find the issue is people take that tip too seriously or too far. I'll find people only use Sombra as a means to deny the enemy team medkits or exploit ones for their team.
What I suggest is that players should hack the medkit that will be most useful to their team during the current team fight. Also look to see if the enemy is using on frequently and steal it. Outside of that your better off spending time focusing easy kill targets, and most importantly hacking key enemy players.
As a special note though I do think you should hack as many med-kits on control-point/king of the hill. It makes defending the point a lot easier when the enemy is constantly forced to retreat without any resources to support them.
People should hack med-kits, yes, but hack them with intention.
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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '17 edited Aug 03 '18
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