EMP is the most broken ultimate in the game. It completely cripples the enemy team by removing their abilities, their barriers AND their shield health. It has about 0.4s (or less) cast time, a 15-meter sphere radius (by far the largest radius of all AoE ults). And it’s the only ultimate in the game that cannot be countered reactively
And NO, hiding from it is not true counter, it’s a fallacy to use this as an argument. By this logic you can counter every single ultimate by hiding. Genji has blade? Just hide 4head. Incoming grav? Just hide 4head. Incoming shatter? Death Blossom? Barrage? Coalescence? Battle Mercy? Justdon’tplaythegame4head.
So no, hiding is not a legit argument.
I think Sombra’s ultimate needs to either be tweaked to give it more counter play (like giving it more cast time, or turning it into a grenade with a fuse etc.) or completely reworked into something new.
Compensatory buffs in her main kit should be given in order to make her less ult reliant and balance out the fact that her ult cannot solo carry games anymore.
I do have some recommendations that I find interesting and possibly healthy for the game. Of course, it’s impossible to know without testing.
Hack
Duration decreased from 6 seconds to 5 seconds.
Cooldown decreased from 8 to 7 seconds
Now prevents all passives (including Brigitte’s Inspire, Zarya’s Energy Drain, and Mercy’s regeneration)
Stealth
Speed boost bonus restored from 50% to 75% (this nerf actually hurt her A LOT more than I initially realized, it almost negated the effects of the perma stealth buff)
Translocator
Translocating no longer interrupts reloading
EDIT: since a lot of people seem to think I suggest that EMP gets turned into a trash ult, let me stop you right there. I’m not saying “turn it into pulse bomb”. I’m saying maybe make it instead of the best and cheapest ult in the game that has 0 counter play to maybe Earthshatter-level good. Also the hack buff would bring an end to Goats. This is actually a “buff Sombra” post
Like every DPS ultimate its a matter of reaction time to counter it, a Zenyatta can easily keep an eye out for the translocator flying in (its pretty obvious) or if you opt to not use it they get the half second of you destealthing to react… it is by no means “the only ultimate in the game that cannot be countered reactively”
A reaper for example dropping next to a Zenyatta and hitting Q will obliterate that poor Zen in probably about the same amount of time it’d have to react to an EMP
The last few months I have picked up Sombra and its been so much fun but not without its difficulty at times.
The bad Sombras are clear as day and dont know how to escape properly. The bad sombras dont hack packs. The bad sombras charge in like theyre a reaper expecting a hack to go off.
Now consider the amount of people who play Sombra? Shes got a pretty low pickrate across all modes and ranks besides in Total Mayhem where she dominates. Nerfing her ult to the extent you suggest wouldnt cripple her but her job is already hard. One tiny little D.va bullet brings her out of Stealth and with the sheer amount of spray damage and aoe … you get my point right? Making her job harder because her EMP has huge impact is not good in my eyes.
If the team doesnt follow up on the EMP then it wasnt as effective as say, a Grav and Hanzo Dragon.
The translocator is a small object that can fly above you and makes 0 noise unless the sombra is within range for the “I might need this later” voice line (in which case even if you do hear the voice line it’s impossible to know whether she used it offensively or just set it unless you actually spot the tiny device flying on top of you). Also she can throw it and then cancel it mid-air to bait out trans. If she does this before the fight begins you can be on guard and react to her actually translocating, but mid fight it’s nearly impossible. Not to mention that she can just use it any time during a fight without translocating first.
Not even close. Death Blossom does 170 DPS. That means he has more than a full second to react to it. EMP’s cast time is around 0.35-0.4s, good luck reacting to that.
There are ults in the game which are far more crippling than EMP, as they stun or kill you. At least you can still move and shoot after EMP. Yes, it’s crippling to heroes like Doomfist, but to others it’s a simple inconvenience.
By being spread. Or by anticipating it and hit Transcendence immediately before she casts. (Indeed that cast/baiting of each other’s ult is a big thing now).
Do you need me to go through all the OWL videos to show you how EMPs often fail, in spite of catching multiple players?
How about the times players reacted, or found her from where they anticipated she’d come from before trying to EMP, winning the team fight before it even started?
I wouldnt usually dare translocate into a fight and EMP.
Ill throw my beacon nearby, allow someone to engage, creep up behind the enemy, EMP them, try get a kill and go nuts unless they all turn on me in anger in which case “be right back”.
Which takes him away from the fight turning it into a free 6v5. Also what if EMP happens after the fight starts? No one seems to have the answer to that…
