Ball Rework - Better than ppl realize - But pointless

General Discussion
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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.

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I respect the thinly veiled Sombra hate thread. In all seriousness, I could not figure out retract. I was jumping while in grapple and as far as I can tell, it was not doing anything? I might need to test in training mode because I was in the middle of a game and trying to win.

I did. :sunglasses:

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It’s not pointless and it’s really just buffs. A rework would imply sideways shifts with more positive, this is just buffs.

Sombra does need to be crippled though, this is true. Longer teleport cooldown, 1 second ability lockout on EMP, and very slightly longer before she can act coming out of stealth.

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Yeah, play with it in Training and you’ll see… You have to hold the Jump button down… You can like just grapple the edge of high ground and retract your way on up and pile drive… So like if there is a Widow up there, you can basically just grapple right at her and pile drive her (:astonished::smirk:).

That’s what I’m saying though, the retract and sharing of he shields really changes him entirely in a lot of ways that aren’t obvious at first glance. He is so much more versitile now… imo, it qualifies as a rework because he can do entirely new things… The retract is virtually a new form of movement entirely, and the transfer of his shields virtually a new ability for his team altogether. The Mines are just a buff though.

Yeah, that is all I mean by saying the rework is pointless… Sombra makes Ball pointless entirely. Her hack should NOT force him out of his Ball form. Killing his pile drive, grapple and speed are enough… but forcing him out of his Ball form is just absurd, it just ends him.

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A simple climb also only counts as a 1-sec cooldown, it’s insane.

I tried doing sone angular momentum shenanigans but I think Ball just hits a speed cap before it can kick in. Swing+retract still allows for different jumps, of course.

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The way I use it most is like if you need to occasionally frontline for your team some, you couldn’t really… but now, at least on maps with walls, hybrid, payload, etc. you can sort of frontline and just retract above an enemy, pile drive them, boop a little, etc. It basically helps me be able to stay near my team a little easier overall, it’s hard to explain… You can basically pile drive without leaving the area and re-entering to pile drive, plus you can retract to highground to escape when needed…

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Except that Ball’s frontline capabilities didn’t change at all, it’s still trash. Just because you get a VARIABLE shield to give to your teammates (mind you, it’s not a fixed number, but rather dependent on the amount of shield you have and the amount of allies near you), you’re still sacrificing personal survivability for these. JQ doesn’t lose anything, Zarya still gets energy when giving bubble, etc. Ball still can’t contest the other tank face on because its kit it’s not meant to do that. The mosty direct way to help him contest the other tank is just a straight-up damage buff, unless they ACTUALLY rework him.

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If Sombra gets crippled, Doom and Ball will need nerfs. She’s pretty much their only reliable counter on the DPS roster.

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Only easy counter you mean, you have to put thought and effort into the task otherwise