Stylish cyberpunk hacker Sombra finally revealed herself yesterday at BlizzCon. Deceiving enemies through stealth and breaking defenses down from the inside, Sombra established her position as an offensive support. She produces a new type of synergy and can bring new strategies to Overwatch scene. The Inven team had a chance to try Sombra at BlizzCon, and this warrior had some new tricks hiding behind her iconic neon purple lights. Let's have a look.
Very low DPS, yet an offense hero.
Sombra is classified as an offense Hero, but has the lowest DPS in her class. In fact, Sombra doesn’t have any ability that can deal pure damage besides her primary weapon and melee attack. Her abilities are focused heavily on utility, and that is her main role: to flank the enemies and loosen them up rather than trying to score kills for herself.
Sombra's control layout lets you left-click to fire her Machine Pistol, right-click to Hack, E to use Translocator, and Shift to activate Thermoptic Camo (aka Stealth). The Machine Pistol was effective at a distance up to approximately the range of Genji's Swift Strike, but when we tried to hit enemies further away, it was not accurate and the DPS dropped sharply. The Machine Pistol's fire rate was about half the fire rate of Tracer’s Pulse Pistols.
Hack your enemies and loosen them up.
Using Hack on health packs prevents enemies from claiming it for 60 seconds. When used on an enemy, Hack prevents the target from using abilities for 6 seconds. This is effective for Heroes that rely heavily on their abilities but has weak impact against Heroes that do not rely as much on their abilities. For example, using Hack on Reinhardt will make it much easier to melt him since he cannot use his Barrier or Charge and can only swing his hammer. On the other hand, if you use Hack on a DPS like Soldier 76, he will still be able to shoot you down. It also takes about two seconds for Sombra to hack through her target, so it is a bad idea to Hack your enemy in plain view.
Translocator comes in handy for a wide variety of situations, as Sombra can throw it quite far in a short amount of time. You can throw it deep into the enemy base to infiltrate or you can place it in a safe place to teleport away from danger. Combined with Thermoptic Camo, Sombra is a highly mobile Hero that can easily sneak in and out of enemy’s territory.
EMP is strong in teamfights because it shuts down enemy shields and abilities. EMP is designed to open the way for your allies to melt the enemy team, so teamwork is necessary to maximize the effect.
Sombra as a strategic offense hero
Sombra has highly effective skills that make her a wildcard during stalemates. Once she has done her job hacking enemies and loosening the defensive lines, the enemies become much more vulnerable and the game begins to tilt. On the other hand, she is much weaker against Heroes that do not rely on abilities. Her wide aim and low damage output adds another burden, so strategic gameplay and teamwork is necessary for players to fully utilize Sombra.
Overall, Sombra is quite a challenging Hero to play. Her low damage output forces you to maintain good aim while also keeping up with macro play. Sombra's abilities allow her to run away from danger easily, but that does not mean it’s always hard to pin her down as she also falls short in 1v1 fights. Playing Sombra like other offense Heroes will easily get you killed, and it requires a lot of thought processing to fully utilize her skills. Do you have what it takes to be a world-class hacker? Find out in the PTR next week when Sombra goes live.
Sombra gameplay (Off-screen)
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