Sombra has had the lowest win rate of any hero for six months - and probably for even longer than that. She’s literally been F-tier since she was added to the game.
For about two weeks, Sombra was actually mildly viable, and she got nerfed because the pros complained about her. They added a line of sight check to hack, and a 2 second cooldown when hack was interrupted - neither of which were needed considering she was still F tier at that time.
Please revert the LoS check for hack and the 2 second cooldown for when hack is interrupted. It’s literally the least you can do to try and fix a hero that’s always in F-tier.
I have never really been impressed by win rate as a stat. This is especially true with a hero like Sombra that people will often swap to in order to counter something specific on the enemy team, and is consequently played by a lot of people with little experience.
The thing about pick rates and win rates in this game, and for heroes like these is that they rely heavily on team play. Sure Sombra can hack the main tank on ladder but if the rest of the team doesn’t take advantage of that then it’s a waste.
It’s not that Sombra is bad, but that Competitive mode doesn’t incentivize team play. Not that many people are on chat, some just want to pick their heroes and do their own thing, so picking characters that rely on cooperation won’t help much.
She does need something, preferably a buff in some aspect to make her better, but she gets really strong at high elos and is also the biggest “fun police” hero so many people hate her.
I’m not a game developer but I think she would take much longer then other heroes to balance out though. Mainly because she is so team reliant. And right now with how fast Blizz is pushing out updates and balance patches I wouldn’t count on Sombra getting a better win rate in the near future.
I think a lot of this is just excuses. Players in GM are good at teamwork and can make other heroes work that require heavy teamwork. Maybe she’s just bad.
The big problem with Sombra I think is that she basically doesn’t count as a DPS in teamfights. So you start teamfights as a 5v6 and you tend to spend the whole fight on a defensive footing, and that’s if you aren’t being actively steamrolled. I think that’s why people don’t capitalize on her hacks - it’s not because they’re being uncooperative or lack teamwork, it’s because they’re getting crushed in the teamfight and don’t have the resources to do anything really.
Good. Sombra is a fun killer. She should be reworked into something less harmful to the game, then made viable. Until then I like her in the trash heap.
So what about McCree, who has been statistically terrible since season 3 constantly being in the bottom 5 in terms of winrate? Plenty pick him throughout all ranks so its not like they’re playing him inexperienced.
If I had to guess, it’s because EMP f*cks over everything with the slightest bit of follow-up. It’s one of the strongest utility ultimates in the game, and you have to anticipate it beforehand because there’s almost no countering it once it’s gone off. Seriously, managing to cancel it mid-cast is more luck than actual skill. She also shreds uncoordinated teams at the moment, and, iirc, was a niche pick during OWL. I don’t watch OWL so don’t quote me on that last bit.
Nevertheless, I think they should fix her bugs prior to actually buffing her. If anything, they should add a damage threshold for hack so that it isn’t cancelled by a D.Va shooting from a light-year away.
This. This this this. I can say first hand that Sombra is equally as frustrating to play as to play against. She doesn’t even need that many buffs to become good. If she worked most of the time, which she doesn’t, that’d be a huge improvement.
That’s okay not every hero needs to be picked alot or good for that matter. She has a very good ability and when she’s on she’s on. She’s rarely picked sure, but that might just be a good thing.
As a heavy Sombra player, I think the developers need to be extremely careful with her, as her kit already has some of the highest potential in the game. The wrong change/buff could send her over the edge.
