Considering Hammond's Roll, Soldier 76's Sprint should be buffed or changed

General Discussion
1

Hammond’s Roll definitely overlapped with Soldier 76’s Sprint, and can even be considered a power creep version of Sprint.

Hammond’s Roll transforms him into a ball form with NO CRIT BOX that enables him to move 10 meters per second (based on wiki). Its only disadvantage is it has a 1 sec cooldown compared to Soldier 76’s Sprint, but a 1 sec down time isn’t much.

On the other hand, Soldier 76’s Sprint does not hide his crit box and only has a movement speed 8.33 meters per second (based on wiki). The Sprint’s only advantage over Roll is it doesn’t have a 1 sec cooldown, but a 1 sec down time isn’t much.

EDIT:
Everybody is jumping to conclusions and keep reiterating the differences in characters roles between Hammond and 76, saying Hammond’s a dive tank, while Soldier 76 is a long range DPS.

My post is about how Roll overlapped with Sprint regardless of character roles, because the way Roll overlapped with Sprint is not the same as other overlapping abilities in this game.

This game have other overlapping abilities but these overlapping abilities at least have different mechanics in the way they are used!

McCree’s Fan the Hammer is a crappier version of Hanzo’s Storm Arrows, but:
-McCree’s FTH can be used more often, it has no cooldown and its only downtime is the reload.
-Hanzo’s SA has cooldown, but you can be selective with your shots and you are much more accurate, unlike McCree FTH who just empties all his ammo and has an inconsistent spread.

THEY HAVE DIFFERENT MECHANICS!

Reinhardt’s Charge is a crappier version of Doomfist’s Rocket Punch, but:
-With Reinhardt, you just have to press shift and steer
-With Doomfist, you have faster travel time, but the distance of your movement and damage is dependent on how much you charged the ability, Doomfist has a “charging” mechanic.
-They have different character roles with overlapping abilities, but their abilities…

THEY HAVE DIFFERENT MECHANICS!

Reaper’s buffed Wraith Form is now a much better instant reload ability than McCree’s Combat Roll, but while both abilities grant instant reload:
-Reaper’s WF gives him invincibility mode
-McCree’s CR gives him a crappy quick dash

THEY HAVE DIFFERENT MECHANICS!

With Soldier 76’s Sprint and Hammond’s Roll…
-With Soldier 76, just press shift and move
-With Hammond, just press shift and move (but you move faster and you have no crit box)

Regardless of the difference in their character roles, the way Roll overlaps with Sprint just feels off. Nothing in Soldier 76’s Sprint is even special anymore. I’m not saying Sprint is crap now, it’s the same as it has always been, but when it comes to overlapping abilities in the game, Sprint is the least unique now AND THAT IS MY POINT!

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6 Likes
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You still need to consider though that Hammonds job is not to deal a lot of damage, unlike 76, Hammond is meant to go straight into the enemy team and knock them around, not kill them. Also because while he is fast in his ball form, he is still a very big target, and if he is hacked then he is basically screwed.

11 Likes
4

Soldier’s sprint speed does often feel too low.

5

Doomfist can rocketpunch people against a wall, it can even be considered a powercreep version of Reinhardt’s charge
OR
They are two entirely different characters with vast differences in the rest of their kit, health, hitbox, damage, and role.

3 Likes
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Not deal a lot of damage? DUDE, Pile Driver’s damage potential is 100, the collision damage of his ball form is 50, and his primary fire is hitscan, if anything he is a burst damage dive tank like D.Va, and not a tickle dive Tank like Winston. They both can deal lots of damage, 76 can do it from far, Hammond does it close.

And Hammond being hacked is the same situation like Soldier 76 or anybody else in the roster. If you are implying that if Hammond dives an enemy team but gets hacked then he is screwed, DUDE, any hero in the game who gets hacked nearby a bunch of enemies is also screwed, that’s not a special case for Hammond. Hack screws everybody. Heck, what is even the relevance of being hacked by Sombra to the comparison of Roll and Sprint?

7

Hammonds job is not to deal damage, just because he can deal a lot of damage does not mean that that is his role. His role is to disrupt the enemy team, and Hammond is screwed by hack even more so because he relies on his abilities more than anyone (Except Doomfist) because his abilities are his damage, and his knockback, and his get aways. Pile driver only deals 100 damage if it lands DIRECTLY on top of you, maybe if you are slightly to the side of the impact zone it will still deal 100 damage, but it will only deal 100 damage if you are directly below Hammond when he pile drives, or if you are super super close. Also, in order to knock any one back and deal 50 damage in his ball form you need to be at max speed. If you are below max speed it maybe knocks you back a few meters and will deal around like 25 damage. And his grappling ability can be very difficult to use properly when in the heat of battle.

8

Yeah, Reinhardt’s Charge has issues as well, does it not? And so is Doomfist’s Rocket punch, are you aware of that? Both abilities are kinda identical but not really the same, and most importantly, these two are not even being effectively used the way they should be. Both can be used for burst movement and can one hit enemies but that’s it. Citing these two abilities as examples of what is fine is not really the right way to go.

Reinhardt’s Charge is an outdated buggy mess of an ability that is only reliable for roll-outs. Every time you use it for offense is like a hail mary. Good Doomfists rely more on the slam and upper cut combo to get reliable kills than the 1 hit Rocket Punch, because it has issues as well.

With Roll and Sprint, it’s not that complicated, they are not a buggy mess, they are used the way they are supposed to be used, and they are really so identical in how they are used, simply for faster steady movement. The problem is one is clearly just a better version than the other, and when the devs says they don’t want overlapping abilities, isn’t that an issue?

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and what would you like? for him to go into an all out sprint? the fast soldier could possibly go would be 12meters per second

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Well, I guess we just have a different perspective on what a damage dealing character is in this game. I’m gonna assume you also don’t consider D.Va a damage dealing character then, fine by me. Her Micro missiles also need to land DIRECTLY on a target after all, and her Boosters are a bit difficult to stir in the heat of a battle.

Overlapping abilities kinda existed in this game before: Roadhog had his heal and 50% dmg reduc, while Orisa had her CC immunity and 50 dmg reduc. McCree had a insta-reload and a dash, Reaper had insta-reload with his wraith. But these never really felt like power creeps but more of ability variations. However, Roll is just simply better version of Sprint, and there’s not even anything unique about Sprint at all anymore.

11

There are better versions of different abilities in all games like Overwatch. Like for example how in a sense Reapers wraith form is a much better version of combat roll, one only reloads there gun and moves them forward a few meters, whereas the other one reloads your guns, makes you invulnerable, and increases your movement speed by 50%. I am not saying those two abilities are the exact same I am just saying that one is ultimately better than the other.Hammond is still a huge target while rolling, I am not saying soldiers run is perfect, but it is not garbage. Also because Soldier has long range, so he can run out of a fight, and then stay at a distance and still do a lot of damage, Hammond can’t, Hammond can roll out of a fight, but than he is forced back into the fight if he really wants to do anything.

12

I just feel that his sprint should feel a bit more unique in its mechanic.

like maybe allowing him to build up speed and momentum the longer he runs,

or

maybe giving him a super jump after the sprint whose height is dependent on the speed and momentum he built up while running, nothing crazy as high as Junkrat Mine Jump, maybe just as high 2 Genji Jumps,

or

maybe allow him to shoot while sprinting at the cost of insane bullet spread, while being able to move more sideways and backwards,

or

anything really. You got ideas?

13

Hammond is a tank. Soldier is a DPS.

Fundamental difference in role, which allows Hammond’s critbox to disappear for fair reasons. All tanks have some form of damage reduction or protection. Hammond has two, albeit not quite as stellar as some other tanking abilities.

It’s not a 1:1 comparison. Sombra’s sprint during stealth, is the closest equivalent to Soldier’s sprint.

If you want actual 1:1 power creep versions of other abilities, Hammond has a superior version of Widow’s grappling hook.

14

Yeah, the Tank who has higher HP has no crit box and and is faster in movement speed. Guy above argued because Hammond has a bigger hitbox. Still, there’s nothing special about 76’s Sprint anymore though. Not that the ability is lame, but it is now clearly inferior.

Different but not really better. Widow’s Grappling Hook can quickly move her to places like the high ground, good for quick escapes.

Hammond still has to build momentum with him swinging to get to places like the high ground which takes time. Hammond is more fun though.

15

Does Soldier’s sprint break guardrails? Cause Hammond’s roll can.

Just sayin’

16

You’ve never played Widow…

It’s not about the speed. It’s about the consistency. Grappling Claw is better than Grappling Hook.

Claw has 100% consistency. With Hook, you’re lucky if you get 50-60% success rate.

17

it’d be nice if he could at least reload during sprint, or at least automatically reload after a certain amount of time has passed

1 Like
18

Hammond has a massive hitbox and only 100 armour, is easily stopped by most stuns in the game. Counterpicking hog, reaper, mei etc etc will shut hammond down.

19

That would be really awesome. Just make the game a bit more fluid.

20

You missed my point. Soldier has 200 health, has a long-ish range high dps weapon, plus burst damage with his rocket, and has no verticality.
Hammond has over 600 health, has a fairly crap machinegun, and flies around the map and gets in people’s faces.
You are comparing apples and oranges. Nobody cares that Hammond can also sprint because he and soldier serve two completely different purposes.

If you want redundancies and overlaps, look at McCree compared to Hanzo.