Only Rework Sombra Needs Workshop Code Needs Help

Workshop Discussion
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Introduction

I think Sombra might be close to what she should be. Players who main Sombra like her.

Also maybe the only big complaints from other players is near-permanent Stealth and basically being unable to play for a short duration. My complaint is that her current kit punishes for acting too quickly while Stealthed because the time out of Stealth is longer. This usually forces Sombra players to adopt only one playing style: permanent Stealth.

So I propose a rework that might be fun for Sombra players. Hacks are also less limiting for other players. And Stealth is less permanent (unless if Sombra opts for the Perk and plays very skillfully) and less limiting.

The Workshop code is D3TPD. And it needs editing from the community. It might not function properly. And only the Hack is changed. I’m a beginner. So the community can make the other changes or help me out. I’ll share my idea here.

My Rework for Sombra

What if Hack doesn’t lock down all abilities? The effect of Hack could change if the Sombra presses Primary Fire by the end of her Hack animation. If Sombra just presses Secondary Fire, she disables only the opponent’s E and Shift. If Sombra also presses Primary Fire, she disables only opponent’s E and Secondary Fire. Duration of Hack is 6 seconds.

It will give Sombra players the feeling of typing something and choosing something during the Hacking. It’ll require game sense from Sombra. And the opponent will not be fully locked out. If this is overpowered, E can be left alone and depending on the choice, only Shift or Secondary Fire can be disabled. Players will feel like they are Sombra, so I think it’ll be fun.

I initially thought that combining Stealth and Translocation limited Sombra’s options. Yes it limits it. But if the cooldown changes, being permastealthed will be more difficult, usually she’ll be out of Stealth for longer and Sombra can choose to leave Stealth early with less consequence.

What if Sombra’s cooldown for the Translocator decreases if Sombra leaves Stealth earlier but also adds 1 second to the cooldown? The mathematical formula for Translocator’s cooldown when pressed would be:

Translocator’s Cooldown When Pressed = Remaining Duration of Stealth / 2 + 1 second

So Sombra will be out of Stealth longer after leaving it, so opponents could counter play by catching her out of stealth, especially if she’s out of position. But if Sombra opts to leave Stealth early (if that is the player’s play style), she is not punished as much because she can re-enter stealth quicker. So Sombra players have more options.

If Stealth and Translocator are separate, there are 3 options Sombra has. Stealth only. Translocator only. And activating Stealth and Tranlocator near each other.

However if Stealth and Translocator are combined, there are two big shifts in play styles with two big options. Sombra can leave Stealth early and be a bit more visible or be closer to permanent Stealth, especially with that Perk.

Conclusion

That is my proposed rework for Sombra. If the community wants to help me by editing my Workshop coding, that could be done. Just give credit to me if you share it with others. And, post on this thread! So we could test these ideas!

I hope my rework might inspire the making of Sombra’s actual rework and help developers think up some ideas.

Edit in Addition: I want to talk about Blizzard’s early glory days when the motto was, “it’s ready when it’s ready.” The motto was true! The early days of World of Warcraft and Starcraft were near perfection and very unique because the projects were not rushed. The glory days continue today because of that motto.

However, I think projects made progress; I don’t think projects were put off for a long time. I don’t want to give bad advice. But, in my opinion, there should not be a due date early or even in the middle of development. An internal then an external due date can be made when the project is close to completion. However there should be some progress per unit of time.

Units can be daily or weekly but they can be large, like monthly or every season, etc. But in my opinion, there should be progress towards small or large SMART goals. If you can work on something soon, sooner is better than later.

For example, during the early days of World of Warcraft, every few years, there was a new expansion. They kept at it. But for Starcraft, I don’t think developers imagined there will be Starcraft 2 when they worked on the original. Progress should be made on whatever is necessary.

So I hope I’m not giving bad advice but in my opinion, progress should be made towards what is necessary even though projects are not rushed and there are no due dates yet. I don’t mean people blindly accept my idea or any idea. But in my opinion progress should be made on what ideas should be explored, tested and implemented, even maybe re-explored, etc.

Reworks might be done a bit sooner than later or there might be news (or not) about progress made. Many players might be happy. ^^ But don’t rush. Regular progress yes, but it’s still, “it’s ready when it’s ready.” Due dates, when it’s close to completion.

Edit 2: Notebook Check referred to Director’s Take in April stating that reworks to Sombra, Lifeweaver and Roadhog are subject to change but information sharing is planned for later in 2026. Oh! So I think progress is being made already. ^^

Edit 3: My ideas can inspire but whatever the plans for reworks was, are or will be, I’m open. ^^

Edit 4: Current version of Sombra is a good job because she can solo-queue and playing as her is refreshing. ^^ So I have confidence in her rework. ^^

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Actually having hack disable certain abilities and requiring the person playing her to know about everyone’s kit is actually a really interesting concept! I’d love if they explored something like that!

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Thank you for the encouragement and compliment, Sluggers. Compliments are huge. ^^ I’d also love if choice is incorporated into Sombra in some way! Thank you for your support.

However Blizzcon is going on right now. And I saw an article. It said Sombra will be a Support. I remember that I made a joke saying that Sombra is a Support because she heals her allies with Health Packs. Haha, she’s becoming an actual Support!

Haha the irony! I 100% accept Sombra as a Support regardless of if she has my type of choice or not. It’s genius. Why ban her if she helps you? I support Sombra, as a Support (pun unintended). ^^

Edit: Not taking credit for Sombra being Support. But it’s a genius idea!

Edit 2: I saw gameplay of Sombra today. I believe Hacking taking time and being interruptible requires her to be stealthy and surprise her opponents. So completely removing her ability to Hack or making Hotfix uninterruptible does not make sense.

However, I like that she is a support, doubles down on Health Packs and heals her allies. And I think she has a lot of potential! So I am optimistic. And, I like her Rework.

Finally, I love how she will still Hack opponents with her EMP!

In my opinion, I am even more a Sombra Main now than recently before! I like being Support! Overwatch 1 Sombra was amazing and Epic. But it was difficult to solo-queue as Overwatch 1 Sombra. Now she can solo-queue and support her allies. That is good! In my opinion, Sombra should stick with this Rework or make small changes.

Edit 3: A small change could be that Sombra’s Hotfix can Hack one Enemy ability or heal Allies. But it would be interruptible.

Otherwise, Sombra could be released as this Rework. I like the Rework a lot. ^^

Edit 4: I’ve just watched Mr. Dawson’s presentation. I prefer Stealth and Translocator be kept and separated.

But I like Cyberspace. I also love that Sombra became more proactive! ^^ I expect many new brain cells in many gamers. Thank you. ^^ I like Sombra’s Rework overall. ^^

Edit 5: I remember when Sombra was first released, I thought to myself, “this is not like me, maining an Offence Hero. But I’ll do it.” Now even Sombra isn’t an Offence Hero anymore! Haha the irony. ^^

Edit 6: I watched streamers. I saw that Sombra could Translocate, immediately shoot and not enter Stealth because there is a small delay before Stealth activates. So, depending on your Tech, you could Translocate and Stealth, Translocate without Stealth or Stealth immediately (throw on floor).

So Translocator and Stealth can be separated. Considering separation, I am satisfied. This is ingenious. ^^

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It’s been an emotional rollercast these past few days lol. I was at first very against Support Sombra, but after watching actual Sombra players play her out in a game I can sort of see the vision they’re going for. I think Cyberspace gives her a really good niche of denying value that if we’re being honest is way more powerful than hack was.
Translocator is the only part of her kit that I feel could use some love. I think if it was excatly how it is in live then she would be able to go for dives more which I feel is the direction they want to take her ( set a heal on some of your team and then go off and create pressure + disruption on the flanks). They could also perhaps look at giving some of her perks a facelift since some of them seem a little underwhelming, but with 3 weeks and a load of feedback they got from Blizzcon I am sure she’ll release in a good place.

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Love your positivity and optimism. ^^ I agree. Absolutely, the Translocator should be ironed out. So it’ll be smoother and flow. So it’ll be more useful. ^^

Can I tell you a secret? It was Overwatch 1. I was just messing around with Brigitte. Sombra started hacking. I turned around 180 a millisecond too late. I was hacked. I gave up. I lost. And someone laughed at me.

Short while later, I was in Quick Play as Sigma. A player as Sombra, spawn-camped me. I deployed my barrier and moved through it. So Sombra could not hack me. And I won against that Sombra. And my teammate laughed. But we lost the match. I won at what cost?

So this all feels like karma. It’s not karma because Sombra players will suffer. It’s karma because the hack is changing. I am soo glad EMP will stay similar! I believe Sombra will have a higher win rate as support. But it feels like karma.

Edit: I want to also mention one karma against me a very long time ago. When I studied Drama at high school, we had to secretly write down prompts that other students had to randomly pull from a hat and act out in a group.

I purposely wrote down “leaning tower of Pizza” to throw off someone else. Then when I went up on stage, I randomly picked my own!!! It threw me off! The teacher and students laughed at me!!! I got karmaed.

A father (God) who loves his children will discipline them diligently. But I’m not posting to discuss or debate religion. I’m just telling some secrets and in the end trying to cheer people up.

Edit 2: If I caused Sombra’s rework to be rushed, I recommend going back to the drawing board and taking time. But if I didn’t rush anyone, I say keep the rework and accept community feedback before and after release. I apologize.

Edit 3: I could be wrong but I think my code on my original post (D3TPD) works if Sombra is in Blue Team (Team 2). I’m just having fun with the custom mode.

Sombra is either weak or as powerful as Overwatch 1 Sombra (on release). It depends on if you guess the correct option when Hacking. And she doesn’t hack every ability.

Trying to choose which ability to disable can be tiring after long play sessions. But it seems very fun!

Edit 4: Right now, I think, I am happy with Sombra’s current rework being the last rework. So I hope it will be epic!