Guide: How to counter new Sombra

General Discussion
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Since i’m a Sombra main, i’m very happy for the new changes to come, but with the nature of buffs, there will be a bunch of people who dont know how to deal with it. Here are some tipps how to counter her, or at least make her life pretty hard in general.

For lower ranks:
Might sound counter intuitive, but Torb can actually deal with Sombra pretty well. Sombra wants to get in the enemy back line and hack the tanks or supports in the enemy formation where it hurts, but to be able to do that she cant allow to get herself damaged while doing so, since 1 point of damage already cancels it.

Torbs Turret auto aims and as long as its in a decent position, Sombra is forced to focus it down first before she can do anything of value. She can only stop it with EMP reliably and since her Ult charge gain is nerfed next patch she will have it less often. So her only way to get rid of it before she gets Ult, she need to shoot and destroy it.

Which she can do, but
a) if Torb is right next to it, there is a high risk of dying and
b) even if she destroyed it, she is so low after that, that she is forced to retreat with translocator, which leaves enough time for Torb to rebuild the turret, effectively negating all the value she got. Shooting the turret didnt even give her Ult charge.

For higher ranks:
The sniper duo Widow and Hanzo can make Sombras job a nightmare, no joke.
They provide wall hacks, which limits her ways to engage and get to the backline pretty hard. Going to high ground without risking getting headshot is no easy option anymore. Before she can do anything of value, she has to deal with the sniper in the backline first and if they are skilled enough to land headshots, thats always a high risk to get right send back to spawn and watch your kill cam.

Hacking Widow and Hanzo also barely does anything, since they can deal with you in one shot anyways. Hanzo can even preload his arrows and lock into them before getting hacked, so just in case he then can use them, even when hacked. After the rework Hanzo will be pretty scary , if volley is also non hack cancelable.

General tipps:
Hack is cancelable by damage, outranging it (max. range 15 meters), braking line of sight by getting behind cover, or shields.
Thus Zarya will be really great at covering for her supports. If you are a flanker like Genji, or Tracer, expect hacks from behind or high ground. If you dont feel confident enough to turn around and shoot her in time, just use your movement ability to outrange it asap. Better burning a cooldown, than becoming a sitting duck inside of the enemy formation. She will be great at peeling for her own supports against other flankers, so be aware.

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Good Guide. Thanks :slight_smile:

I might Suggest adding both DVa and Winston in there as they are decent counters. And for low Ranks, Sym might help too.

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So her counters are two of the biggest throw picks in the game? I’m definitely looking forward to more Torb and Hanzo teammates.

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Noooooooo!! Don’t expose the secret strats to counter our main!! What have you done?!?!?

Na, all jokes aside, these are pretty good ways to counter Sombra.
Another tip I could suggest to counter Sombra (coming from a Sombra main’s perspective) is choosing Mei.

Overall though, even just picking Heroes such as Symmetra, Torbjorn, Winston, Mei, Moira etc. can screw a Sombra over because their weapons will prevent her from a) Hacking a key target, and b) Will pull her out of stealth when she has taken a point of damage.

If you are a support hero, I think the best picks against her are Moira (because she can peel for other supports) and Ana (because she can be difficult to take out because of her Anti unless Sombra manages to get the hack off)

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