Another thing I would recommend Lucio players do is kinda stay closer to their teammates until she has EMP. It makes it harder to get the hack off because you can make them bodyblock for you/use their shield, and also because even if she hacks you, most likely she’ll be forced away immediately. A Lucio that’s being slippery by using cover and teammates is much harder to get a really valuable hack on then one that gets too aggressive or too defensive.
Once you think she has beat, stay away and wait for EMP to come out before using it.
They still say “You can’t play the game anymore”, and leave you as a sitting duck. With Hack, you can still run away and get help. The stuns just stop you dead in your tracks, and for the most part, that’s all that is needed to kill you.
Blocking stuns is easier said than done. Especially when their targeting you specifically.
Do you know what its like to play as a tank? You’ll be getting constantly CCed from the start of the game to the end. Ana will sleep you, then when you wake, Mcree will stun you. Wouldn’t you rather just be hacked and have the option to fight back?
And a lot don’t. Mcree and Hanzo can be hacked and still fight. Of course there’s going to be heroes that suffer more when hacked; Sombra should counter some heroes after all.
Nah. No one would ever be hacked again. This is one of those small changes that would ruin Sombra.
They certainly can.
Get Darted because you had to block something and ana got around you. → Get Flashbanged when you wake up. -->> Get brig stunned after that.
Oh please. This isn’t about it being an interesting mechanic. Just say that it annoys you and move on. The issue isn’t that hack “removes counter play”, which it doesn’t since you can still play the game and kill the enemy to stop them from playing. Thus countering them (Hanzo’s good at that).
I’d rather be hacked, and still fight, then get stunned and killed with no way to defend myself.
A lie. Just say you don’t like her.
This is an example of how your bias really should make you bow out from the conversation. Plenty of people find Sombra fun, but you don’t like her and her hack, so you deny any positive effects that it has. Hack can be CRAZY good when it comes to making that Reinhardt drop his shield.
And what’s this? Reinhardt still gets to play the game? He didn’t just lay there and die? The player got to, dare I say it, act in his defense?! B-but CC is supposed to make you completely defenseless!
Instead, you don’t see any of the upsides, and stay laser focused on what you don’t like about her. Drop the bias, or at least just admit it and say “I don’t like her, she annoys me. Delete her.” like other kids on here.
To piggy back off of this, this is actually a good thing to do. Use your teammates for help when you’re hacked.
Most Sombra cards I see in post game is like 36 hacks, 11 offensive assists, meaning only 11 of her hacks actually caused a target to die. That’s less than half, yet people claim hack is just an instant death sentence every time, when I almost NEVER see even HALF her hacks giving offensive assists in end game cards, even my own.
There’s definitely a lot of things you can do to survive it or waste her CD. You just have to play smarter, not FFA CoD. Utilize your teammates and comms.
I cannot tell you how many Reins I see scream Leroy Jenkins at a slept target as I’m just standing there as Sombra waiting to hack his charge. But it’s hack that’s the problem and is the death sentence…
Yup. Here’s an example card from a match Fitzy uploaded to his YouTube.
That’s 40% of his hacks resulting in his teammates killing them. And that’s a really good game (in terms of hacks, not necessarily in terms of like steamrolling an opponent or something)
Edit:
Skipped to the end of the game, and even though I watched him get a final blow on an unhacked enemy, I’m gonna pretend his 7 final blows were all on hacked targets for the sake of argument.
That’s 52% of his hacks resulting in a kill in a GOOD game. If we assume an average game is only a little worse than that, then that means you’re literally just as likely to survive a hack as not. That’s the definition of a balanced ability.
Exactly! Most games I would say it is between 20-30% of total hacks actually being followed up on. Maybe 35%.
People overestimate just how good hack is. If they just paid attention to how many assists Sombra got from her end-game card, you would realize it doesn’t have nearly the same amount of impact that people think.
It is very strong, but not as impossible to deal with as people seem to think.
Stuns and boops are far less annoying than hack, the length is not at all comparable (apart from sleep). They also don’t always result in death at all.
They have much less impact on your ability to do your job and play the game as they have fair counterplay. They actually go on CD when used.
You say it is easier said than done… but note that it is actually possible. You can bait out a stun, you can block a stun, you can out-play a stun.
Sombra just gets to use her hack untill she gets it off. There is no proper back and forth or fair interaction there. Especially since it is such a powerful ability. No other character gets to recast their CD untill it lands.
So what if a small selection of DPS are bad hack targets when almost the entire rest of the cast are fantastic targets?
No character should be such a hard counter to another that they remove any fair counterplay. That isn’t interactive. Also while being such a hard counter to various different characters - she has no fair counter-play back to herself.
That isn’t true at all - I have seen Sombra get the first hack attempt off several times. If it is blocked it should go on CD full stop. Fair couter-play is important.
a) that is not all from the same character
b) flash bang and shield bash don’t even last for 1 second
You are comparing almost 20 seconds of not being able to play with less than 7 seconds (assuming the sleep lasted its full duration).
I will say it again, no other ability in the game gets a CD refund when used poorly. Giving it a refund like that completely removes fair back and forth and fair counter-play.
Hack is way too strong to be so forgiving.
I’d rather have the chance to block and outplay an ability than just have it cast infinitely untill it lands. You also ignore that hack removes the ability for alot of characters to effectively defend themselves… some rely on movement mechanics, shield abilities, self-heal mechanics… Not everyone in the game is a DPS playing at range.
Yup. I edited in a pretty big assumption about final blows that wasn’t even true to that match, just for the sake of argument. And it still resulted in a balanced ability. 52% in a good game by one of the best Sombra players in the entire world. If we assume an average game is just a bit worse, then you’re just as likely to survive a hack from Fitzy as not. And that’s one of the best in the world. Even most GMs aren’t playing against Sombras of his caliber, so they are doing worse than that.
But with all seriousness, Zarya,Torb,Moira all amazing counters to Sombra that can completely deny the hero with the exception of her ultimate.
Sombra’s utility give you enough time to react and cancel it. so many heroes don’t rely on their abilities or use them beforehand like a trap or a turret.
Neither does hack. Watch Sombra’s offensive assists cards at end game from hacks. Those assists are people dying during her hack. It’s usually not even 40% of her total hacks.
Not true. CC’s are disorienting like pile driver or uppercut and can throw you out of position and throw off your aim and abilities. Hack does none of this. Displacement CC makes your job harder than “omg I can’t use my legs” as Soldier, for example. Other heroes are a different story, yes, I know. But not most.
Hack also goes on CD when it’s used…??? What?
Hitting the Sombra, even if it does no damage to her puts it on a short CD. Focusing her literally at all means she can’t use her only utility. It’s completely fair. Just pressure her like you would a support. She TPs out and you don’t have to deal with her for a while, giving a free 5v6 for a bit. Just scare her off and she’s worth less than baiting McCree flash. He will still bring value to the fight, Sombra is long gone for a bit. Feels fair to me.
Not many heroes are hard countered by hack. There are only a few tanks actually HARD countered, only a small amount of DPS, and 2 supports. The rest of the cast, it is just a nuisance. Not “Sombra just made my game Alt+F4 because she held right-click” like people think she does. People are biased and hate her and hype up how much of a problem she is when she isn’t even a problem.
She has nothing strong in her kit but her hack. Her gun is bad and she does some of the lowest overall damage in the game, has the most down time of any hero in the game, and sitting on her for even 2 seconds and forcing her to translocate away puts her out of the fight for a long time, giving your team an overall advantage. Her down time is her biggest design issue. Not hack.
She wasted an ability, an ultimate, and the ability again solely to try to shut you down. If she wasted 15s on you and you’re still not dead, how is that a problem for your team? She’s getting no value from it… Or value that is taking an extremely long time.
You can click Moira’s orb and put it away. Symmetra TP and wall, things like that. Having the ability out to begin using doesn’t mean you’re actually using it until you go through with the animation. Just because she is holding right-click doesn’t mean she’s using the ability or she wouldn’t be able to stop holding it, similar to Moira and Symm.
It goes on a short CD and can’t be used infinitely. If Sombra is constantly trying to hack you over and over and it keeps getting interrupted, she will need to translocate out because she’s taking too much damage, leaving the fight 5v6 in your team’s favor.
Not like Sombra’s entire life span she has had below 2% pick rate, only ever reaching above that TWICE since her release.
Genji isn’t as good as he used to be, nor is D.va. the meta is dive again and Sombra works well with and against dive. Her pick rate is decent solely due to the meta. She isn’t overly performing or her pick rate wouldn’t have been so terrible for 95% of her life span.
But you’re saying she’s obviously so hard to counter that her pick rate is where it currently is. Or at least your post sounds that way, which isn’t true.
If she was ever actually good or OP, her pick rate would’ve reflected that at this point. And it never has. She has only ever been picked an acceptable amount twice in her life span, which were in metas that favored her, like right now.
If Sombra is constantly trying to hack you over and over and it keeps getting interrupted, she will need to translocate out because she’s taking too much damage, leaving the fight 5v6 in your team’s favor.