For a long time now, I haven’t enjoyed the tank role. Either too much CC pinballed me around (Reinhardt) or I just got bored playing Orisa. Mostly, I play D.Va as the off-tank she is, peeling for my team and sometimes helping to make a fight real one-sided by diving an enemy. Sigma offers a new main tank option (though he needs another good tank), and I love gravity/space powers so much I had to try him out. First I started on the PTR, and I’ve been playing him a lot on live lately.
See below for the tl;dr conclusions and impressions.
Did he renew my enjoyment of tanking? Or was it just more of the same?
The answer is an unequivocal yes, he’s been a ton of fun to play. And having given him a pretty thorough testing before trying to form any conclusions, I figured I’d share my thoughts on him.
• Ignoring the normal aesthetics (if you are triggered by the portrayal of Sigma’s mental illness, I do hope that Blizzard approaches your concerns thoughtfully and respectfully), I love his Prophet skin. It’s so Azorius.
• Gameplay: Sigma is dynamic in a way that Reinhardt and Orisa really aren’t for me. There’s so much you have to be thinking about. For instance, you want to be constantly repositioning his barrier, I’ve noticed. Throw it out there for a few seconds, block some damage, call it back, move forward when they’re unloading everything into the barrier and absorb it with Kinetic Grasp.
Sigma also wants to shield dance when enemies are at mid-range or closer, which may involve repositioning the barrier (as well as himself) frequently in the span of a few seconds. You really have to mind your positioning, as well as that of everyone trying to kill you. It demands much attention, but comes with a commensurate amount of flexibility.
Sigma does incredible damage, but can’t do it at long range and struggles to do it up close. I just ended a game with 4 golds (merely QP, though) and absolutely trounced on the enemy Bastion, also unlocking the Conservation of Energy achievement thanks to him. He was easily solved: put out barrier, he fires at it, drop it and Kinetic Grasp, then hit him with Accretion, knock him out of Sentry, and then either myself or my teammates quickly mopped him up.
Does he do too much damage? Some more thoughts on that later on.
Sigma feels very proactive because of the fact that he demands so much skill. He reminds me of Soldier in that he’s a great benchmark for your ability in the game. Sigma needs good positioning to function well. He needs awareness and game sense to properly tank for his team. And he needs good coordination because he’s extremely vulnerable to very aggressive pushes. The better you are at the game’s fundamentals, the more Sigma’s kit allows you to make an impact. This is the sign of a well-designed hero.
Did the game need more barriers and more CC? No, it really didn’t. 2-2-2 does alleviate some of that by limiting the amount of tanks you can have, but I’m not sure it entirely makes up for it. In a vacuum (see what I did there?), Sigma’s kit is pretty much ideal for a tank. He’s got CC, actual tankiness, and a presence that simply can’t be ignored. He’s good at creating space (see what I did there?) but if he overextends he’ll be severely punished.
Which leads us to…
• Balance: Is Sigma “balanced?” There are calls that he is OP, some that he’s actually underpowered, and I think overall the split seems pretty even. At least in my experience. It’s too early to say, and I think the jury’s still out on this one, but the fact that he’s getting both kinds of evaluations is probably a good thing.
Sigma does a ton of damage in his optimal range. Beyond a certain point, his only way to hurt people is with Accretion, and it’ll never hit anyone at long distance unless you surprise them. He can knock you down and then hit you with the Hyperspheres if you’re in his range, but if you’re too close, it’s difficult to land them, especially on mobile targets. I pretty regularly get gold damage and kills (or silver kills) with him, but when my internet’s shaky, I just play QP, so it’s hard to judge just based on that.
Sigma’s battlefield presence is great. Played properly, he can’t be ignored, and he has a kit that allows him to at least have a say in anything that goes on. Properly managing his barrier as well as Kinetic Grasp and looking for those opportunities to land Accretion make him highly disruptive. This requires constant repositioning and reevaluation of everyone else’s position and activity, but comes with high rewards.
Are the rewards too great? I don’t know. He does have clear weaknesses. Honestly, a team with a Zarya on it that just very aggressively deathballs into him will overrun him quickly. So far, the only times I’ve really ever struggled to get anything done with him was against aggressively-pushing teams, especially if Sigma’s team doesn’t back him up properly.
It’s often noted that he can’t shoot anyone beyond 20 meters, except for Accretion. Not unlike Reinhardt with Fire Strike, although Fire Strike is easier to land at range. Rein has very limited range (melee) otherwise, so Sigma is better than he is there, but Orisa can sit behind a barrier and pour out a lot of firepower with a very large clip. So I don’t think his range is overpowered.
The damage is pretty high: 120 if you hit both shots directly—although that’s not always easy to do. Between barriers, mobility, and having to lead your shots with a slow fire rate, Sigma can apply serious pressure with his primary, but it’s not like he’s doing 120 DPS constantly to anyone in range. Sure, it’s an easy kill if he knocks you down with Accretion and throws Hyperspheres into your face, but Rein could just as easily kill you with a charge.
The fact that I’m getting a lot of high-damage, high-kill games with him leads me to think he’s pretty strong offensively. The elims alone wouldn’t be much of an indicator; with AoE on his primary, even just getting a little splash damage on enemies would rack up the elim count. Paired with the gold damage, though, it’s a little more indicative of offensive efficacy.
Sigma’s very strong defensively when his kit is well-managed. His offense is likewise good, inside his effective range. If I had to guess, I’d say he is probably going to get some tweaks. I don’t know if he’s necessarily too strong, but it seems like he’s really good at everything. To me, he’s got to be tied with Orisa for best main tank kit, if not better, because he’s got tools for any situation.
About his ult: This is also iffy. One the one hand, it’s a lot of CC and damage. On the other, against most teams it’s difficult to land a big group with it unless they’re on a CP or something. It feels bad when you’re caught in it as a character who can’t escape it, but it doesn’t happen that frequently. I believe it’s the longest-charging ult in the game. Though when it does, it tends to get major value. Like his offense, I can see it getting some changes, but not sure what to change here.
• Conclusions: Let me preface this by saying I would wait to draw any final conclusions until we have the data. However, based on impressions, I’d say:
• Gameplay: Very fun. He plays like a tank should: with a presence you can’t ignore. He can help push a point, can resist a push (not as well; here especially he needs the help of a second tank), he creates space. He’s disruptive in the “answer me or play how I want you to” kind of way tanks should be. Demands and rewards high skill in equal measure.
• Power: He’s very strong. His kit gives him options for nearly any situation a tank will encounter. He does a lot of damage on top of having a major disruptive presence. He might do just a bit too much too well, but I won’t commit to this until I see more data. I think his offensive power would probably get toned down, if anything, as his defensive power is spot-on for what tanks should be.
Note: Offensive power is high, but as a significant portion of my experiences with him thus far are in QP, a planetoid-sized “grain” of salt is necessary. Some QP games have people not understanding optimal ranges, or alternate approaches, or even basic positioning very well. They might feed into Sigma’s game plan. Or you might run into a hyper-aggressive Zarya comp that just bullrushes through everything, with the smurf Widow picking off your people left and right.
Sigma is a great choice on offense or defense, in any map or game type. Like most tanks, he’s going to need coordination and support to thrive. When allowed to execute his gameplan, Sigma can utterly control a battlefield and dictate the pace of a game. While he’s sure to get some kind of tweaks, I think he’s definitely a successful addition to the game as a main tank. Right now, I’d rather play him over the other two main tanks, but that’s also because I enjoy his play style more.
Feel free to share your thoughts on the melodious madman.