The long-rumored Sombra rework is coming in Overwatch Season 7 and we now have our first look at the stealthy DPS Hero’s new kit.
Depending on where you stand you either think Overwatch's resident stealth character Sombra is the worst or best thing in the game. Constantly riding the line between useless and busted, the invisible DPS Hero's been on the end of a few reworks throughout the game's history. Well, it's time yet again. We got our first look at the new Sombra rework today with the Overwatch Season 7 trailer.
And while it may take some adjusting to get used to the changes--like stealth as a passive--it does appear she will now be a more active participant. Let's take a look at what's in store for the girl from Castillo.
Sombra rework: Overwatch Season 7
According to the previous Game Developer's Blog, the team had three goals with the Sombra rework in Overwatch Season 7.
- Make Sombra more committal when engaging
- Increase the active feel throughout her kit
- Uphold her current hacker identity and playstyle
Sombra now features a ring of engagement around her during Stealth, which is now a passive ability. This essentially means that you won't be able to hang around undetected while being in attack range, which does make for a more active style of play. The ring will also dictate whether or not Sombra is "out of combat."
As for what's fully new, Sombra now has a new skillshot in her Virus ability. Shot out like a square in front of her and infecting the first enemy hit, this move does damage over time. As an added bonus, it'll do additional damage when used on a hacked enemy. This also gives the Sombra rework a harassment tool that doesn't involve fully committing to an attack. This attack does 100 damage over four seconds, or over two seconds if the opponent is hacked.
The other change for Sombra in Overwatch Season 7 is her Translocator. No longer a 'set it and forget it' type of item, it instead instantly teleports Sombra once it lands. This means Sombra won't be able to continually set up attack dives and get back to safety. Instead, she'll need to fully retreat from a dive. However, Stealth returns to Sombra faster after a Translocation.
Related articles
Full changes (coming Oct. 10)
Machine Pistol
- Damage increased from 7.5 to 8.
- Minimum Spread reduced from 0.5 to 0.
- Number of shots until max spread has been increased from 3 to 6 shots.
- Reload time reduced from 1.4 seconds to 1.2 seconds.
Hack
- Cast time reduced from 0.75 seconds to 0.65 seconds.
- Now cancels Stealth when hacking an enemy hero.
- Cooldown increased from 4 to 6 seconds.
- Hack has a reduced cooldown of 3 seconds if Hack is interrupted or if a non-hero enemy is hacked.
- The "Hacked" warning text will now only appear while you are silenced and not for the remainder duration of the hack debuff.
Opportunist
- Removed.
Stealth
- Ability reworked to be a passive. Sombra automatically becomes invisible after 3.5 seconds while not shooting, using a damaging ability, or receiving damage.
- Stealth movement speed bonus reduced from 60% to 45%.
- Fade Out duration into Stealth reduced from 0.375 seconds to 0.25 seconds.
- Fade In duration from Stealth reduced from 0.5 seconds to 0.375 seconds.
- Updated the UI messaging to the Sombra player when hacking Health Packs to "Revealed" instead of "Detected".
Virus
- Fire a projectile that damages an enemy over time. Damage faster on Hacked enemies.
- Impact Damage: 10 (20 on hacked target).
- Damage over time: 100 over 4 seconds (100 over 2 seconds on hacked target).
Translocator
- Can no longer activate manually. Translocator will now automatically teleport Sombra after 0.25 seconds from being thrown or when impacting the environment.
- Reduces the Stealth passive cooldown after teleporting.
- Projectile speed increased from 25 to 72.
- Cooldown reduced from 6 seconds to 5 seconds. Cooldown now begins after Sombra teleports to the location of the Transponder.
- Projectile launch initial vertical offset removed.
EMP
- Ultimate charge cost increased by 15%.
- Health percent damage decreased from 40% to 30%
Do these changes make Sombra any more fair? How does this change the meta? And will Virus end up as a useful, new tool or a gimmick? We'll know more once Season 7 hits on Oct. 10.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for esports news and Overwatch information.
