The Ball rework is better than people are realizing so far… The retract allows you to simply retract up to high ground so easily without having to plan it out by finding a high spot on a wall and then swinging up… You can just retract your way up instead when it’s more convenient… It really adds a whole new element of versatility to his kit and enhances his ability to clear high ground more easily and take that space for his team.
You can also combo your retract with your grapple momentum to swing so high up in he air, and therefore swing farther across the map.
The rollouts that are now possible are still undiscovered, but mark my word, his rework is a bigger deal it seems, and it hasn’t really even started to be utilized yet in terms of it’s potential.
The other big thing is the Adaptive Shields changes… 13m radius instead of 10m is a big deal. But it’s very similar to Shout, Cardiac Overdrive, in terms of how it protects your nearby teammates… But imo, it’s really more comparable to like a mini-Beat (or Sound Barrier), because like Lucio, you can fly across the map out of nowhere to save your team when an enemy is ulting… Ball can just roll in and double tap his Shield ability and prevent teammates from dying and he does it sort of inconspicuously, so it throws the other team off. Honestly, it even throws your own team off, lol, like they think they are about to die and just don’t.
And finally, the Mines buff seems small, but I am noticing it cause more deaths than usual. It’s a small buff that seems surprisingly more effective than I anticipated, at least so far.
All of that being said, the enemy team just goes Sombra and BOOM, you are done, you can’t play Ball. Sombra just simply nullifies Ball entirely. You simply have to swap, or you endure her and your are worthless to your team.
Let’s be clear. Sombra doesn’t “counter” Ball. She “nullifies” Ball. Just like she “nullifies” Doom, Widow, Ashe, Bob, Sig ult, High Noon, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.
The Ball rework is great. But totally pointless the moment Sombra is played.
HACK SHOULD NOT PULL BALL OUT OF BALL FORM. Kill his grapple, sure, whatever. Slow him down from high speed to a roll, sure, whatever. But it should NOT force him out of Ball form.