“People just need time to figure out Sym”

General Discussion
83

I consider myself a Sym main, and I was against the rework from the start (the wrong things were addressed).
Because I find more aspects of her playstyle more difficult and less reliable now, I play her less (very sadly), but more consistently on the maps that I think I can do ok on.
So overall (if I’m a representative sample of the population) my personal Sym pickrate is much lower since I pick her for maps I am really confident on, but this skews my winrate to look higher.

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84

100% true, c’mon Blizzard! let Symmetra unlock her true potential! :ok_hand:

85

She’s a DPS so if she sucks it’s just “give it time”. If she were a support the forums would say “she’s unfun, she’s clunky”.

86

Question: why players would pick Symmetra for DPS, if they have less team-dependent, more mobile and overall more reliable heroes to pick? Other than loving character, of course.

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87

still an easy way to secure a random kill
a bit like scatter

88

Autoaim wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, given how close we had to get to make that lock on in the first place . It made the game and the hero a little more accessible for people who have difficulties aiming.

I personally have no issues tracking and building her current gun up to full charge, but she is less of a deterrent for heroes she used to counter. They all have new counters in sombra, brig, and moira but it does seem symmetra has lost her place a little. Tracking genji and lucios at her range is a bit of a nightmare, and other characters do everything she can more effectively.

Slow turrets - mei has freeze
Barrier busting - bastion has better range, sym needs to be up close for endless ammo gen to work
Barrier - is an ult, we got 4 tanks that can drop one every few seconds
Endless tp surprises - great but its normally just me using it. Translocate gets me as a single target around better.

Honestly i wonder how OG sym as off support/dps and her 75hp shields would fair now hero stacking isnt a thing

5 Likes
89

As someone who played Symmetra since launch through all her ups and downs, I’ve been having an absolute blast with her since 3.0 came out. She’s definitely a completely different hero to the old one though, but one who no longer is only strong on particular points on defence, but any map, attack or defence, and has more of a role too.

I’m on the fence about her popularity staying low, it’s encouraging to see her actually show up in pro play now and then where she didn’t at all before, but it’s also nice to play Competitive and not have to face her all the time, or have other people pick her off me.

I don’t quite know why she’s still got the ‘easy hero’ label any more, yes, people die to turrets and it feels cheap but she’s extremely input-heavy and needs huge position awareness because of how squishy she is, it’s taken a while to learn the nuances of her new kit:

  • How to not stand too close to walls when deploying teleporters or wall ult so they don’t fail

  • How to place teleporters where there’s railings

  • How to get turrets through gaps without them getting stuck on surfaces midway

  • How to time an ambush to land 2-orb assassinations

  • How to place a teleporter in a grav in such a way that it’s useable before the Dragon shows up

  • When to tell a team to take a teleporter and when to just use it yourself

  • How to counter flankers with carefully positioned and repositioned turrets and orbs

  • How to kill a Winston or DVa diving at you

  • How to place teleporter mid-fight to get out before it gets too bad

  • How to get that sweet spot distance from a Reinhardt that is out of hammer range but keeps your beam charge going on his shield while also staying protected by your tank

  • How to bait hook from a Hog then build beam on him while he vapes for the finisher

  • How to counter-shield-dance an Orisa with a teleporter and a spread of turrets so she can’t block them all and gets melted

  • How to pressure a Widow with teleporters

There’s just so much depth and flexibility to this beautiful hero, but it does require more practice and co-operation than most people are willing to put in, especially those who resent losing the old hero, who will hopefully be reborn in Echo as a shield-giving support.

5 Likes
90

TBH just finished QP as Symm a few times…
I think she’s FUN but her main fire needs the auto-lock back and the TPer needs to be instant and 30 second available.

Other then that she’s fun.
The only thing I did not like was my team mad that i played Symm and we’re losing because of me, despite me holding GOLD medal for kills and objective kills… I mean comon.

Symm is not a bad dpser if you play her well.

91

Symmetra 2.0 was more about brute force and had a kit that helped if any mistakes were made.

2.0 barrier could allow you to primary someone to death with no aim requirement.

Instead of needing to think of a plan to deal with a barrier she could just use secondary fire.

Her 2.0 teleporter would allow her to get quickly back to the point after dying (Possibly undoing a mistake).
The shield generator would enable more brute force.

Symmetra 3.0 is extremely powerful but to get full value out of her kit you need to be able to think quickly not just use brute force.

Where/how you place her teleporter and ultimate is the difference between them being invaluable or useless.

A lot of people have a problem with teleporter because they want to use it as a reactionary ability but it is a positioning tool.
As a positioning tool it is extremely powerful but you need to understand the value of the position where you are placing it, Apparently some people just place it randomly …

Practicing Symmetra 3.0 isn’t just about learning to aim better or reacting faster, It is about learning better positioning and different ways to use your kit.

I enjoyed both versions but 3.0 feels like there is a lot more to separate my skills from someone just picking her up for the first time (Skill floor) and I feel like I have so much more control over the outcome of a fight.

I was a Symmetra main with 2.0 and I am a Symmetra main with 3.0.

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92

Thats what happens when you make a close range hero without any survivability.

93

I can’t speak for everyone but I destroy with Symmetra harder than I ever did before her rework.
I’ve had a few times where my friends have simply told me, “You know what to do.” on certain maps, asking me to play Symmetra. That never happened pre-rework, despite maining Sym in both periods.

However, I guess the same holds true to you too. Your experiences may suggest Symmetra to be weak and I can’t deny what you’ve been through as a Symmetra player.
But you also can’t speak for the community as a whole, so I prefer you wouldn’t shove words into people’s mouths.

“Hard work and dedication pays off.” ~ Symmetra

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94

I fully agree with everything you’ve said.

However, I wouldn’t say it’s purely reacting that has to be improved upon, its aim. I don’t necessarily mean her beam either. You’ve always had to aim her orbs and landing them as 2.0 was the major difference in winning a 1v1 with a 200hp target. The biggest aim requirement that comes with her new kit is properly reacting with her TP. There is an aim requirement to it, and failing to place it quickly enough can get you killed. I disagree that it’s not reactive, as there are many completely safe situations in which you can react with TP.

Against Moira for example: Her damage is so low that you aren’t in much danger from Moira herself, and her orb is a bigger factor. However, plopping TP down as soon as she latches her beam down and keeping it between you both makes it almost impossible for her to target you. TPs hitbox is immediate and can be used to react to Brigs stun to block it. Winston also cannot kill Sym with full health by the time TP goes up without assistance.

You have to think quickly with Sym and know her matchups whereas previously she was almost entirely premeditative without many options in the middle of a fight. All she had was her gun because trying to set up one turret in the presence of even one enemy was suicide. She has so many more options now for how to deal with a multitude of situations.

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95

The things i would like to see getting back from previous Symmetria versions were the throwable shield what was good for charging attacks, the penetrating balls what helped quicker ult charges and the six turrets.

The teleport in its current form is too niche to utilize, too slow to combat cast, hp based and the duration is too low.

The turrets are fine but they either need more backup amounts or simply just more turrets.

The base beam is too dangerous to utilize, people will most likely kill you before you could fry them.

The orbs are good for aoe but they are slow and easily avoidable, the lost shield piercing hurts its usability.

96

The hardest part about figuring out Sym isn’t “Can Sym do her job?” but rather “Can Sym do her job as well or better than anyone else?”

Like, it’s hard to play Sym when Torb has better zoning, better anti-tank, and a better turret than Sym. It’s hard to play Sym as a flanker when Tracer, Genji, and Doomfist do the same thing with a lot more survivability (and soon Reaper once his buff goes live). It’s hard to play Sym for her utility when Sombra and Mei are seeing great high-level play.

I don’t doubt you can play Sym and have a good game. But it’s hard for me to be convinced that your game could’ve been better with anyone else.

3 Likes
97

I totally agree that the teleporter can be used safely in some situations to react but that statement was more for people who struggle to see its value or keep trying to cast it unsuccessfully during combat.

I am hoping if people start looking at how to use the teleporter in the most basic way and keep practicing that they will slowly understand when they can/can’t use it during a fight instead of have it work sometimes and not other times then blame the ability.

98

Even after 6 months, I find it interesting players are discovering more and interesting methods of using Symmetra as time roles on with Sym 3.0. It took that long for players to figure things out. Current Bastion is arguably meta thanks to current Sym and shielding. With more time, I think more things will be discovered.

Alas, Sym, regardless of which version she is, her very design is still niche and heavily based on a coordinated team work to get the best value out of her. Sym is scary when a team is working with her, same with Sombra, Bastion, and Orisa.

99

I used to love Dva (the defensive one, not the fat dps), Mercy and Sym… now I feel they are all husks of the characters I fell in love with.

Half expecting them of reworking Ana and Moira too at this point…

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100

I honestly would if I was at least decent on Mercy. I have a silver level Mercy, and no matter how much I try to play her when my wrist ache, I simply can’t do a good job. I swear I spend more time running back from spawn than healing my team.

Actually, I know why. It’s because I lack the fine motor skills to properly GA mid-fight. Mercy requires a good amount of execution to stay alive for more than 10 seconds, but people consider her a “low skill hero” because she don’t get sick headsh… oh, wait. She does. And then get screamed by her own team because she is throwing by pulling the pistol.

Mercy have a worse reaction from her own team than all the toxicity I ever received as a Sym/Torb main.

2 Likes
101

Bet you probably think widow is the pinnacle of big brain. Right?

102

Don’t forget there is also the argument that Symmetra players “deserve” all the toxicity because they are the kind of players that never swap regardless of how the match is going.

Symmetra is a hero that switches to save winrate, but never switches to win matches. People simply can’t accept Symmetra is a good hero. She also was a good hero before the newest rework. Yet, people couldn’t see beyond the “autolock beam” and call her easy to play.

(BTW, IMO, Sym2 was OP, and Sym3 is a good hero despite being a nerf. Both are not fit towards pro play, and Blizzard should embrace her as a general population hero)