Sombra's (Balance) problem

General Discussion
1

Introduction::raised_hand_with_fingers_splayed:

Hi there. I’m a 200h+ Sombra main that is currently in Plat I don’t play a lot of ranks and I don’t have the intention to do so right now. I like my Plat rank because for me its the best Rank to be in I have fun there! I want to talk with you all about the problems Sombra right now balance wise has and how to solve them. And my rank should not be a fact for your Opinion!

Her Problem’s::space_invader:

So you all probably have heard till now Sombra gets used in pro-level play, yes its less every time but She is getting used! She even got called Overpowered:

What even in Pro level isn’t true She is quite good but far from Overpowered as far as I saw it at least.
She also is about “fine” in GM but as soon as you go lower she is a “trash” or “throw” pick extremely fast.
The reason she is so good in Pro level right now is of her Infinite Stealth yes She hasn’t changed much but for Pro’s, she is now playable without really “learning” her common positioning, Aim, Game sense and Teamplay can be used to play her the way Pro’s play her before they needed to learn her Micro-management.

Another one of her Problems is misinformation of the community about her Hack. There are so many people that that call Hack random (in the sense of what it does when in effect.) for all of you who think that you can read this Post it should clear most of you misinformation! If you have any more questions be free to ask them there or here I will answer it when I see it!

The third Problem she has are bugs She probably has the most bugs out of all Heroes even more than Doomfist I have a list of the ones I found till now here but there are a lot more.

Solution’s::purple_heart:

This will be a pure list of changes for more information click on them.
And I categorize all these Points to (Buff) (QoL) (Nerf)

Needed:

1. Revert the 1.26 changes-(Buff)/(Nerf)

This includes:

  • Infinite Stealth.
  • Infinite Translocator.
  • Destroyable Translocator.
  • The decrease of Stealth Movement speed from 75% to 50%
  • No longer able to contest the objective.
    The infinite abilities that came with this change only made problems: She is only strong in Pro and is a Trap for new Players
2. Add better Visuals to Hacked Enemies-(QoL)

This is quite simple She requires your whole team to be in Voice so She can even be close to played at her best this simple change would allow us to be more effective if one or more Teammates aren’t in voice but it would not make her Stronger in pro play

3. Increase her Base movement speed from 5.5m/s to 6m/s-(Buff)

This is a straight out buff that would make her stronger mid fight because She is simply harder to hit what would make effect her more the lower the Rank is without making her especially easier.

4. Decrease her movement speed in Stealth from 75% to 50%

This is to justify the increase in her base movement Speed having both would probably be too much.

5. Bug Fixes

Even more Sombra Bugs in 1.26/1.27/1.28 [With Video's]

6. Add more information on (Her) Info screen

Either make a list of the Hack rules in her Info screen and add the information Transforming, Channeled, etc to all other abilities or make a list of whats hackable only in her Info screen

This would clear a lot of misinformation and would help the new player understand how She works

If too weak after:

7. Add a Threshold to Hack and Stealth-(Buff)

This would make her more consistand because “trash dmg” would not cancel Hack or Stealth anymore right now She can be punished even with the best possible positioning.

If too strong after:

8. Decrease EMP charge rate-(Nerf)

This would simply decrease the strength of EMP

Wrong Solution::boom:

Any kind of big rework.

She really does not need a big rework She can be balanced like she is now.

Any kind of DPS buff

Her DMG is fine buffing that would simply increase some of her problem’s and skip some of them by making her Tracer 2.0

Any kind of direct power buffs to Hack

Hack is powerful enough its an annoying ability and it should not be buffed anymore!

Afterwords::wave:

So this is the end of my post I hope you enjoyed reading it and I’m excited to hear what you have to say about this Topic. Please stay friendly!

Have a nice day

~ SchWiniX

30 Likes
2

Better visual indicator for hacked enemies would help her so much in lower ranks. It would reduce the necessity of communication a lot. Better yet, it doesn’t actually buff her on highest levels of play.

It’s change that just needs to happen.

16 Likes
3

Shen needs her hack speed buff reverted, her hack cancel CD reverted, hack passives reverted. This then means you can redistribute her power elsewhere in her kit.

Basically, giving her the Hog/Dva treatment.

2 Likes
4

Idgaf about anything but her hack getting nerfed in some type of way. Either nerf the speed or the range. That ability is way too powerful for the 0 risk aspect it has to it.

She literally just hacks you so fast and you proceed to not being able to play the game.

3 Likes
5

No, Hacking Passives can’t be reverted. I"m all for losing the speed and the cancelation cooldown, but you can’t say it makes sense for Pharah to fly with a Hacked Jetpack, or for Lucio to wallride, or for Mercy to glide.

5 Likes
6

No, there is risk put into it.

The problem is that all of the power of her kit is put into it.

Hack is hook 1.0, even 2.0. Hog could not get kills without that hook combo, and as it stands Sombra has very little power outside of hack.

It doesn’t make sense than a cyborg ninja can deflect a back hole. It doesn’t make sense that Bastion sits though 1.5 seconds of transforming, but a charge or hook puts him in recon instantly.

My point being, things don’t need to make sense in a game. What matters is the balance, and in OP’s link to the thread that says what passives get hacked, it lists only 5 heros who have hackable passives.

This proves my point that it has too much power. It can disable ults. It can hack passives. It can disable abilities. And you wonder why she’s in the spot that she’s in.

2 Likes
7

Those 5 passives are basically active abilities with different rules and no icon on the HUD. It’s not like she’s Hack Torb’s scrap regeneration or Mercy’s Regen, or Junkrat’s lack of self damage. Genji and Pharah’s passives are more of an active abilities than not; their usage is at the discretion of the player, and not always in use unlike the other examples.

I wasn’t referring to the “realistic” lack of sense in the game, but the game itself. Hack stops pharah from using Jump Jet, which is directily tied into Pharah’s jetpack, which could still be used. Hack stops Genji from being fast enough to use deflect, but he could still double jump and climb walls. Inconsistencies like that.

It can disable channeled ults, like any stun can. It can stop passives and disable abilities, like every other stun. Hack is essentially a 6 second long stun, canceled by less than 1 damage and buggy as hell. Don’t use her design as an excuse for the ignorance shown by the developers.

4 Likes
8

Still blows my mind how many players would rather die than get hacked. It’s so easy to counter, too.

Anyways, the OP has good suggestions for Sombra. I’m not bothered by the last mini-rework, though it was certainly not a buff at all, so I’m not set on a revert. The 6m/s speed boost could make a big difference and make up for her cloaked speed reduction. I’m not sure about not needing some damage help, though; as we’ve seen in pro level play, her inability to keep up with damage makes her not worth the hero slot in most matches (I’d argue all matches).
Repeating what I’ve said in other threads, an unreliable niche utility isn’t a replacement for anytime damage.

1 Like
9

No more nerfs to emp, it’s barely hanging on as it is.

1 Like
10

The issue with Sombra is that she’s very strong at the very top level of play (like top 0.1%), but everywhere else she’s under utilized and a borderline throw pick due to the lack of communication/understanding of her kit

1 Like
11

Tbf the effects of hack are a bit random.

It cancels Lucios passive effect but not Zen’s or Brigitte’s.

It’ll cancel some ultimates but not others.

Whether you agree or not, it has a ton of hidden rules to it that make it super unclear on what it does or doesnt do.

2 Likes
12

Any thoughts on this?

Quick and easy way to fix the vast majority of hack glitching out.

👾[Sombra] Hack bug fix, Very easy

1 Like
13

Because that worked out well for Hog…

But back to being serious, with hacking passives I believe it should be a case by case mechanic rather than a universal thing. Stopping Genji from double jumping is kind of needed, but shutting down Lucio’s auras are too crippling.

Edit: Hitting space twice sent it for whatever reason, my bad.

1 Like
14

Such a well organize thread!

2 Likes
15

If devs will ever revert. They gotta be fast because it will make it useless in pro and will become another wasted my time job to learn to them

1 Like
16

First of thanks to everybody that replied!

I’m still questioning on why this wasn’t a thing since she Launched.

The Passive hacking made Hack finally “not random” so I’m for keeping it, the Hack speed buff well maybe but its already quite easy to react on. For the CD it would be more than fine with a Threshold but right now it makes her clunky. so agreed

It has a lot of risks, is quite easy countered and has more bugs than any other ability in the game I’m not really for a nerf of it. What makes her strong in Pro right now is Infinite stealth and EMP so I’m all for nerfing that.

Personally, I don’t have a Problem with infinite Stealth or TL either but I do think that it creates a problem for her Balance wise right now Pro’s can take Sombra and use there normal every Hero skill (Normal Aim, Game sense, and some very basic knowledge about hack) and play her with extremely good results this wasn’t possible with the limited amount of stealth. So to shorten it even tho She did not gain strength the combination of the Meta and her being “easy for Pro’s to translate on” makes her hard to balance without making her a “must-pick in pro”

Also, She traps new players with an infinite stealth playstyle which I saw a lot lately.
That’s why I’m for the revert. You could even leave the speed nerf in when you buff her base movement speed.

The problems are that if we buff dmg we buff her in Pro play also which could lead to her being a must-pick we see her quite a lot lately the reason being what I already talked about with good aim she does quite good DMG and with Pro Aim she does actual good dmg buffing that could lead to a lot of problems.

Well, its one of the factors that make her stronger the higher your rank is and remember Visuals for hack would also be on EMP what would be a pretty good QoL for it.

That’s exactly the problem I’m talking about and what I’m trying to fix

Well yea the rules can seem hidden but its consistand when you know the rules I linked my post already and talked about this problem you have (with not understanding Hack) in the OP:

Please use the Like in the Quote and ready through that Post If you have any more questions on how Hack works maybe on normal abilities or Ults I will happily answer them.

It’s not a perfect system but it would be much better as it is now for sure!

The problem is that if we make it case by case its way harder to follow it and gives way more discussions about whenever it does what it does. With rules, we don’t have that problem we can exactly say how and why it works the way it does.

Thank you :relaxed:

Well if you play on normal ladder Sombra is probably not worth your time even in this time She really is only good in Pro.

2 Likes
17

No problem, I support these changes for sure.

1 Like
18

Eh, I mean, in their eyes, infinite stealth has been a success. Like she’s being used in the pro scene. I also don’t think they do reverts.
I think this iteration on sombra was meant to leave room for buffs to her without buffing hack and there is more room now. They could add an entire ability usable in stealth and I don’t think she’d be OP.
I don’t think it’s that hack is too powerful but I think the changes from February made it clear that you can’t buff hack without people crying(somewhat fairly).

1 Like
19

Thank you for the good post, i love the changes but I do have some of my personal preferences which I wish people look at:

  • Limited stealth which lasts 20 seconds

Note: Because she has infinite stealth right now, she might be easy to play/learn but you spend more time out of the fight which isint really healthy for the team, limited stealth will give you a rush to find a target and will also require some skill to attempt to make a move

  • Trans which sticks on surfaces which lasts unlimited (like how it is now)

Note: trans camping is a common problem for any sombra player, if the translocator could stick to surfaces such as ceilings and slant surfaces, it would make her keep a low profile of her presence and enemies have to attempt to find the trans if they wish to camp it, when we teleport back, sombra will drop with respect to gravity, if it’s on ceiling then she will drop straight down, and if it’s stuck side ways on walls then she will drop down to floor as if she is dropping from the sky

  • 75% or 65% speed bonus when cloaked

Note: Sombra’s speed when cloaked will allow her to get to her targets faster considering the stealth is limited now

Thank you for your time.

1 Like
20

Lets hope Blizz understands the problems She has :smiley:

I don’t think they made it that clear that they think infinite stealth is a success.
I do think they see the problem that its way harder to balance her with infinite Stealth overall abilities that it is over the Limited Stealth.

I want this too but I shortened it a little:

Overwatch 1.26 was the Patch that made this changes I want to revert it because it makes her much much harder to balance overall ranks.
It makes her pretty good in Pro but leaves her almost Trash in Ladder
But thanks for the great Reply! :purple_heart:

2 Likes