October 10th, the latest season of Overwatch 2 was released. With it came balances, patch notes, but most importantly the reworking of a hero. Sombra has been overhauled, balanced, and her kit has been fleshed out even more. Was the long wait for a Sombra rework worth it?
Firstly, the Sombra rework. Their goal was to create a more active feel in her playstyle while maintaining the same feel and identity; a hacker. I feel the changes they made accomplished this goal. They upped her damage, made her translocator less of a “get out of jail free” card, and added a new ability and passive. Thanks to the new and improved stealth passive that activates after a few seconds of no combat, Sombras can no longer retreat from combat after getting a single kill or hacking an enemy by activating this ability, which would let them get off scot free.
In addition, they gave her a more threatening projectile; virus. This projectile does damage over time, but it does it faster if the enemy is hacked. Now, Sombras have alternate means of attack if they are assaulted. In addition, it makes for a great finisher, as if Sombra attempts to go for the backline supports like Ana and gets slept or bio-naded, the virus will still deal damage to her.
The changes to her translocator were some of my favorites. Rather than an instant teleporter whenever the user desires, the translocator becomes a quick yet predictable tool to assist in getting out of combat. You throw it, then instantly teleport a quick while later. It’s not guaranteed to work if the enemy knows where you’re throwing it, though. That’s what makes it fun, though. Unlike her previous translocator, this requires precise and quick thinking.
So in summary, I feel as if the reworked Sombra kit made her feel less of a nuisance to fight against, and made her feel like an actual enemy. She’s fun to battle, attempting to predict the translocator placement, and she’s fun to play now too, with a more active kit and a higher output of damage. But I’d argue that now, she’s balanced, and without this rework she would be worse off.
