I just came back to point out that Seominsoo of the Vancouver Titans was stunned out of EMP on reaction in Horizon by Adora of the Huangzhou Spark. June 14th 2019 at 12:43 am est. Check the VOD if you missed it. Misleading thread is misleading.
Are you saying he wasn’t going to stun him anyway and the stun was specifically on reaction to the EMP animation?
Another example of EMP being stuffed in OWL with Brigitte’s flail at the 6 minute mark:
Please stop making up lies about there being no counterplay for EMP when it’s easy to predict and negate with stuns or by playing spread around corners.
But i thought EMP is an i win button? 
That was a huge 1 in 1000 play that was also luck based imo. Even if agilities did know an EMP was coming when he saw the Sombra dropping there is no way he anticipated the flail would boop him out of LoS at that perfect angle. He probably wanted to proc inspire or force the Sombra to translocate and he got lucky. If you think it was calculated you are just gullible imo.
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I don’t know what to do with this information.
0.18 sec is juuust short enough to be faster than the fastest plausible human reaction time, but if you’re reacting to something else like translocator flying in or sombra decloaking then it should give you more time.
Still, what can you even do?
Like, if you activate overload will overload’s benefits remain? Bastion’s ult?
If mei ice-blocks, will that save her? Wraith?
What’s the list of EMP interactions?
Yet Fitzy said the exact same thing as a 2,000 hour Sombra main that peaked top 3 this season. I’m definitely taking his word over yours. The only gullible people here are the ones who use this thread to justify their lack of game sense.
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Actually its common known Brig strat ever since KarQ released his video from a year ago.
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And like Fitzy said: what other reason would Sombra drop into a team of 6 with favorable high ground in a situation where the cart doesn’t need to be contested? Everyone in the game and at home knew the EMP was coming.
Yes, these are pros. They do Ult tracking and dont assume that the enemy is simply doing a dumb mistake. Of course they assume she drops down for the EMP.
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Sombra is far more easier to counter while she comes out of stealth, just stun her, flash bang her or even sound wave her into a long enough distance that doesn’t hit everyone, her entire reason she exists denied by a stun not that difficult to do.
I am more concerned that Grav doesn’t have enough counters other than a lucky timed Defensive matrix, and I am sure that takes much more reaction time than .18 seconds
Misleading is kinda wrong My original Post isn’t meant to say anything about Sombra’s state I had my Opinion in it at the start saying it feels a bit short but now that I reflect on it I was probably just shocked that it was this much lower as I believed it to be for well over a year and thanks to @deykar I changed my Opinion and took that part out.
So again the original Post is not saying anything about whenever Sombra’s EMP can be stopped or not its only the pure number of EMP’s programmed Casttime
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When i see Brig in OWL shield bash the EMP, as Brig main, that right there gets me hyped as fk.
Last time i saw it was from Blase did it in Kings Row.
You have no idea where she comes from, you only have a moment to react to audio and position of that audio she is appearing from, and have to react to animation start-up of EMP to Shield Bash.
In OWL, it IS easier to stun EMP, but at that high level of play, and due to LAN play having no delay on inputs, you need to be sharp to prepare to Stun it on time, esp. if you have to jump in the air or get on top of payload, to land the bash cause Sombra’s like to do it in the Air.
1s = 1000ms, 16.667ms = 1 frame, .18s cast time, .18s x 1000 = X / 16.66 = is 10.80frames, is slower than start-up of sonic boom until it first hits someone upclose, faster than hadouken.
In Comparison, on top of the lag online, which should normally include additional 100~300ms, this helps cast time of EMP, and input lag, as it make it even more difficult to interrupt EMP.
So technically it feels 9~10f move that can be heard prior to cast time, that is how long you have to stun it.
Is 10f move inhuman to react? no, but is difficult not impossible or too overpowered.
Brigitte probably only hero who can consistently interrupt it.
You have to prepared for it, esp. since the distance travel for shield bash until it lands.
If they wanted to nerf it, but not touch cast time, they could make it so EMP only can happen while on ground, standing, so like Rein, if he gets Booped in the Air, when he Shatters, that Shatter will start cast time, but won’t activate until he is on the floor.
Air EMP nerfed, Boops now effects EMP to catch it… idk how i feel about air emp nerfed, could make the hero less fun to play. I don’t think they should do it.
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EMP prevents the activation of abilities, destroys all currently active barriers and shields, and disables constructs (objects you can shoot to destroy1) in its radius, as well as Baptiste’s Amplification Matrix.
Any non-channeled ability or “transformation ability” with a timed duration that was used before EMP (e.g. Overload, Rally, Configuration Tank) will still be active after the EMP—assuming the ability does something other than provide shields/barriers that get destroyed by it.
Any active invulnerability effect (e.g. Cryo-Freeze, Wraith Form, Transcendence) will block EMP from hitting that character. Note that outside of LAN/OWL, it is sometimes possible for EMP to hit anyway because of latency, but it will not cancel the invulnerability effect in that case.
Most projectiles are not affected while airborne. Thus with the right timing, it is possible for Orisa to have a barrier immediately after EMP hits, or for Brigitte to negate the 150 shield damage that EMP deals to Zenyatta. This also allows for brute-force counters such as Graviton Surge to turn the timing of EMP against Sombra.
A character with both shields and an active Zarya bubble (likely Zarya herself) will only have the bubble destroyed by EMP, not their “blue health” shields. Zarya will instantly receive 40 energy for the destruction of each bubble. The bubbled characters still get hacked.
There are other nuances, but I think that’s all the big stuff.
1Exception: None of Junkrat’s constructs (Rip Tire, Concussion Mine, and Steel Trap) can be disabled by EMP. The same is true for an enemy Sombra’s Translocator.
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Excellent post.
I think I get what you mean by health-bar shields (light blue health) the zarya bubble can protect light blue health but not protect from hack. Only total invulnerability can protect you from being hacked when within range.
Will EMP remove the bonus shields provided by Lucio’s ult? Or Bonus armour from Rally/Repair-pack?
And what the heck is DVA’s ult?!? It’s kinda 2 heroes in one, the MEKA and baby dva. I guess if baby dva is hacked after popping ult she can’t recall her MEKA back but what happens to her MEKA?!?!?
Seems there’s a lot people COULD do to mitigate EMP, it’s just 0.18 sec is far too short a time for anyone to react. Maybe if Sombra had an invulnerability period while activating EMP but a slightly longer delay? Something like 0.3sec?
It only affects shields, not armor. But yes, it destroys the temporary shields from Sound Barrier or Doomfist’s passive. That’s one of the few ways that Sombra can get an “easy” Play of the Game, since EMP can potentially deal an instant 4500 raw damage to Sound Barrier if it hits everyone immediately.
Hacking Baby D.va prevents her from using Call Mech. Hacking her while she’s calling a mech (but before it “lands”) will interrupt the ability, preventing the mech from landing and requiring D.va to charge a whole new Call Mech ultimate.
Sombra can hack the unoccupied mech during Self Destruct, but it doesn’t prevent the mech from exploding. It might cancel the Boosters ability… I’m not sure about that.
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DDing was just slept out of EMP on reaction by Kariv at 12:25 am EST.
Anticipation not reaction. Cast time and travel time prevent it from being a true reaction
Again, decloaking adds a delay which is constantly being ignored or hand waved away in this thread. 15 seconds left, Sombra decloaks next to you, you know the EMP is coming and you hit that CC button to catch her in the animation.
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Let us also not forget that Pro play is LAN play and the ping times there are orders of magnitude better than even the best internet connections. Every player also has the best available equipment, including 240Hz monitors being driven at comparable frame-rates. Every player is literally hand selected as one of the best in the world and they train together, specifically to counter or reduce the impact of known-good comps, strategies, and ultimates.
TL;DR… Pro play has zero in common with the ladder and should not be used for argument anywhere near a conversation regarding ladder balance.