Sombra is probably the only hero in this game whose performance is lopsidedly affected by the Random Number Gods.
Unlike Junkrat or Hanzo, the RNG very rarely ever favours Sombra and most of them are built into her kit so that she can’t even compensate for them with anything but dumb luck most of the time, thus affecting her reliability.
Below are some of things I have noticed as well as other problematic stuff that I might as well go through at the same time.
The Problems
Gun
- Her gun has a spread angle of 2.7 and fire rate of 20 bullets per second with random shot placement. This means that often times, there is a lot of empty space in between her shots.
- Sombra has to maintain 3 seconds of solid tracking while at the same time having to deal with the built-in RNG of her gun AND the RNG of her enemy's movement through AD crouch spam. She could keep her targeting reticle on her enemy and still miss just because RNG decides to plop a bullet on the right side of the targeting reticle instead of the the left side and plop it on the left when it needed to be on the right
Hack
- I don't need to elaborate too much on this as it's common knowledge that less than 1 point of damage interrupts it immediately.
- In an FPS game that has relatively small map sizes, limited number of flank routes and inhabited by trigger happy people with unlimited bullets instead of bots, Sombra is more likely to get interrupted than not by all the random damage that gets thrown around. This means that she can be screwed over even when THE INTENT to interrupt her is absent. That is just bad design.
Thermoptic Camo
- Suffers the exact same problems as Hack. It can be interrupted UNINTENTIONALLY by the enemy team.
- I have said the following in many threads: "I also find it hilarious that to make sure that your stealth doesn’t get cancelled by random damage, you are forced to move along side passages and alleys where no one can see you in the first place."
- Having stealth interrupted by chance not only affected Sombra's reliability in terms of gameplay, it has also made it counter-intuitive.
- Invisibility is meant to allow you do things RIGHT UNDER THE ENEMY'S NOSES and forgo doing things in a ROUNDABOUT WAY like using FLANK ROUTES.
- 0.7 second cast time to enter stealth means it is useless in a fire fight as combined with damage removing stealth, it is just a button to put Sombra into a 1.4 second stun animation.
Translocator
- Mostly fine and less RNG vulnerable except for the fact that Sombra is subjected to cruel and unusual punishment for a bad Translocator.
- If Sombra throws a Translocator to a spot that, at first seems clear and safe, and just as it lands, someone RANDOMLY walks by and spots it, Sombra is now stuck with a 24 second cooldown on her translocator which is the SECOND LONGEST COOLDOWN in the game for an ability that isn't even game changing.
Now that I have, quite briefly, summed up some of the problems I find most glaring about Sombra's kit, I would like to suggest methods to reduce the RNG elements of her kit as well as some tidbits to improve her consistency.
Below are my solutions.
The Solutions
Gun
- Increase gun spread to anywhere between 2.8 and 3.0.
- Increase rate of fire to 30 bullets per second.
I view increasing her fire rate as a means to kill 4 birds with 1 stone.
- Increased fire rate means Sombra only needs to track the target for 2 seconds instead of 3 therefore reducing the time for RNG to screw her up by 1 second.
- A higher fire rate means the bullets will be spread more evenly within her targeting reticle, making situations like the bullets landing around the empty space of a target less likely. Again this is to lower RNG's effects.
- Some Sombra players feel that her reload is too slow, a higher fire rate will make a faster reload speed no longer necessary.
- Lack of in combat mobility has caused many a Sombra to leave the fight before they can even finish their ammo, resulting a net damage deficiency for her team in a 6v6, now she puts herself at risk for 2 seconds instead of 3.
- A higher spread angle is for balance purposes as the current one would make her too deadly with the new fire rate. She would be more inaccurate but she would gain some consistency.
Hack
Hack will be much bigger beast to tackle. It is undeniable that how it currently works is frustrating for the target AND Sombra. I will try to make it so it doesn’t feel oppressive for BOTH sides.
All numbers below are placeholder numbers as I do not have the means to test what is or isn’t balanced. The important thing here is the concept.
- Remove soft lock on from Hack(if there is) and replace it with a hit scan beam like Zarya's. The hit box should be anywhere between Moira's and Zarya's. For reference, Moira's beam detection is a circle targeting reticle with a radius around 60. Hack should probably have a size around 30 or more or less depending on balance.
This will sidestep issues such as a chair breaking Hack even though you can see 80% of the character model as well as make Hack a lot more skill based which is more fair for both sides. High effort for high rewards. A Soldier with similar tracking can outright kill the target.
As currently there isn’t any issue (that I am aware of) with bullets or beams not hitting something that you are aiming, Hack shouldn’t randomly break now.
- Hack progress do not reset until the Time when LOS is broken is at least = Hack Progress.
Losing the soft lock on and generous hit box of Hack will cause Hack to always break just by having bad aim.
To compensate, Hack progress DO NOT reset upon breaking. The target must remain out of sight for at least as long as they had been hacked. This is similar in concept with shields, shields don’t regenerate to full as soon as it stops taking damage.
Example 1
Reinhardt realises he is being hacked 0.5 seconds after the Hack started, he blocks LOS with his shield. Normally, he can just spin it, ruin Sombra’s hack and turn back to the front lines. Now he has to keep blocking LOS for 0.5 seconds before turning back otherwise, if he had blocked for only 0.1 seconds, Sombra can resume her hack in 0.25s (0.5s previous hack progress - 0.1s decay due to LOS break + 0.25s subsequent hack after LOS restored = 0.65s Required Hack Time) to complete her interrupted Hack.
Example 2
A random player walks in front of Sombra’s target and blocked her LOS for 0.2 seconds while she was 0.3 seconds into her hack. The random walks off and Sombra resumes hacking her target and after 0.55 seconds (0.3s previous Hack progress - 0.2 seconds decay + 0.55s Hack after LOS restored = 0.65s Required Hack Time) , the target is hacked.
- Hack no longer interrupted by damage.
Now that Hack requires actual aiming to use, breaks easily once you’ve lost track of your target, it is natural that Hack will no longer require the extra handicap of being interrupted by damage as well as any cooldown from a damage interrupt.
How will you counter a Hack?
Same as how you already counter any hit scan weapon. Take cover, break LOS and use your mobility skills to evade it. Perhaps Hack time should be increased but, again, I have no way to test it out.
- Hack now has a 2 second (this number will increase or decrease depending on how long Time to Hack is and how difficult it is for a successful Hack) resource meter with a 1 second delay before recharging at a rate of 0.286 seconds per second.
This is to make sure that Sombra cannot just constantly hack away due to damage not interrupting Hack anymore.
The only thing they need to fiddle with would be how the game tracks Hack’s progress. They could make a hidden constantly regenerating Hacking Health Bar for every character and Hack just does damage to that health bar and at “death”, they get Hacked.
The above solves these few problems:
- Removes RNG as a factor for a successful Hack. Whether Hack succeeds or fails is entirely dependent on player skill and decision making.
- Relieves anger and frustration against Sombra as any other character (Soldier, McCree, Tracer etc.) that requires the tracking skills that is now required for Hack can outright kill their target. Therefore it won't "feel" worse to get hacked anymore.
Thermoptic Camo
- Damage no longer removes Camo but only causes it to shimmer like the effect of being bumped into.
- Sombra takes between 10 to 30% extra damage while in Camo.
- Camo no longer requires a cast time to enter invisibility and sprint.
Thermoptic Camo is simple enough to fix. Advantages of Camo working this way are:
- Removing RNG as a factor causing a failed stealth run.
- Extra damage taken is to ensure that going into stealth while in the line of fire is still a risk. It's just that it's no longer an instant fail when Sombra gets hit. Players will have a choice to continue on their way instead of being forced into a 0.7 second destealth animation and no other option but to move forward at a slow speed in full view of the enemy or translocate.
- Stealth is no longer counter-intuitive as running through the enemy is now a much viable choice than before.
- Camo can now actually be used in combat as a quick repositioning tool with the instant stealth (trading extra damage taken for possiblly outwitting the enemy) and not relying on the Translocator all the time.
Translocator
- Holding Hack and pressing Primary Fire causes the Translocator to self destruct, putting Translocator into an 8-10 second cooldown.
Simple enough fix. Sombra is still punished for throwing a Translocator to a bad spot but she is no longer punished so unusually heavily.
However if we want to have some fun, I’d prefer it to translocate a balloon Sombra out of the Translocator and spams voice lines until it selfs destructs after 4 or 6 seconds. It doesn’t do anything other than troll the enemy and I think it suits Sombra’s personality. Something like this gif below.
Anyway, these are just one layman’s thoughts and opinions. The solutions I’ve thought up might not be the right answer but I hope those who’ve read this thread at least recognize that A HERO’S EFFECTIVENESS SHOULD NOT BE DICTATED BY RANDOMNESS.
Before someone says she only needs bug fixes, it’s just a case of cut off one head and two more will take its place now. 
. Rate of fire up to 30/s might be a tad OP though, even with the spread increase. That’s a lot of extra burst.
, I’m a layman to a lot of these terms. In my mind, if it clicks and it hits immediately then it’s sort of a hit scan. 
