Supporting doesn’t have to equal healing. There are plenty of examples in other games where a supportive character gives their teammates temporary HP to actively mitigate incoming damage, rather than sustaining through it. A support that provides a buffer against burst damage would fill a unique niche in the support lineup.
Passive: Architect’s Will
- While Symmetra or any of her buildings have shields, their health gains damage resistance equal to half their shield percentage. (e.g., 100% shields grants 50% damage resistance to the health underneath, 50% shields grants 25% damage resistance to the health underneath, and so on)
Comments: This solidifies Symmetra’s role as an anti-burst support, and makes her difficult to take down while she has a lot of shields. It gives her much-needed safety, since her abilities and damage are relatively close-range and she can’t target herself with her Photon Shield. She won’t survive a Widowmaker headshot, but she could survive a Hanzo headshot, or Ashe when damage boosted.
Primary Fire: Photon Projector
- Emits a 12m ranged beam that deals damage to the first enemy struck. When it deals damage for 1 second, the beam levels up. Levels decay after 2 seconds of not hitting anything.
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- Level 1: 60 damage per second, 0.5m width
- Level 2: 100 damage per second, 0.2m width
- Level 3: 140 damage per second, 0.1m width
- While at level 3, the beam also slows enemies hit by 20% for 0.5 seconds.
- Contact with the beam causes shields and barriers to take 40 damage per second for 1 second, refreshing on hit.
Secondary Fire: Photon Projector
- After up to a 1.5-second charge-up time, fire an exploding orb.
- Uncharged shots do 25 damage on contact, and the explosion deals 25 damage falling off over 3m. It travels at 15m per second. She can fire 1 uncharged orbs per 0.75 seconds.
- Fully-charged shots do 70 damage on contact, and the explosion deals 70 damage, falling off over 1m. It travels at 50m per second.
- Contact with an orb causes shields and barriers to take 40 damage per second for 1 second, refreshing on hit.
Comments: These changes refresh Symmetra’s weapon, making it feel more powerful and unique.
The primary fire does less damage to players, but allows her to bust shields more easily than before and gives her additional utility. The beam is much wider at level 1, making it easier to charge the weapon at low charge. It’s thinner at level 3, but still deals intense damage and slows the enemy. If you get to level 3, they die.
The secondary fire changes make a bigger difference between firing uncharged orbs and fully-charged ones. Uncharged orbs are slower and deal less damage, but can be fired faster and their explosion covers a wider area. Great for spamming and defending a choke point. Fully-charged shots fire wicked-fast and deal tons of damage over a smaller AoE. Useful for chunking people at long range and finishing kills, but requires more skill to use.
E/R1: Photon Shield
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Targeted ability, 20m range
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The target gains 150 temporary shields (dark blue), which last for 3 seconds.
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6-second cooldown
Comments: A very simple, but potent ability. This is what would make Symmetra a genuine support. She would have the ability to actively say “You are not killing this one yet.”
Shift/L1: Architech
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Activate to enter placement mode. Reactivate to cycle between buildings: Sentry, Teleporter, and Shield Generator. Press Primary Fire to place the selected building, or secondary fire to cancel.
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Runs on a charge system. Holds 6 charges, with a 10-second cooldown for charges. Buildings require and reserve charges, reducing the maximum amount of charges you can store until that building is destroyed.
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Target a building and press-and-hold the ability key to destroy it. If that building is within 20m of you and within line-of-sight, you regain its reserved charges.
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Sentry: Fire a projectile that travels in a straight line until it contacts a surface, where it attaches and builds over a 1-second duration.
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- Sentries have 25 health, and 5 shields.
- Whenever an enemy gets within 10m of a sentry, it begins to attack them, slowing them by 15% and dealing 15 damage per second.
- As a sentry fires, it levels up every 0.5 seconds, increasing the slow by 5% and the damage per second by 15 per level, to a maximum of a 25% slow and 45 damage per second at level three. Sentries lose one level each second spent not-firing.
- Requires and reserves 1 charge.
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Teleporter: As on live, but their HP is changed to 50 shields, and 150 health.
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- Requires and reserves 3 charges.
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Shield Generator: Place a Shield Generator on the ground within 5m. It constructs over 1 second.
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- Shield Generators have 150 health, and 50 shields.
- All allies, including buildings, within 50m of a Shield Generator gain 25 permanent shields, and their shield recharge delay is reduced to 1 second (normally, it’s 3 seconds).
- Shield Generators don’t stack, but their range is increased by their proximity to another Shield Generator within 50m, up to 20 additional meters if they are within 1m of each other.
- Requires and reserves 3 charges.
Comments: Putting all of Symmetra’s buildings on the same key opens up her buttons for additional utility, and gives her a ton of flexibility. Do you give your team a nest of sentries to hold down multiple flank angles? A Teleporter to get to high ground and a Shield Generator to grant additional sustain? Two Teleporters to rapidly travel around the map? With tons of combinations and the ability to easily recycle her buildings, Symmetra would be a much more versatile hero that could be played on both sides and easily adapt to a changing game.
Ultimate: Photon Barrier
- Symmetra places a massive barrier that has 500 HP, plus 4500 temporary shields that decay over the duration. It lasts for 10 seconds, or until destroyed.
- The first time an enemy passes through the barrier (per cast), they are slowed by 50% for 1 second. After that, they are slowed by 20% for 1 second each time they pass through the barrier.
- Symmetra can build ultimate charge while the barrier is active.
Comments: Photon Barrier remains her ultimate, but with a few key changes. Having a large portion of its HP be decaying shields means that it isn’t futile to try to break it. However, it heavily slows enemies that touch it, so slicing a point in half gives Symmetra’s team an additional edge, and pushing through it is extremely dangerous. Letting her build ultimate charge while it’s active puts her in line with heroes like Ashe and Wrecking Ball, whose long-term, area-denial ultimates don’t stop them from making progress on the next one.
Overall, these changes make Symmetra a support, hands-down, able to protect allies from burst damage threats and empower them to make plays they couldn’t do without her. She can save them from dives or protect them as they get aggressive, help them claim space and lock it down with her buildings.
She would still be a defensive, building-based support, but she would have the capacity to actively impact a fight. She would be massively more flexible, able to pack up her buildings and move them, providing the sort of utility her team needs.
