Over a week ago, it was revealed that Symmetra would be moving from a Support hero to a Defense hero.  Yesterday, Blizzard developer Geoff Goodman gave us a plethora of tidbits that revealed a massive rework on her.

/r/TheHeroOfHeroes has summarized Goodman’s notes:

Primary Fire: Photon Beam

- Is now a straight, fairly thick energy beam with longer range that no longer auto-locks on targets

- Still ramps in power based on lock-on duration, but now takes 2 seconds to level up per tier, in increments of 65/130/195 DPS

- Now recharges ammunition when used against barriers

Secondary Fire: Energy Ball

- Now reaches max charge after 1 second

- Projectile speed increased to 30 m/s

- Now explodes upon impacting an enemy or the environment, rather than piercing enemies

- Direct shot deals roughly 130 damage (most of which comes from impact damage)

LShift: Sentry Turret

- Symmetra can now place turrets remotely by deploying them in a straight line

- Max turrets carried and deployed reduced to 3

- Each turret now deals more damage, slows enemies more, and has 30HP

E: Teleporter (replacing Photon Barrier)

- Symmetra can now place the exit of her teleporter up to 25 meters away, with the entrance now being built in front of her

- Lasts only a short time but can be used freely in that time

- Health reduced to 300, and if either the entrance or exit is destroyed, the other will be as well

- Friendly constructs like Torbjorn's turret, Junkrat's RIP-Tire, and D'Va's Self-Destruct can now travel through Teleporter

Ultimate: Photon Barrier (replacing Teleporter and Shield Generator)

- Constructs a static barrier wall with 5000 health

- Can be placed at range, is effectively infinite in size, can span entire maps, and the orientation can be changed

Primary Fire: New anti-tank?

With the auto-lock removed, the complaint that Symmetra requires no aim is gone.  Depending on the range of her Zarya-like beam, she may be effective against D.Va who can’t use defense matrix it.  In addition, her new ability to charge ammo against barriers could make her effective against Reinhardt, Orisa and Winston.

Secondary Fire: A new take on choke point spam

/u/andygmb provides an example of the charge-up time and projectile speed of the new right-click.

The animation isn’t completely accurate since the orb won’t pierce and will explode on impact instead.  We don’t know the impact of the splash damage so it’s difficult to say how effective this will be.  

Teleporter: Easier team positioning and new ult combos

With the teleporter now being an ability instead of an ultimate, Symmetra will be able to help less mobile heroes get to new positions.

Since friendly constructs will be allowed through the teleporter, we may see new and creative combos being used to deliver Junkrat tires and D.Va bombs.

It’s been noted that the teleporter will have 300 HP which means that a Tracer Pulse Bomb (even post-nerf) will be able to one-shot it.  However, this may not be an effective use of Tracer’s ult since it’s reported that the Teleporter itself has a limited duration.

Photon Barrier: Placed like a Mei wall, thrown like a Hanzo ult

/u/tnhvx has provided a mock-up of what Symmetra’s Photon Barrier ult could look like-

However, there is some confusion in regards to how the ult itself is deployed.  Goodman describes it in two different ways:

“She places this wall much like Mei places her Ice Wall, which means you can place it at some range and you can also change the orientation.”

“You can do stuff like throw it into a fight from spawn like a Hanzo ult, because it spans across entire maps.”

Both descriptions seem to suggest there won’t be a destructible beacon that generates the 5000 HP barrier, which means there won’t be a quick way to remove it.  This could lead to Sombra’s EMP being the most straightforward counter-pick to Symmetra.

Also to note is that Bastion would have the highest DPS for manually destroying Symmetra’s new barrier, firing constantly for 9.52 seconds or 286 rounds.  This may be useful if her ult is deployed at a chokepoint, but less so if it’s in the middle of a teamfight.


Subject to change, but still a Defense hero

Goodman has said that much of these changes are still being tweaked and everything is subject to change, but this seems to be the direction they are taking Symmetra since they are firm on moving her away from a Support role.  

It will be difficult to see how she will fit in the new meta considering Brigitte’s entry as well as Hanzo’s changes Storm Bow, but at this point, any change is welcome.  Her abysmal pick rate at high-level games and her 0% pick rate in OWL has been calling for a rework and Blizzard is delivering what the community has asked for.


(Title image source: /u/tnhvx)