First, i want preface it with this: i like sym 3.0 better than 2.0. While 2.0 was fun and it had that amazing barrier and shield gen, i ultimately think that that state was not healthy for her.
The way she was designed led the devs into a dead end.
No buffs? She’ll never be played in high ranks.
Buffs? She’ll become too oppressive at low ranks.
So, with that out of the way, why is the rework still considered the worst character in the game.
I started thinking about it, as i love symmetra.
And, believe it or not, i think the tickrate might not be the problem.
Because, believe it or not, she has the SAME tickrate as zarya.
Zarya does 20 ticks per second, doing from 4.75 to 9.5 damage per tick.
Symm does 20 ticks per second, doing 3-6-9 damage per tick.
So, what is the REAL problem with her beam? Because i think that if they fix that, sym will be in a much better spot, the rest will just be adding some qol.
Her problem is CONSISTENCY.
Her damage is too unreliable to be useful. Primary fire is unbelievably clunky to play with. It never seems to do the damage it should.
Which i think it’s not the tickrate itself, but the hitbox (not sure on that as i don’t have actual data), that makes the tickrate more punishing.
As it stands, the beam takes too long to get to a respectable damage. It takes 1.6 seconds of perfect tracking to get to 120 (when you actually start to do damage).
Let’s say you have a decent tracking and your precision is around 60%. That’s around 2,5 seconds to get to level 2.
And since the charge goes away fast (you lose one level every 2 seconds after 1.5 seconds of not hitting anything), you can assume Symmetra will always take AT LEAST two entire seconds before doing any damage.
Even charging it with a barrier, that’s 1.6 seconds before getting to 120 dps, 3.2 to get to 180.
She doesn’t have reliable damage. Secondary fire is actually quite good, i miss it piercing barriers (if she still had that she’d be scary vs goats), but it does what it’s supposed to do. The problem is that alone is not enough to cover for the lackluster primary fire.
tl;dr
- Tickrate isn’t actually the problem. She has the same tickrate as zarya, with comparable damage per tick (9.5 vs 9 at max charge).
- I think (pure speculation) that one of the problem might be the hitbox, that makes the tickrate feel more punishing.
- The real problem is the time it takes to ramp up just to level 2. Even with good tracking and/or a barrier, we are looking at roughly 2 seconds before sym can start doing damage. That’s something like 14 out of 70 ammo expended just to start having decent dps.
- Secondary fire is fine. I miss it not piercing barriers anymore, but that’s not what holds her back. I doubt she’d be played vs goats even if she did.
So, how would i go about fixing it?
One solution would be to just do away with ramp up mechanic entirely and give her a fixed dps. Don’t know how much, i think 180 might be too much, maybe 160?
Second solution, if ramp up must stay, would be to make it less essential. Let’s make it so the levels are something like 120-150-180, so that she can instantly start doing decent damage, instead of having to deal with an abysmal 60 dps for the first two seconds of each engagment.
Also, i’d lower the ramp up a slight bit, maybe to 1.5? This is my ocd speaking, i just can’t stand 1.6 lol. One second would be golden tho.
If we just did this, i think sym will be overall in a much better spot, just due to her improved consistency.
So, what else should need a look at?
I think tp could use a few qol, that don’t really change its power, but make it more reliable.
I’d give it a few extra meters in range, make it deploy slightly faster and make it so that it lasts indefinetely until a new tp is built or it gets destroyed. Baiscally what you did with sombra’s translocator.
Also, make it destroy railing when placed there. Thank you.
The turrets as well could use some change. I don’t think changing the hp is necessary, as they are not meant to be durable in the slightest and never have. They gave them 30hp so that just random pellets wouldn’t destroy them (looking at you dva).
What i would do, is either lower the cooldown a bit, or, better, give use more in storage. We will still only be able to put out 3 at a time, but it would be far easier to replace them as soon as the fight moves somewhere else.
On her survivability… i think they either make tp so fast it can be used as mobility, or they add 50 hp to either health or shields.
Not sure about the extra hp tho, i’d rather have faster tp if i had to choose.
Her ult is fine. The problem is that many player don’t really know how to properly shield-dance around it to avoid enemy fire, but used and placed correctly it basically forces the enemy team to split apart while your team has free range.
Maybe let your team see where the ult will pop up? Mei would benefit from something like this as well.
tl;dr
- Primary fire: either remove ramp-up and give it fixed dps, or make the ramp up faster, with more damage on level 1 and lower gain per level (120-150-180 for example). This is the change i think is the most essential, as it makes her more consistent.
- Secondary fire: it’s fine as it is.
- Teleporter: give it more range, faster deploy time and infinite duration until replaced or destroyed.
- Turrets: either lower cd or more turrets in your pocket for quick relocation. Still only 3 turret max deployed
- Survivability: either add 50 hp or make tp deploy so fast it can act as mobility in a pinch.
- Ultimate: it’s fine as it is, maybe let your team see the outline of where it’s gonna pop up.
Wow this was a longer topic than i expected.
Hope the tl;dr helps.
What do you think is her problem and how would you fix it?