Before saying anything, first of all, I would like to state that by no means am I Symmetra one-trick (even though I wish i was)
Besides Symmetra I play Sombra, Mei, Moira, Ashe, Ana, Widowmaker, and a little bit of D.va, Mercy, Zen, Tracer, Hanzo and Hog.
Second of all, Symmetra isn’t even my most played hero, its actually Sombra, but Sym comes close second.
I’ve stated all of this to first of let you know that I play a wide range of heroes, both with high and low skill ceiling. and second, because I am making this post from a multi-dimensional perspective, and not from a Symmetra only point of view.
Now, that I have that out of the way, I would like to say;
SYMMETRA IS TERRIBLE, BUT HERE IS HOW TO FIX HER:
Although I really enjoyed the recent buffs and fixed to her beam, I really do believe its not enough, and that she needs a lot of fixing.
ISSUE 1: HER SURVIVABILITY
-Since i started of with her beam, I believe that I should go from there. I think that the beam, in its current state is actually quite alright. I think its balanced and good that people actually have to track when they want to fight someone. The tick rate has noticeably been improved and the damage is great. However, rarely does a Symmetra get the chance to use and get it all the way up to lvl 3, even with its recent buffs. Why? Because she gets killed in the process. Unless the enemy team completely ignores her for her to charge up her beam, she doesn’t have many chances where she can use it.
Its not like the enemy Orisa and the rest of the team behind the shield will wait patiently for 3.6 seconds for Symmetra to get to full charge and start zapping people. They will just shoot her in the face.
And EVEN IF Sym manages to get fully charged, she is a SLOW MOVING, SQUISHY, and with that big beam EXTREMELY NOTICEABLE TARGET. A body shot or two, or a headshot is enough to completely deny Symmetra, who has no counterplay for that, now that her old photon barrier ability is gone. And she is especially weak since Ashe, a yet another sniper, was introduced into the game. This is devastating for a hero with a short ranged weapon like her.
Blizzard designed Symmetra to be a tank destroyer after the rework, but unlike all the other tank destroyers, Symmetra has nothing to defend herself
Lets put other tank busters in perspective:
Mei: has 250 hp, cryo, self-healing, temporary invincibility, freezing (CC), ice wall which is a very good defensive shield, high burst damage when she lands headshots
Reaper: 250 hp, fade, life steal (soon to be buffed), and huge amounts of burst damage without any need to charge up
Doomfist: 250 hp + shields, high mobility, powerful combos and high damage
Phara: high mobility, high damage, is out of reach to tanks, long-range strikes, and is often pocketed by Mercy.
Torbjorn: has overload that gives him a little bit of speed and makes him quite tanky, has a weapon that can either snipe people from a far, or burst down close range targets with huge damage, not to mention that his turret makes the game almost a 7v6 with its solid damage, huge range, and decent health.
Symmetra: only 200 hp, no passive, no defensive ability, has to come in close and wait to get charged up.
Ofc, people can and WILL argue that her teleport gives her survivability and mobility and that her turrets offer back up, but thats not really true.
The teleport can be quite easily destroyed first of, second of, when she places a teleport its highly predictable and noticeable where she will go (you only have 2 gates to aim at) and not to mention that the deployment time for the teleport is almost 2 seconds…a lot of stuff can happen in two seconds in a game like Overwatch.
And her turrets, even tho have high damage and a slow down effect are extremely easy to counter, with their HP being just 30. You just have to melee them, and most characters can one shot them. I mean come one, if you cant kill a turret with 30 hp then…how do you even play the game?
SOLUTION: EITHER/AND;
- give her a health buff to 250. 100 hp, 150 shields
*allow her to passively gain shields when she uses her primary, kinda like Doomfist does when he damages someone. Capping at 100 or 150 extra shields which go down over time while she isnt using her primary.
*give her photon barrier as a secondary E ability along with the tp (she can choose with right or left click what she wants to deploy, like moira with her orbs
*give her beam more range and make it charge up gradually as she uses it instead of going through the lvl 1,2,3 process, and give her 100 ammo back
*drastically reduce the deployment time to her TP and maybe the cooldown.
ISSUE 2: TELEPORT
I already stated above the problems with her teleports deployment rate, and I will not get back to that again. Along with that, its still buggy, gets destroyed randomly on its own, its hard to place when it comes to certain placed (example where there are fences or ledges) and sometimes it feels like the range is a bit low, but thats maybe just me:
SOLUTION: EITHER/AND;
*Fix the bugs
*Drastically lower the deployment time
*Increase its range to match that of Reaper’s Shadow Step, roughly 30m
*Increase its health
*Allow it to be some sort of a miniature defensive object for Symmetra so she can use it as a shield
ISSUE 3: TURRETS
Like i stated above, they are very easily destroyed, and even tho they are strong in damage, I feel like there a too few of them, and that their cooldown is waaay too much…10 seconds for a single turret, which means 30 seconds in total for her only defensive/control ability. May I remind you that Symmetra’s turrets are a core part of her kit, and that she is a control hero first and foremost. I do really enjoy her Turret Bomb tactic and for her to be able to throw them now, but unless the enemy team is totally not paying attention, they are extremely easy to deal with. Not to mention that the cycling system is quite problematic since if you mess up 1 turret, the other two wont be able to do that much.
SOLUTION: EITHER/AND;
*give her at least 4 turrets for more control area, and increase their range, but lower their damage to 40 or 45dps
*increase their health to 60hp or lower their cooldown to 6 or 8
ISSUE 4: HER ORBS
Her orbs are faster now, yes. However, they are still quite easy to dodge. But my biggest problem with them is the fact that they don’t go through shield or people anymore. I think removing that feature was one of the biggest mistakes Blizzard made in her rework.
Think about it, Blizzard design Sym 3.0 to be a counter to shields with her primary fire, but what happened was she became less effective against shields then before. By the the time she destroys Orisa’s shield for example, Orisa can plop down another one.
But, imagine now that Symmetra kept her old orbs. She could have been potentially the biggest counter to goats now. And D.VA, one of the most balanced heroes ever, wouldn’t have received her Defense Matrix nerf.
SOLUTION: EITHER/AND;
*Allow her orbs the pierce through shields and people. And either keep their current speed, or slow them down but allow Symmetra to charge them faster so she can spam a swarm of them to break up the clustered GOATS team.
AND FINALLY ISSUE 5: HER ULTIMATE
Even tho it looks impressive, it’s countered by a simple W key.
Unless its placed by someone who has a degree in Geometry its very easy to counter it and it remains one of the least impactful ultimates in the game.
SOLUTION: EITHER/AND;
*Allow her ultimate to passively deal 50 damage to enemies who pass through it. The number will stack by the number of times they touch the wall. The wall, however, will lose 50hp from its total 5000hp for every time it deals damage to someone.
*Allow her allies to gain 75 shield when they pass through the wall. The numbers WILL NOT stack, but will get replenish to the 75 mark if they get damaged but go through the wall again. The wall, however, will lose 75hp from its total 5000hp for every ime it gives shields to someone.
*Or at least lower the ultimate cost so Sym can put up the wall faster and more often.
CONCLUSION/COUNTER ARGUMENTS
I do understand that the pro players like Stevoo, Reihan, Seagul, etc have almost no problem with current Symmetra. But thats just it, they are PROS.
They make up a very very very small percentage of Symmetra players who have perfected her. Most of us arent pros, and Symmetra is one of the hardest, if not the hardest characters to master. Unless you have an IQ of 1000 and just as much hours on her, its extremely hard to learn her, let alone climb her. And if she is so hard to learn and is ineffective, then there will always come up a question: "Why play Symmetra if you can play Reaper?"
- To answer to all the trolls who would probably say in the comments "lmaooo why do you even play Symmetra??"
Well, because I love her. I dont like Reaper, I like Symmetra. The end.
And Blizzard has repeatedly stated that they never want for one of their heroes to never be used or forgotten. And im also a firm believer that EVERYONE should be able to play ANYTHING they want and be effective and not be bullied just for playing a hero that they like
- To anyone saying: "But this way Symmetra will be OP! Especially in the low ranks!"
Symmetra is one of those heroes who’s design is basically either OP or completely useless. And it really depends who playes those heroes, how, and at what rank.
Reaper for example is a living nightmare in low ranks, even before the buffs. And now with his 50% lifesteal buff he is gonna be hell itself. Where in higher ranks, he is barely used.
Same goes with Mei or Phara or Torb or Bastion.
But now take a look at Ana or Widowmaker. They are completely useless in low ranks because of bad mechanical skills, but are capable of carrying entire games in higher ranks. Every hero is a story of their own.
Therefore yes, Sym will be strong in low ranks, but in higher ranks she will be easily countered just as now. What I am trying to do with these buffs is release Symmetra from all her limitations that she has, and get her above 1% pick rate. I believe thats also what Blizzard is trying to do aswell.
Symmetra is a hero with HUGE potential, but has a lot of things holding her back. She takes forever to master, can counter very few heroes, if any, and has too many counters to even be played. How many times have you seen a Symmetra on the enemy team? And if you have, I bet ya that 9/10 times that Symmetra was forced by her team to switch.
- To all those who will say "Symmetra is fine, you just cant play her/ you are whining."
Heh…she is most certainly not fine. And her pick rate and win rate speaks for iself. If she is “fine” then why are there so few Symmetras in comp? If she is “fine” why doesnt anyone play Symmetra? If she is “fine” then why would someone say “lmaoo just pick another hero”? If she is “fine” then when is she the most bullied hero in the game and is the one who people always blame first when things go wrong?
And as for whining…well if it satisfy your ego that much, then yes, i am whining. Im whining because I payed for the game, and because im not allowed to play a hero that I like. I whine because I get bullied or see others get bullied and blamed and being told what to do just for playing something they like, which they have a full right too. I whine because my favorite hero got reworked TWICE and is still considered a troll pic and is hated.
Now, imagine if all of this happened to you and your favorite hero, and on top of that someone came and said “lmaooo just pick someone else.” or “git gud”
And if, indeed someone says that in the comments bellow, then congratulations, you just proved my point.
This are some of MY suggestions as a way to fix her. I want good and possitive constructive criticizm. If you are gonna be toxic then dont even bother to reply. But if you want to criticize then please offer YOUR OWN IDEA in how to make her more viable and how to fix her. I would like to hear ideas as long as things remain nice and orderly.
Thank you for your time everyone.
P.S Also, if you dont like my propose changes, a friend of mine recently made a video: "How to Rework Symmetra into a Tank". So please check out his video, its not very long, and its easy to understand:
#FixSymmetra