Contenders is not indicative of ladder play, and Danteh has also gone on record as saying these changes don’t benefit Sombra at all. Danteh is an OWL player, arguably the best Sombra on planet Earth, and at least two tiers above any tendies players–is he also playing Sombra wrong, and only these tendies meme comps are getting it right?
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The skill difference across Contenders is enormous, so for sure there’s room for showboating, it happened against Dragons in just about every match in OWL as well (Sombra laughably was used most against them). It happens in any competition where one side vastly outskills another.
There’s also space for trialing new things, and in the actual finals they did go back to tried and tested comps. You know, where it mattered.
Again. When these same players lauding her are playing her on their main accounts on ladder, I’ll listen. Until then, they never did last time “she was good in contenders”, and they’re still not.
They clearly don’t have that much faith in her. If they did, they would.
We’re seeing a little more use of her this weekend, but a corresponding dip in wins rate. Is she working? Not by the looks of that.
It’s interesting to see how many people classify someone as “good” or “bad” in a vacuum, without pairing that with “against X.”
Every dps hero has a few things they’re good against and a few they’re bad against. Some heroes are average against everything instead, and these seem to be the ones the majority considers “good heroes”, which just shows how misunderstood the game is.
If switching heroes didn’t reset your ult economy, players would be more likely to switch off when they need a novelty pick like Bastion or Sombra.
Generalist heroes who are merely “eh” are desired because while they don’t have amazing matchups, they also don’t get deleted from the game because someone picked a certain hero–they don’t have to swap and lose ult charge, so they can be played for an entire match.
It’s important to note that Contenders isn’t ladder, a character like Sombra is more effective in an organized team setting than it is in solo que, if anything it shows how badly Blizzard needs to improve Sombra’s UI to include a sugar skull icon over hacked targets so that the communication disconnect isn’t as big of an issue. Even with that said, I think a lot of the Contenders’ meta was over compensating for Wrecking Ball on release and buffed Doomfist when GOATS and Hanzo were still the deciding factors.
Regardless Sombra is putting in work in Contenders, we’ll have to wait and see how long that lasts.
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I doubt they only played symmetra getting there tho
Sure, but there has to be a cost for switching to a counter or it would just be an unstable switch-fest. And sometimes it’s worth it to lose that ult or use it for small gain in order to switch.
You’re right, but my point was mainly that people value generalist heroes more highly because they aren’t forced to switch off as often as novelty/niche picks like Sombra.
The game’s mechanics generally punish pulling out novelty picks unless it’s a one-off deal, but then you have heroes that sit unused for huge stretches of time because the justification for picking them is so low and the risk is so high (especially if the switch fails to achieve anything).
Winston main here.
I can make the big monkey work to scary levels. A distruptor. A protector. A guardian A peeler. A flanker. Hell just the presence of the big guy redirects bullets his way and he’s still doing his job preventing damage to his teammates.
Meanwhile…current Sombra is hiding in a corner hoping someone is wandering around with a sliver of health…not dpsing. But hiding.
Thats not her role to hide or act as a third support role.
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Further to this, novelty picks are usually counters to novelty picks themselves, which in turn means if neither side are using a novelty pick there’s no reason for one to be used at all.
It’s not like as if Sombra or Bastion or Symm or whoever hard countered a generalist pick to force them to a novelty pick and trigger a domino effect of switching.
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No, just look at that first play in the video, it wouldn’t have been possible with old Sombra. She first had to get to the enemy backline , tell her teammates the enemy positions, wait for the exact moment her teammates engaged and then exit stealth herself to get the hacks for maximum effect. This wouldn’t be possible with old Sombra because midway through any of that 99/100 times her stealth would have already hit the timer limit and she would’ve easily been exposed/caught, or her translocater would expire put on CD leaving her in an uncomfortable position of being pushed out of stealth with no escape option, etc. Like people have been saying since before her reworks went live the no limits Sombra has opportunities open for her and her team that previously weren’t possible or at the very least required all the stars to align to have good enough fortune to happen within her timer limits, and with this new freedom she gets play making impact that isn’t solely centered on EMP farming.
Here’s another video talking about how major Sombras impact has been on the new pro meta in Contenders, apparently she’s getting run all the time now:
Contenders and obscure asian leagues: the only places low picked characters are meta.
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Post like this is quite funny. I guess we will see in the following week or two to see where she lands.
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Contenders has a track record for being wrong about Sombra. That some people now are making them out to be the holy gospel of balance is laughable to me. Did you see these people pushing for Sombra buffs when she wasnt played on contenders? Me neither.
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That, and when it was the finals - Sombra was nowhere to be found 
Because they wanted to actually win and not just experiment lmao
Gonna say this again:
Every hero looks better with an expertly trained 6-stack and comms. Sombra is the only hero that’s borderline useless without both and that’s a problem.
I am getting really triggered by these posts and youtubers. Sombra will never be meta. Why? Because of people. Utility does not hold any value in this game apparently. Mei and sombra are both heroes with a lot of utility but they barely see any playtime. If they are not a strong pick now they will never be strong picks unless they get the hanzo treatment (you know, get rid of all the weaknesses on the hero).
And I almost forgot… Sombra requires too much coordination for overwatch players. On top of that her kit is not reliable (bugs, ability can be canceled by a fart,…).
The difference is you have to communicate stuff other than who’s hacked and when you’re going to EMP. A lot of Sombras I’ve come across haven’t even been in voice chat over the course of the game.
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No. End of story. Period.