(Maybe) unpopular opinion: Symmetra needs Lock-on to finally become viable

General Discussion
1

I think with her current beam, Sym will never be viable. For multiple reasons. Reasons, a lock-on could fix.

1: Tank Counter
Symmetra’s current beam is meant to counter tanks. However, there are many better heroes to break barriers or run through them. (Reaper, Torbjörn, Junkrat, Pharah, Tracer, Hanzo, Soldier, McCree and even Bastion)
If Symmetra had lock-on, she would be strong against DPS and there arent many heroes like that.

2: Improve her Bodyguard-Playstyle
When Symmetra is on a highground with Ana, her beam is just useless. It wont even really touch a dive DPS and Tanks have to much HP. Even if you manage to kill a D.Va, she has already killed Ana and its not a great trade.
However, a lock-on beam could really protect Ana. DPS like Genji or Doomfist wouldn’t have a chance and Tanks like D.Va might actually kill Ana but she would also charge up Sym and she would just run into the enemy team and slay everyone.

3: Improve her Offensive Playstyle (TP on Point)
Current Beam: Sym puts a teleporter on the point and (if you’re lucky) everyone goes with her. However, afterwards she is just useless. She is forced to fight in close range because her TP range is limited. In Close Range, Sym will just die. If she is lucky, she can get a turret up but even those cant really help. With a lock-on beam, she could acutally do something and her TP wouldn’t be a “Here I am, kill me”-Sign for the enemy anymore.

4: Balance the Meta
Right now, Genji, Hanzo and McCree are the strongest DPS (Doomfist excluded cause he gets nerfed) cause they lack counters. Symmetra 3.0 is weak against all of them. Symmetra 2.0 was decent against all of them. Her lock-on could make Hanzo’s and Genji’s life horrible and McCree would be forced to kill her with flashbang instead of a Support.
EDIT FOR FEB 2019: The lately popular snipers Widow and Ashe would be forced to play more defensive because Sym could TP on their Highground and microwave them.

So, without all the “Lock-on is unfair” stuff, a well balanced lock-on beam would improve Sym, make her rework a (little) sucess and change the Meta. I think it would be good to have lock-on back.

If I missed something or you think Sym’s primary could be changed in another way to get viable just tell me, I’m open for comments that arent “Lock-on was bad for the game” or “Learn to aim you noob”

EDIT FOR JAN 2020: Now, one year later, there are still the same problems for Sym. Buffs, Nerfs, Meta Changes…but in the end, Symmetra is still at the bottom. I’ll keep hoping she gets help someday! What do you think about her state and my ideas for her in 2020 Overwatch with Role Queue ectr? Still open for feedback!

EDIT FOR FEB 2021: Despite the minor health buff, nothing has changed for Symmetra in 2020. She is still terribe and her beam is a big part of the problem. Not much else to say ^^

103 Likes
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It never should of been made a Zarya beam in the first place radically changing a heroes primary fire like that was stupid at most it should of been made into a frontal cone like Winston she used to counter high mobility tricky to hit heroes same as Winny does still now she counters tanks that dont have a clue how to tank.

65 Likes
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Agreed.
Even after buffing the crap out of it, the primary beam still feels really clunky and situational. I would rather have it be a close range option that locks on than a stick beam that has to ramp up as it does now.
Granted her new primary is better now that its buffed, but in all honesty, it still feels clunky to me.
At least her beam before was consistent!

27 Likes
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Taking away her lock on was a mistake, and it was just a way to court the Genjis and owl players who hated her to play her (because us true blue Sym mains be damned right? All of us were just skilless trolls right and we couldn’t have possibly enjoyed her brain games play style and accessible weaponry which was a breath of fresh air to the Widow/Mccree guns right?)

Her new aim requirement would be fine if she didn’t have reduced ammo. Or an extremely situational shield mechanic that ironically makes herself a huge counter. Or a shorter range and smaller damage than tank Zarya. Or an extremely long and unforgiving windup time.

Her lock on suited her. You had to learn to dance with it. You can’t dance anymore lest you want to take forever killing someone.

Not only that, but it was the reason that justified her ramp up BECAUSE enemies paying proper attention could react and defend themselves. The really long ramp up combined with the aim is just punishing the people playing her for aiming.

And don’t you dare tell me, future anti Sym posters below me, her secondary is her primary. That is bs otherwise the devs would not have designed her beam to remain her primary. If you genuinely think this, I dare you to only play Mccree with fth.

28 Likes
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#MakeSymmGoodAgain, giving the lock-on and reducing the damage output would be perfectly balanced if done correctly and would improve her so much. Her kit it ALL so slow.

Primary - Use to take 4 seconds to be good, now takes 3.2
Secondary - Have to charge for 1 second for it to be any use, also moves slow.
Turrets - Die pretty much instantly still, takes 30 seconds to regain all 3.
Tp - Slow to place down, have to wait before going back through.
Ult - Timing is alright, but it’s very situational and trash (My opinion)

One thing i don’t get is why does a close ranged hero have 200 hp? Every other hero with a close raged primary fire has 250 hp. Why on earth does Symm only have 200? “She has shield” Isn’t really a reason considering you have to actual be out of combat to regain it, so during combat it is useless.

They removed her 2 mechanisms of suitability, her moving shield and shield gen. Now she is just squishy, slow, clunky, team reliant, reliant on map. Well done the rework was such a success :confused: with a pickrate of 0.78 and still NEVER played within league. At the speed they decide on ‘buffing’ her it’ll take a good 1-2 years guys sorry, i’d recommend finding a new main… our bby Symm ain’t gonna be good for a while :sleepy:

16 Likes
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I have been saying since the rework that the lock on needed to stay in some fashion. Not only was it part of Symmetra’s core identity but it provided some much needed counter to those high mobility Heroes. Once upon a time people considered death by Sym an embarrassment, that if you died from her lock on then it was your own fault because she was supposedly so easy to counter. I don’t understand how the tone shifted so much to cause the lock on to be removed. But it needs to come back. A straight beam might work for Zarya but not for Sym.

14 Likes
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Lock on has no place in a game where most other heroes require aim to improve and climb the ladder. Deal with it.
If the rest of syms kit required a 150 iq it might be acceptable but let’s face it, nothing about sym is difficult so let’s not make her easier than she already is.

19 Likes
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I just don’t get why Sym has to be so slow. Her entire kit would benefit from simply speeding her up across the board. Faster tp, faster turrets, faster charge, slightly faster orb charge… Like cmon. Stop being afraid of making symmetra powerful!

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Nerf her secondary fire before I join the side of buffing her primary.

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Why on earth nerf her secondary fire? It’s not overly strong, just good. It barely has a splash radius, moves slower than pharah rockets, and she takes a full second to charge up each orb. Don’t be ridiculous.

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Um, skill isn’t all based on aim. With Symm you actual required to think ahead of time as to where to place turrets, good locations for Shield/Tp Gen, and the right moment to use your moving shield. No one complains about Moira? All her kit is lockon/large ranged.

2 Likes
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It has more power than you give it credit for, especially in close ranges.

That spam needs to go before we buff her primary/lock-on. She doesn’t need 2 close range modes where both are lethal.

Otherwise it will be secondary -> primary lockon to finish an enemy off.

You don’t even need her damage ramp up for that, which is why it needs some power taken away from it and given to her primary.

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No.
20 characters…

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Really? Because I still easily kill Genji.

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You see I’d agree but nothing in sym 2.0’s kit was remotely skillful no matter how often you tell yourself otherwise. New sym is still very straightforward but requires a bit more communication and full use of her kit instead, but still easy.

I’ll give you a counter example, the hero I almost exclusively play: Mei.

Mei can be effective without being too aim sensitive. Her other tools have a big to massive skill ceiling though. Iceblock to preblock stuns, save team for charging reins and hooks, or bodyblock doorways. Wall, well I killed an ulting pharah with it once, was very satisfying and fun. Also prewalled several Rein ults, charges, etc.
These all require a certain amount of gamesense, practice and reflexes. You can further improve your effectiveness by improving your icicle aim.

The 30 seconds you have to figure out whether you place your turrets in choke A, B, or both, doesn’t come even close to as skillful.

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I agree strongly with said so-called unpopular opinion, and I know a lot of other people who would too. Symmetra’s beam doesn’t feel right without lock-on, and it has really subtracted a unique mechanic from the game which was central to her kit. I won’t play her in her current form, not because she isn’t powerful enough, but because she just isn’t fun to play and doesn’t handle smoothly as other heroes.

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If not a full lock-on but a large hitbox beam like Moiras could help.

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She just needs to have a well-defined and reliable niche.

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Okay, so if skill is down to aim in your mind then what is there for those who have disability problems that restrict them from being good at aiming. People liked the easy kit she had and low aim but still required thinking to be put into it.

New Symm is terribly team reliant to the point she is pathetic solo, and is badly being reliant on a map that suits her. The rework FAILED. She is still as squishy as ever and has even less survivalbility.

7 Likes
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This alone tells me you have absolutely no idea how to play Symmetra. Do you have nothing better than to troll threads that try to help one of the weakest characters in the game?

Agree to disagree. I think you are overestimating the power of it while you think I’m underestimating it.

6 Likes