Symmetra Rework: Defense or Support?

General Discussion
1128

Excited for the rework but I have to say that I’m also a bit worried for Symmetra since there are some parts that are questionable in my opinion.

1. The loss of her Photon Barrier
The lack of her shield will now make her a complete sitting duck in situations where she could potentially protect herself ( or her team ) from let’s say Dva ult, McCree flashbang, Widow’s line of sight, Pharah’s barrage, Reinhardt’s earthshatter etc. The list goes on. Also, since she is a close range hero, how will she get in close range without getting absolutely destroyed by the enemy when she has lost her old shield? Most defence heroes has some sort of ability to help them in tight situations such as Widow’s hook, Mei’s icewall or cryo-freeze, Junkrat’s bomb to gain mobility, Bastion’s self heal etc. Sym will be incredibly vulnerable in the scenarios I mentioned earlier. Is there no way to keep her shield as an ability in some way?

2. Alternate Fire Orb
Probably the one change I really don’t agree with. The changes to her orb feels like a complete nerf overall besides the speed buff. The fact that she could pierce through enemies and shields made her unique and also a solid counter to Orisa, Rein and Bastion behind a shield.

I don’t really see the point of the change to this ability when all it really needed was a speed buff. What exactly are the benefits of an orb that explodes on impact when it can’t even pass through the shield to hit the people standing behind it in the first place? I’d much rather have the old piercing version but with a speed buff.

3. The New Photon Barrier Ultimate
The new Ultimate seems cool but could potentially also feel very underwhelming and limited. A static shield will be hard to work with and especially on payload maps. I’m afraid that it will be easily worked around when people get used to this new ultimate since it’s just a static large shield.

( Besides, Symmetra will be even more crap now in deathmatch since she doesn’t have her shield gen anymore, she can’t protect herself with her old shield in 1v1 and her new Ult will be pretty much useless in this mode )

4. Teleporter
Please let her teammates be able to see her new teleporter through walls like hacked health packs. I think this is crucial that her teammates sees its location at all times since it will now only be online for a limited amount of time.

5. Turrets
3 turrets ( with 30HP each ) instead of 6 does seem a bit drastic even though they are more powerful now individually. Maybe 4 could be a good option? Winston for example will still be able to pretty much sweep his weapon over the turret nest and kill one turret in 0,5 seconds.

4 Likes
1129

I think her new Infinity Barrier ult will be a HUGE game changer actually…

Think about it… the thing has 5000 hp and infinitely extends vertically and horizontally on a 2 dimensional axis. This means that Symmetra is essentially bisecting the map IN HALF, blocking LoS to her allies for every enemy. If the enemy can’t break it down fast enough (or if they don’t have a Sombra to EMP it away) then the entire enemy will have to pass through the barrier to do ANY damage.

EVEN THEN, I imagine once she places down the Infinity Barrier a lot of battles will occur right on its axis as your teammates can dance between the sides of the barrier to avoid damage from the enemy, while still being able to dish out damage themselves. Additionally, Sym will be able to block entire ults if timed and placed properly like Parahs ult (regardless of where she is in the sky), Soldier’s ult, McCree’s ult, and Roadhog’s ult.

Now that I think about it… Sym could even use the barrier offensively by placing the barrier on an axis that leads directly to the objective/point. Her allies could then use this wall to approach, dancing on either side of the barrier to shield themselves from incoming damage. She could render defensive sight lines completely useless, like Torbjorn’s turret or even Bastion himself.

1130

These where most of my complaints as well, but I also have some thoughts that can tack on here to resolve those issues without totally locking out the work they have done.

The orbs were fine, I would rather they get brought back in some form. If full pass through with total damage and the speedup was too powerful in testing, there are some better ways to balance it then get rid of it; locked at 2 second charge only, if that’s too powerful make it stepdown per target hit. I really just rather them find something that isn’t these new ones because the lore doesn’t fit, the character personality doesn’t fit, the game already has a bunch of them, and they don’t reward positioning as much as the old ones. This is the worst part of all of it in my opinion, because I have to contend with all those issues listed above. The old ones were still spammable, and served the same functions as these new ones.

The removal of the old barrier is problematic for her survival, this could easily be solved by making tp go back and forth while still retaining that old school feel. The items tp gimmick is not going to be used much, is riskier then just sending the user through in most cases (accounting for each users aim, and hoping for it to survive, means the tp-ability use isn’t worth the risk of the power). Making it 2 way allows us to use it as a sorta tp dance that functions in a similar manner as it used too. This fits lore, character (she uses dancing to improve), and is still less punishing to the enemy because if they miss us they still hit the tp (already stated to be hit on both ends).

4 turrets does more for setting things up, allows me to do the standard 2 choke + 1 flank setup that is popular, and now gives me the ability to set 1 per flank/choke while saving 1 for the shooting mechanic where I will engage.

The ult I can do without 5000 and would reduce it’s HP in favor of speeding allies through it. I’m already a utility DPS with these changes, so give me a bit more utility for everyone. Otherwise I’m down for everything, good job y’all.

1131

Since they announced the rework, I thought the orbs would be the only sure thing in her kit that would remain untouched. Good orb spam is one of her best tools, because other than forcing D.va to join the fight without Defense Matrix, there is literally no facetanking an orb. You either take the damage, or avoid it and give up a good route/position. Which is terrifying in certain parts of many maps.

Sure, they are slow, but the intention I see behind its design requires her orbs to be slow. IMO, Just like Dragonstrike, the message in the orb is not “I’m dangerous and I’ll kill you”. It’s “I’m dangerous, and I’ll kill you IF you dont move out of the way, like I want you to do”.

It’s a gameplay style kinda like Dissidia’s Emperor, or BlazBlue’s Carl Clover. At face value, it looks weak and vulnerable, but if you play your cards right, the enemy team gets attacked from all sides and have no room to react. The proper combination between orb and turret is essential for that.

1 Like
1132

That’s is all true, but it seems they intended for them to become her main source of damage. Seeing as that’s the case, then speeding them up gives that function.

1133

Probably. Which is why I’m on the bandwagon of the Sanjay theory.

1134

I’m not gonna go that far since Sanjay’s character is more akin to a support than Sym was. based on what we know of each of them, Sanjay needs someone to do his dirty work, manipulates, doesn’t care about collateral, and provides Intel. Sym works mostly by herself, destroyed multiple targets, and is more like a precision knife. If anything, Syms support metrics and these new alt orbs should go to Sanjay, not the other way around.

1135

I mean the theory that they are creating Hero 28, and deleting Symmetra from the game, because of how different all her proposed skills are from her current incarnation. “Sanjay” is just a codename for that Hero 28.

I would really enjoy if they created a third builder character with that proposed kit. It looks really fun, but I barely recognize Symmetra on that. And I honestly envy the Sym players that do. I really wanted to be excited about this rework without the fear of my favorite game style being deleted from the game.

3 Likes
1136

I agree, I’m still disappointed about it. For the most part I am glad with the changes, just now the nit picky that needs to change. ESPECIALLY those orbs, damn things are seriously the worse thing here.

I wouldn’t hold my breath on hero 28 being Sanjay, its more than likely another tank. Now is the best time for it, since the meta is heading towards a tanky composition. Dive & deathball are really it meta wise, and the tanks are the backbone of team comps. So I expect something that can add another actual meta comp option to show up real soon. Just my theory.

2 Likes
1137

Someone needs to put you in a box.

1138

Just realised why they lowered the health to 300: So Tracer can still pulse bomb the tp.

Gotta keep Tracer meta …

1139

It would be trading an ult for a standard ability. I think this is in Symmetra’s favor.

2 Likes
1140

Consider that teleporter is also moving to an E ability, where it’s very short range and has 2 sides that can be attacked. It will likely never be worth it to use your pulse on a tele; should be easy to kill the entrance, and even if you don’t have time to empty 1.5 clips into it the tele will probably be up again in like 40 seconds.

1 Like
1141

40 seconds? No.

The new tp should have a 15 second cool down max. It doesn’t bring people back from spawn anymore, is stunnable and can be destroyed. It does not need the cool down of res as well.

1142

Wait, is it?

1143

You sound quite defensive. Me saying 40 seconds was a wild guess, meant to illustrate against your fears of “gotta keep that tracer meta”

1 Like
1144

Well it has a cast time, so it should be.

I mean I’ve never had that issue tho since I’m usually alone when I place it.

1145

I’ve been stunned while placing it and even killed (in death match) and it still continued to place.

1146

I just don’t want another Mercy situation. I mean were already losing our shields, a core part of her kit, so I want to do everything in my power to keep the teleported from being crippled too

2 Likes
1147

I think Symmetra will be much stronger after the rework. The teleporter alone sounds completely game changing. Blizz wouldn’t rework a hero that people hate mostly because they’re bad and make them worse afterwards. Her new alt fire sounds amazing as well, as well as generating ammo from damaging shields.

Honestly I’m quite excited to try her, and I never thought there would be a day I would want to play sym

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