The new Sym is horrible. I used to play her all the time before rework too, now I don’t play it at all.
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I actually think 3.0 can be salvaged still, just needs some more tweaks.
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Reading the replies to this thread was heartbreaking for me. It seems I honestly am one of the few people to truly understand Symmetra, which is sad because I was never an OG Symm main, and I’m not exactly a Symm main now, either. This may fall on deaf ears, but I’ll do it anyway since I am still that dedicated to Sym 3.0.
If you all want to know the secrets of Symm and why you think she is terrible, then listen, but if you want to continue to believe you hate the character you fell in love with, then be my guest and ignore this post. Otherwise, read on.
I’m going to start with what I feel like is the most controversial part of her kit. Her primary fire.
This part of her rework has gotten serious hate that it does not deserve. I’m going clear up some common misconceptions about Symmetra and her usage before I show any examples of how to use her. Skip to the next separator if you don’t care.
This may come as a surprise to some, but it is true that aiming requires skill. In reality, every task involves skill, and every skill is different. Some people are naturally talented, some train themselves, and some are naturally incapable of getting to a certain degree of it.
But everything requires skill to perform well, and Symmetra’s old primary is no exception. The difference in the two versions of her primary is that one of the skills that made Symmetra 2.0’s primary effective, was extremely common. Whereas the skill to accurately track enemy movements, is much less common. This created an abrupt skill gap, and many of the Symmetra players either haven’t acclimated to it or don’t want to.
The reason Symmetra’s old primary fire is considered skillless is because the type of skill and the level of it required to perform well, was so common or easy to attain, that it was almost a given that anyone would be able to play at an average efficiency with the weapon. By contrast, the skill to accurately track with a beam weapon is much harder to attain and is less common overall.
With that out of the way, here are some tips to improve usage with the weapon. It is insanely useful when in groups, and can rack up damage faster than enemies can heal in almost every situation.
The most crucial time to use it is in team fights when you have healers to support you, and tanks to absorb damage besides you. The order in which you pick targets has also changed. Rather than going straight for DPS (More specifically Genji.) You now want to attack tanks first. Here is the most effective target prioritization method. (OR at least, my methodology.)
- Tanks - Charge up your beam on tanks or their shields. Either finish off the tank or move on to step 2. This should be decided on a case-to-case basis, depending on the situation.
- Healers - With a beam that deals 180 DPS, most supports will have no escape option, and cannot outheal themselves.
- Tanks, again - After the healers are out of the way, move back to the tanks. With no support to back them up, they will have little choice but to panic, retreat or just stall, depending on what tank subclass they are.
- DPS/Cleanup - With the tanks out of the way, or retreating, the DPS will have to either do the same, die, or pop off.
Keep in mind, that these are just basic guidelines to consider. It is not to say that you HAVE to follow this or even will, but in a perfect world, this would be one of the most effective strategies to employ. And also as a side note, be sure to keep your beam charged on whatever is near. It is more than likely that you will NOT be able to follow this instruction every game, and will have to keep your beam up on anyone nearby.
Next up is her Teleporter. The most common misconception is that this ability HAS to be used in conjunction with teamwork. That, however, is NOT the case. Yes, it is true that it is at it’s most effective when used in coordination with teammates and cooldowns, but it is not the only way to use it.
It is a healthy strategy to keep your Teleporter on cooldown *as much as possible. Placing a TP up to the high ground in the middle of battle can allow your teammates to quickly and easily get to an advantage point, as well as a way to escape damage, and gives immobile characters like Ana or Orisa escape options. If the teleporter is not destroyed, it will only have a downtime of 2 seconds meaning that you can keep it up almost indefinitely.
Another way to use the teleporter effectively is to flank. There are few places that Symmetra CAN’T get to. However, caution and discretion needs to be made when placing the TP in combat. You have many different options when flanking with Symmetra, from setting up turrets in their backline, to bringing the entire team along with you in the TP. Some strategies require coordination to be effective, but one insanely effective strategy exists that requires no coordination with your team whatsoever.
- Flank behind the enemy.
- Place all three turrets on the ground, on top of one another.
- Stand slightly behind the turrets and aim your teleporter so it will appear next to an enemy backline squishy.
- Charge up an orb immediately after letting go of the teleporter.
- Depending on the risk, use the teleporter and join in with your alternate fire. If there is too much risk, then spam orbs from a distance, or retreat to safety.
This strategy is already popular among Symmetra 3.0 mains, but for people who haven’t seen it in action, prepare to get your minds blown. It is highly advantageous and should be attempted as often as you can. It sends 150 DPS instantly across long distances, and leaves very little time to react, and can outright win a fight if it gets 1-2 picks.
And with that strategy down, let’s segway into Orbs and Turrets. I’ll combine these because they are honestly very similar to the old Symm, except now they work correctly, are effective, and don’t force you to sit still and do nothing the whole game.
There truly isn’t much to be said about the turrets. Most of the places where you would previously hide them before a game are still effective, and there are even more to discover. The most significant difference is that you can now use these turrets as a method to force the enemy to turn around, by throwing them behind the enemy. Or for some extra damage and to make them look down, by shooting them at the floor.
Then there are the orbs. This is where the majority of your damage and ult charge comes from. Always idly charge up an orb, and reload if you don’t want to fire it. Doing this helps because if someone tries to dive you, or if a McCree comes out of nowhere, you will have some quick damage to launch at them.
Symmetra can play from a safe distance, either behind shields or on high ground by using her orbs effectively. It only takes two fully charged orbs to kill a 200 health target, but remember if an enemy is low, you can kill them with splash damage. It is also effective against groups of enemies for the same reason.
And lastly, we have the Photon Barrier. This ult charges very fast if you spam the orbs at enemies and keep your turrets up in practical locations. By using it to block off sniper advantages, or deny the benefits of high ground in general, you can make it an integral part of your success.
Keep in mind, that blocking ultimates with it can be very useful and straightforward, but it will take a bit of practice to master putting it up fast, like a mei-wall. A lot of times, the wall won’t reach its maximum effectiveness, but since it charges so quickly, you have a lot of room to experiment with it. It may seem like it isn’t useful, but often, cutting a point in half will drastically change the way a battle plays out for the enemy team.
Now, for a couple finishing notes. I would like to say, that even though I make Symmetra effective, enjoy playing her, and advocate for her usefulness, I still don’t think she is perfect. But as far as balance changes to her kit, she is just a few micrometers short of being there. It’s mostly bug fixes and quality of life changes that need to be made, NOT a fourth rework.
In the end, this is mostly a tutorial, so I’m sorry if you think I’m patronizing any of you, but I think it goes a long way to teach people how to play her because that will, in turn, change the opinions of people who don’t when they see Symm being played more effectively.
Some of you need to stop being so hung up on Symmetra’s changes, and instead reconnect with the hero that you used to love. Because she’s not gone, she has just changed to for the better.
![:slight_smile:](https://d74zh8edaijub.cloudfront.net/en/overwatch/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=6" ":slight_smile:")
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I’d love to hear from a dev on this, so I know whether to have hope or not. I saw a video earlier where Sym’s old teleporter was being used, and I miss it so much. I even miss her old turrent deployment, it felt like you were decorating a room or something.
As long as she doesnt get EZ mode auto aim back 
Wouldn’t you want her kit to be strong not just have the chance at being
strong?
37 likes so far. God I miss old Sym. I also miss the flow and adrenaline rush of old Sombra, but at least Sombra wasn’t completly massarcerd.
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Unlikely blizz are known for being stubborn with reverts unless the change they made makes the game nearly unplayable
God I wish they’d bring her back, wrf were they thinking?
I miss shield gen/teleport a lot…
Photon Barrier as an Ult is cool and all, but it’s not the same
Necro gang
Don’t bump this mess. We got enough Sym threads going around. Don’t need to resurrect more.