The more I think about it, the more I come to release that Sombra’s virus is the cause of all (or most) of her problems, both in viability and balance-wise.
In short:
It prevents machine pistol from getting buffed
It prevents stealth to be on SHIFT because virus takes its place
Makes fights with very squishy characters very easy
Has no impact when used on competent tanks
Has even less impact if supports show up
Forces you to always hack your target first
Other abilities end up being mangled because of it (stealth and translocator)
Sombra is suppose to break away from the traditional damage focused flankers, yet here is a cookie-cutter DPS ability
Sombra never needed virus, she was doing fine without it
Ends up becoming her primary source of damage, relegating machine pistol to a secondary damage source
Missing virus often means losing a fight
Shields and healing render it useless
Basically virus is a crutch, but it is held together by duct tape and wood. Causing Sombra to fall and mess up her other abilities.
ive been saying for a while that my issue with her is virus
i dont believe theres a version of invis or hack that people will ever be happy with (literally every incarnation has been complained about)
but regardless of the version, shes always just been your gun vs hers…
now your health is less than half before you even notice shes engaging you…she often feels cheap to me (and yes i say that even as someone who plays her)
the engagement itself is not fun to me as is…its usually “she lands it, she wins”…she may have been annoying in OW1…but not cheap
The very best version of sombra in my opinion was in OW1, she had to come out of stealth to hack you but if she managed to hack you, you were hacked for 3-4 whole seconds. That felt like an eternity but it was better. Due to her being invisible 24/7, her damage output was never really amazing. It was balanced though because no hyper mobile invisible hero should ever have high damage to begin with. Only the real sombra players knew how to use her. Shame everyone thought she was bad, she was actually insane
My issue with her has always been Hack. I think that it should be deleted and most of its functionality, minus the ability lock out, transfered to Virus as secondary fire. Give Stealth its button back and play around with the numbers to make her a reasonably effective flanking DPS instead of a niche CC terrorist that she’s been for most of her lifecycle.
I think it should take longer on tanks but ok on others even longer duration as long as she doesn’t hack peoples legs like wall climb pharah flight Lucio wall ride dirt roll like in first version.
Cause it’s 70 instant with extra dot and you are still shooting i think her dps at that point is closer to 180-220 on average like normal shooting at neck.
I have been trying to get her vaccinated since the initial rework. It’s just hopeless because everyone uses the opportunity to cry about stealth or hack for whatever reason…
if i did have my choice i would just implement her overwatch 2 season 1 version where she didnt have virus but she basically could chain hack. also she use to be VERY FAST in stealth but they nerfed that quickly. dont know if that was in the beta of overwatch 2 or season 1… the speed buff boost movement
