Lately, the competitive Overwatch community has been noticing a surge in Sombra's popularity during tournament play. The hero hasn't changed, but the way players have been playing her has. By strategically hacking large health packs at important skirmish locations, Sombra is capable of quickly gaining ultimate charge due to all of the healing she provides her team. In this popular clip from the Overwatch World Cup, the potential speed of Sombra's ultimate charge is on full display.

The clip shows that, after using her ultimate and dying, Sombra quickly climbs back to 70% ultimate charge thanks to hacked health packs her teammates are using. This strategy works well with D.Va and other high HP heroes, allowing the Sombra team to use of EMP liberally.

Support or Offense?

Sombra has historically been a niche hero that causes most casual players to raise an eyebrow when she is picked on their team. She isn't as straight forward as Soldier: 76 or Tracer, but her label as an offensive hero (and her flanking abilities) tends to promote an aggressive playstyle. However, her usage in the Overwatch Cup has been changing public opinion. Her support capabilities and fast EMP charge have proven to be the most competitive aspects of her design and the community can't seem to agree on whether that is a good thing or not.

This week, omnicmeta.com reported Sombra's resurgence with their latest batch of data backing up the claim. Their analysis of nearly 200,000 combined PC and Console Overwatch players reported a 3% increase in usage across all tiers:

"The biggest surprise this week? Sombra. After 8 months of not being played very much at all, she now has found a minor place in the meta - probably due to her use in the professional scene and Overwatch World Cup. Sombra is up 3% usage on average across the tiers this week, with a 4% increase at Grandmaster and Master, putting her at 15% usage in Grandmaster." -OmnicMeta.com

It's no surprise that a high profile event like the Overwatch World Cup can influence the meta seemingly overnight. However, with all of this attention on Sombra, concerns on her role and potential imbalance been appearing frequently on the Competitive Overwatch subReddit and the official Blizzard forums. Threads like the current issue with Sombra's Ult focus on how her EMP-centric gameplay should be changed. Meanwhile, other threads in defense of the meta shift are against any changes or nerfs to Sombra. One thread highlights how a tournament Sombra player once averaged 7 EMP's every 10 minutes, a rate that is way above the norm for any other hero.

Meanwhile, players on the Battle.net forums are debating the very nature of the hero:

"Why is Sombra not a support hero?"

"Can we pick a direction for her and stick with it? Is she going to primarily dps or support?"

"When exactly is it good to use Sombra?"

"How long are we going to pretend she's a good hero?"

Even the pros admit that viewing Sombra as a serious competitive threat is a new trend. Representing Thailand in the Overwatch World Cup, oPuTo has become known for his effective Sombra play. His response on Twitter may surprise his newfound fans, as his experience on the hero is, apparently, only casual.

Check out the clip below showcasing one of oPuTo's many skirmish-winning EMPs. If Sombra can be this effective with minimal practice, what can we expect when pro players start seriously mastering her?

What do you think about Sombra's newfound popularity? Does healing allies with hacked health packs provide too much ultimate charge, or is it ok that Sombra is mainly used to spam EMP's as often as possible? Let us know what you think in the comments!