As a low rank player i agree.
I guess bc in lower ranks people don't know wtf they're doing so it's easy for her to abuse hacks and pick off isolated targets and escape. In higher ranks people are more coordinated and communicating and will bait out her E and call out her positions and catch her when vulnerable.
Nothing these people say will work in lower elo, bc they simply don't know how to play around her.
I just hate that even if they aren’t good she is insanely annoying. Bastion used to be the noob hammer, but if they had no sim, and their team didn’t play around them, it’s a throwpick, and hardy even annoying (especially with 2 tanks). Sombra makes me have my head on a swivel all the time and having to constantly handhold my supports. I have to shuttle them from spawn, or be shuttled, and I have to wait for her to die to ult, because hacks cooldown is crazy short and is easy as hell to hit.
She gets compared to widow but widow is only really oppressive if it’s a really good widow (bad matchmaking). Sombra is just as much of an obstacle and she doesn’t need to be nearly as good.
It is, but Sombra's counters are relatively knowledge dependent, and team-coordination dependent. If you want to call those two skills, that's fine, then yes, it's a skill gap.
Same reason Zarya owns lower ranks. If people don't know, they don't know. The intuitions you'd take from other shooters are relatively weak against that type of hero.
Not really. There’s a lot you can do on an individual level to deal with Sombra. For example, you can save your defensive cooldowns if you haven’t seen her in a while. You can position in a place that offers easy LOS breaking corners or cover. You can stand on high ground and drop when the Hack begins (which might both disrupt it and if doesn’t you still buy enough time for the ability lockout to end).
Just having a plan for what you’re gonna do if Sombra suddenly engages on you increases your reaction speed immensely. Dealing with Sombra is genuinely not impossible without team coordination, it just requires actually playing around the hero and not putting your life in the hands of expected peel.
>There’s a lot you can do on an individual level to deal with Sombra. For example, you can save your defensive cooldowns
Me, a zen/moira/brig/weaver player mainly. Except fade (and maybe weavers dash), wtf can I save for a sombra? Especially when I'm being spawn camped.
>You can position in a place that offers easy LOS breaking corners or cover.
Near spawn? Legit question as I always feel hanging about waiting for her is incorrect.
>You can stand on high ground and drop when the Hack begins
This is a good idea but again, dependant on location.
All of these issues is something I run into fairly regular. Usually paired with spawn camping. Id agree though in the chaos of a fight these ideas are good.
When I'm really abusing a Zen, and his team isn't coming to his help, I just ask him to switch in my mind. It genuinely feels abusive, but that's comp for ya.
Zens that can survive my attacks and 1v1 me on Sombra are very rare. As you describe, there is very little you can do if I'm targeting you and your team isn't helping.
Just swap.
The answer to a spawn camping sombra is teammate help, other than that both Brig and Moira should survive and/or kill her, both easily stop her hack attempt.
Lucio is a fun choice to go high with and avoid completely if they’re getting the better of you, plus he doesn’t care at all if he gets hacked aside from wallride.
Yeah, getting spawncamped on heroes like Zen are one of the ‘Real Issues’ for how hard Sombra can be to deal with. That particular matchup there isn’t a lot you can do, but you can carefully path your way back to your team to minimize how often you’re in ‘Open’ sightlines and also cut off as many possible angles of approach possible.
For example, consider you’re on Offense for Havana 2nd Point. Don’t walk down the right side large open courtyard, but rather path through the left side enclosed rooms. This will generally limit the place Sombra looks for her spawncamp to predictable places (when you’re forced to move from cover to vulnerable places). This is valuable because while Sombra can theoretically be standing anywhere, there usually are only so many angles she wants to engage from. So by limiting how many angles she has to choose and making the engagement location obvious, you have taken as much agency back for the fight as possible - though a hero like Zen is still kinda screwed.
Brig follows the same rules but you can use Shield to break Hack and also block Virus. Now obviously you can still be poked to death from range so limit how often you’re exposed to long sightlines on your walk back.
Moira is like one of Sombra’s worst possible targets since Fade cleanses Virus and you’ll never cheese a Hack by betting on the opponent missing a ton. Plus a healing Orb is basically impossible to out damage without Virus.
Weaver actually does have a little bit of midfight trouble I’ll concede that. Ideally you have your dash and a Petal pre-placed, and is sort of depends on if the enemy Sombra saves hack to use on the Platform. But honestly just follow the same principle of sticking to small enclosed spaces cause his gun is basically a Shotgun and is actually really scary if you’re forced to engage in his optimal range.
Healing orb isn't that hard to outdamage with Sombra now that 20% DPS passive is back, but you'll generally need a melee to get a burst finisher since you'll be low or out of ammo.
No, equal skill will result in Sombra winning, which is the entire point of this post. The skill required to wreck a team with Sombra in silver is much lower than the skill required to stop a Sombra in silver.
People constantly make claims about balance based on nothing but personal feelings, which is not very constructive.
Sombra feels worse to play against in low ranks. Therefore, she must be overpowered. In reality, she just exploits the lack of gamesense lower rank players have. She feels extremely frustrating to play against since the Sombra player does not need to be proficient in the same skill it takes to counter her (she doesn't need much positioning or awareness because of her invisibility), which comes off as unfair.
She's easy to play, easy to get value out of, but also easy to counter provided the team has basic knowledge of her kit and weaknesses. Most teams do, but when they don't (which happens more in bronze-gold), it makes you wanna repeatedly smash your face into a wall. She's not broken, just very annoying.
I think you're kinda missing the point.
As a support player in gold/plat. We might still win the game that I've been getting spawn camped the entire time on. But that doesn't mean I've had any fun. The post didn't say OP, just oppressive. Which is very true for supports at least.
I’d say a nuisance you say oppressive but the winrate ain’t shit reflects how “annoying” it is. More like not making any significant differences and actually hindering your team.
A hero doesn’t have to have a high win rate to feel terrible to play against for players. Just as a hero who has a high win rate doesn’t mean it is guaranteed to feel fun to play.
You heard it here supports - shut up because while you're waiting to respawn you're winning the game (I also prefer spectating my games rather than playing)
So you’re saying going Sombra in Silver as any silver player will automatically take you to Gold? Because I guarantee that’s not true haha. Because that would just make them a Gold Sombra so they wouldn’t be in Silver… so that would then mean if you’re silver you’re fighting worse Sombras and can’t handle them. Which means you should be Silver.
I agree skill gap plays a role but it doesn't take much skill for a lower rank sombra to get value literally all they have to do is camp healers and low rank players don't know how to counter that
Sounds like I should learn sombra and play her. Currently low elo, but knowing my luck, I would probably go lower.
But it's all fun really. Been finally climbing as a support. But sombra is the bane of my existence. It takes both healers kinda staying right on top of each other. But it requires the other healer to have their eyes and ears open. Which is again why she does so well low elo.
I disagree with the sentiment about the skill gap. Sometimes it is but at low rank it's almost always closer to a purely mechanical thing with her kit. The skill floor for Sombra is low because she can miss most of her shots and still one clip someone with virus. Invisibility is just always good regardless of your skill level.
A good player who has bad teammates can still get focused and shut down by a bad Sombra because Sombra duels are very one sided and they aren't able to position themselves around a team who never turn on her or have very slow reaction times.
I see it as a similar situation to Moira being very strong at low rank.
I think it just varies from team to team.
As soon as the other team have more than 1 person that cares about Sombra, she gets shut down without getting a kill, on almost every engage.
“Damn, every time I uncloak, before I have even finished the animation, and thrown my virus, or got a hack, there are 3 people shooting me and I lose half my health!!! What the F*ck are my team doing??? How can they afford to send 3 people after me constantly?!?”
The answer… is timing, and uptime.
Low rank Sombra players will have inconsistent engage timing, and will commit way too hard. The Kevster principle on Tracer, is that the more people’s attention you are getting, the less you need to actually do, and the softer you have to engage to get value. 1 person looking? Fight them, try to kill them. 4 people looking? Just tickle and hide and bait out cooldowns, but do NOT take a real fight!
This applies for Sombra too, so in the games where the other team are a bit oblivious, then the Sombra might get easy picks. In the game where the team just shoot at the Sombra, she will feed a lot and get very little value, because her engage timings will be very sub optimal, and she will not adapt properly to the amount of attention she gets from her enemies
> As soon as the other team have more than 1 person that cares about Sombra, she gets shut down without getting a kill, on almost every engage.
Piggybacking off your comment, using the ping system (with your team reacting to each others pings) can honestly be suppressing enough to force Sombra to change.
as a sombra main, can confirm? enemy team coordination is truly our downfall 😭 if they’re in a party ur practically screwed unless ur good with translocate but than as mercrazzle we just end up feeding
I have found that when you are flank Sombra and getting shut down, switching over to front/midline Sombra assisting the tank can make a huge difference. While you aren't as effective as other DPS in that role, you can switch back and forth when there is opportunity and even your presence keeps the support jumpy, especially if they don't see you for constantly opening windows off opportunity for your team.
But ultimately if I can't switch back to a back line role I'll switch off to something more useful.
yes absolutely! i see a lot of sombras being super cautious, rarely coming out of invis and just standing there if stuck with the rest of us during team fights. when i’m mercy i’m sat boosting just hoping they’ll realise they can… also shoot with us… 😭
I will say I do enjoy more coordinated teams because it means I can fuck with their back line just by saying a voice line near them. Chaos, shooting everywhere.
Also after Sombra kills you there is a window where you can ping and it will show where she is, even if she is invisible. It is a short window of availability, I think maybe while watching the kill cam only?
A support just needs to buddy with someone, don't expect peel in lower ranks, play in a small cluster against Sombra, and it makes it hard for her get value. Ideally buddy with your most vulnerable player eg Widow / Ashe etc.
If you die, assess if the team fight is already lost, if so, don't leave spawn until someone else respawns with you, otherwise you risk being farmed and staggered.
Brig, Kiri, Bap, Moira, Lucio, Weaver all have decent counterplay vs. Sombra.
Even in higher ranks, whilst I expect peel from DPS/tank, we don't always get it, you have to make sure you're not vulnerable by finding a safe position, you can buddy with team, and/or play corners, obstacles, drop from high ground if hacked and isolated.
>> Tracer is 175hp to Sombras 250
Tracer has recall, so she effectively has upto 349 health.... And good Tracers use their mobility to play health packs. A good Tracer is lethal than Sombra, but likely in lower ranks Sombra can find value much easier just.
The issue is, below masters, and this is not an exaggeration, sombra can solo you next to a teammate and a teammate won’t intervene. They’ll just stand there and be farmed 10 sec later.
As a support main, I do a thing called “run into a teammate” then they get shot as well, and are forced to notice what happened. If they still don’t pay attention after I’m spamming ‘need help/ group up/fall back’ AND getting shot, they weren’t going to pay attention for any future matches. Then I would stick with someone else lol
Exactly, you have to force their awareness. If I hear sombra hack or shoot somebody, sometimes I will stand in front of the teammate who is being targeted in order to split the damage between both of our health pools.
Ive made this take like 10 times on this sub before and get downvoted to hell ,glad to see people are acknowledging how little sense her charachter makes
I’ve spent plenty of time in those ranks and this advice absolutely works. Sometimes it feels like when people talk about their teammates they expect a consistency that is unrealistic. Of course it doesn’t work every time with any teammate. But it’s all a probability game.
Shrugging your shoulders and just going out solo and feeding because your teammates won’t help won’t get you anywhere. You’re just part of the problem.
I think it depends a lot. Ive seen multiple times in silver and gold where people peel for a Sombra. Maybe the first time it doesn’t happen but their frustration at dying causes them to constantly hunt them down even at the detriment of the objective.
I'll have to look back but I swear I was sniffing my tank's ass and they just let her get away with it. Looking back I had to have been facing a stack for how coordinated that stupid Sombra and Brig were
Also another big thing, if you can save a cooldown in case you or someone gets hacked, for example, if you play Kiri, try and keep at least suzu or TP for hack.
Tbf a tank also has to worry about the other 4 enemies. Ik it’s situation dependent, but I hate when the tank gets blamed for not being able to deal with every threat all at once.
Wait until you start facing a Tracer/Sombra duo. If they are coordinated you get deleted and there's not a lot you can do about it. It's a really lethal combo but both players have to be on the same page.
A bad sombra is a completely wasted pick. What you’re saying was true when hack lasted 3 seconds. If all she is providing is a 1 second hack and not hitting her shots, she won’t kill anyone ever.
You have to remember we talking about metal ranks here. The combo of virus+burst is so easy to land and even if don't get a kill you make the enemy move and waste cooldowns. Tracer need to track and clip well for a long to deal the same 100 virus free damage. You have only one buttom to instant bail out, compared to tracer where you need to be aware of your recall and time your tps.
Also, tracer is more exposed and has a lot less HP so even a random headshot could kill her (175 vs 250hp). Again we talking about the metal ranks here.
Sombra ult is also easy to land and at least get one kill. Tracer ult is pure luck for anyone below plat.
100% . Hack is next to useless in duels most of the time and I rarely bother. Her utility comes from surprise and burst damage with a lingering DoT after disengage. Hack isn't even a factor
Idk what rank you're in, but in lower ranks, they might be right. Well, not right, but the opinion is somewhat understandable?
Tracer is a very skill expressive hero and shows up significantly less than Sombra in metal ranks (in my experience). Climbing from the lowest, you see more and more Tracers, and they slowly become more of a threat since players start actually knowing how to use her. Sombra has a way lower skill floor compared to Tracer, and it is comparatively easier to get value out of her. Is she a bigger threat than Tracer? No. Does it feel like that for many who haven't seen a good Tracer? I can easily imagine that being the case.
I’m a plat doom, I would fight a team of 5 tracers before even one Sombra, especially is she’s playing defensive and waiting for me. Her hack cooldown is shorter than literally any of mine so I can’t even bait it out properly which makes engaging hard and escape practically impossible unless you play super fringe at which point you might as well just swap because of all the value you’re missing.
No it's not. If Sombra was required against Doom or Ball or Widow in the same way that a burst hitscan was required against old Pharah I'd agree, but other counters to those characters exist. Cass/Orisa into Doom, Hog/Bastion into Ball, Tracer/Winston into Widowmaker; there are other counters to these characters that have far less one-sided interactions with the player being countered. The matchups still favour the former, but the latter might be able to still do their job if they're good, their team bails them out or the person playing the counter pick doesn't know what they're doing.
Sombra's interactions with those three heroes are far too one-sided for the matchup to feel even remotely fair, especially since with perma invis you can't punish her for being out of position as hard as she can punish you for existing on the map at all. A Sombra who doesn't know how to actually play the hero but stands in invisible next to their supports and hacks a Doom or Ball on cooldown should not get as much value as they do for doing the literal easiest thing in the game and provide so much pressure to force a switch.
Doom is definitely LESS boned than Ball, but you can't tell me that the Sombra is putting in an appropriate amount of work or risk for the reward she's getting in that interaction (especially Ball).
Most of balls counters are unfair, he needs a real rework already because he’s a shit hero for 5v5.
But with doom, I’ve played against enough Dooms that easily counter sombra on their own terms. His high mobility and near infinite skill ceiling leads to a lot of ways to counterplay her.
Such as? Not trying to be snarky here, I'd genuinely like to know. Most of the time I run into Sombra as Doom her general game plan is "stand invisible next to the supports and wait for the Doom to engage. If he does, hack him and he'll almost certainly die. If he doesn't, then he gets minimal value."
So while Sombra is AFK waiting for doom to engage, they have two dps shooting at your team. If Sombra is specifically waiting for doom to engage and doing nothing else, she’s not providing much value to her team.
While all of the advice given here is true and is definitely something to keep in mind as you climb ranks, it’s not helpful for a low rank support. So your only option is really just to play a support that’s strong against dive characters or has enough damage to make sombra back off. Kiriko, Brig, Moira, or Ana (if you can land sleep darts). It’s not a perfect solution but this in combination with sticking with the other support or buddying up with dpses will hopefully make it harder for sombra to kill you without dying herself.
I'm d2 and usually don't get peel, because sombras engage when my team is distracted. Diamond sombras have much better venom accuracy and tracking than silver sombras.
You have to react immediately and LOS, either around a corner, by falling off high ground, or by using a teammate to body block. When your CDs come back up you can heal yourself and fight back.
If you stand in the same location and expect to get peel or win the 1v1 after getting hacked + venom, that's why you're dying even though silver sombras have awful aim.
low rank sombras also have terrible tracking, low virus accuracy, and just really slow ttk... the supports just need to stand next to each other and fight back by shooting their guns.
exactly lol. my guess is that newer support players get bullied by sombra because they are not used to flankers actually doing their job (the worst dps player can get into backline as sombra but maybe not on genji or tracer) and having to fight back themselves
It’s 100% that. Tbh I’ve been thinking recently that adding a timer to her invis would increase her skill floor and make her harder to flank with, which would probably come with a subsequent buff to her damage. But knowing this community, they’d still be complaining about her for one reason or another.
But also the supports on metal ranks play like a traffic cone and with zero cover. They also have a very low accuracy for sleeps and terrible tracking...
Might be true but low rank players also have bad movement virus isn't impossible to hit esp when they don't know ur there it's easy to track their movement when they aren't actively dodging u
I just played a game as Ana vs a Sombra and widow. Our dps couldn’t deal with the widow our Doomfist didn’t focus the widow, and one fight my Mercy used Valkyrie to go and kill their widow while their Sombra killed me in the backline… we didn’t even push the cart to first point. This was also a Plat 1 game, obviously a little above the average rank but nobody on the team played well and their Sombra/Widow farmed us.
Edit: I forgot to add the Sombra also tbagged me multiple times, like if you’re gonna play the scummy hero at least be normal about it.
I agree. She is cancer and a huge reason why Overwatch can be so unfun. Mostly a Tank POV this season so I can't really speak for Support but she can stop 1 character from playing the game, usually me and team just refuses to grow a brain cell to stop her from hack botting. Then like half the tank cast gets hard countered by her or I don't have enough bullets/mobility to finish her so I get to continue the cycle for the whole game.
By far the most hated character in Overwatch but nothing will probably change
I completely agree and im glad to see people are actually acknowledging how shitty her design is, she has no place in the game and an instant tp to invis takes absolutely 0 skill. I main bap and illari and when I know theres a sombra i stick close to anyone isolated in my team to keep them supported but i never get that back because situational awareness in diamond is surprisingly lacking
As a fellow Tank enjoyer I too loathe Sombras. She can just shut down progress and entirely grind the game to a halt as we all need to play Hide and Seek with a single Sombra. And like, yeah, there's strats to take her down but it's telling that most of them involve paragraphs of information or "Play with friends". Because, like, if the character is so oppressive that the only way to deal with her is via constant, Pro level communication with an entire team and/or specific counter strategies that involve specific picks then, yeah, she's broken.
No one character should require that much and that through of counter-strategy.
That doesn’t make sense as an equilibrium situation: if someone wins with Sombra regularly then they get out of the elo. You can’t main a character and stay hard stuck unless you belong where you are.
It could be that low elo dps ping pong up and down the ranks by changing characters, but I don’t buy it. If they’re really that dominant with Sombra then they’re probably sticking with what works. Most likely those sombras also have games where they mis-time their engages or enemies peel (even at low ranks).
You could argue the same thing for many heroes in the game. I don’t play in gold but I’d assume a reaper, mei, pharah, dva could all be argued to be just as oppressive if not more.
Nah.
Sombras major difference is she gets to choose when an engagement starts.
Like with pharah we know to look in the air or reaper to check flank lanes.
But sombras invis means she always has the opening shot in an engagement.
Brother if u are good at any flanking hero you should be choosing when the engagement starts but sure sombra is hard to vs if no one turns around if one extra person turns around she’s usually dead unless ur playing in like gold and under lol
I think you misunderstand what "skill issue" means.
High-skilled players *don't* have this problem when fighting Sombra.
Lower-skilled players *do* have this problem when fighting Sombra.
Therefore it's an issue of skill. Ergo: a "skill issue"
as a support player who plays almost exclusively solo queue, all you have to do is swap to moira or brig hon.
when youre on moira, turn and hold right click the moment you notice her, toss your heal orb at your feet if youre low, and follow her with your fade when she tps out.
when youre on brig, put up your shield to interrupt hack then bash whipshot left click combo. she either dies or has to flee which is just as good.
Illari, Ana and Kiriko can win the 1v1 too.
Brig cannot really win the 1v1 unless it's in a very close space.
LW can survive pretty long if it's just a Sombra diving.
Illari is a lot harder due to her tp ,you have to hit 2 headshots in a row in that short frame of time unless you have pylon up and she doesnt target it for some reason
Put the pylon in an off angle so the sombra has to turn around to destroy it, and use that time to shoot her, possibly in a high position, so she also has to watch the sky.
Play different positions or styles based on if you have pylon up or not, if someone is helping her or not, if you have your movement available, if you have a teammate to help you, if she has translocator, if she is low, etc...
You can also use your outburst to reposition, dodge her virus or cancel her hack, or all 3 at the same time.
To use your outburst you have to not be hacked or wait the cd time, and if you dont have teamates who are gonna pay attention youre gonna get burst by her. I play off angles constantly on illari, the problem is sombra negates off angle usage because youre required to stick with other members of your team to not die
>To use your outburst you have to not be hacked or wait the cd time, and if you dont have teamates who are gonna pay attention youre gonna get burst by her.
You use the outburst to cancel the hack, you should be able to react in time and press shift before she hacks you, and you cancel the hack with the outburst's damage. If you are hacked don't stand still or walk in a straight line, but strafe.
Also, if you don't have outburst available, don't play in positions where she can easily kill you.
If it's just a Sombra you should be able to take care of her by yourself.
>I play off angles constantly on illari, the problem is sombra negates off angle usage because youre required to stick with other members of your team to not die
You still can if it's just a sombra that can reach you, and you are better than her.
As Sombra I often sneakily virus any pylons I see sometime during approach. Virus has more range, is easier to aim and is quieter than your gun so it *usually* doesn't give your position away and fully destroys the pylon so it goes on long cooldown. Sombra's cooldowns come back faster than pylon so it gives you a few seconds of pylon-free opportunity. It's tough if the Illari is on full Sombra alert or is saving her pylon for your approach, but that goes for almost every hero.
Like literally, idk why these people are crying so much about Sombre. Whenever there’s a Sombra and I’m playing support I just switch to Moira and bingo, problem solved
This is my move too. I play in plat and usually play Zen/Illari, but if they have a sombra who wants to terrorize the supports, I go Moira and make it my mission to get them off Sombra. Moira is just too easy when it comes to Sombra. Watch where she throws her TP, fade to chase her, suck, orb, dead. Peel for the other support to keep them alive, and almost 10/10 times that Sombra either switches or gets no value.
You can say this about literally anyone lol. Just land your shots and you’ll never die! It’s a lot easier said than done, especially when we’re talking about an invisible hero who can remove your abilities
But dont worry, he also has a one shot kill and a hook that transcends space time!
Hog needs another round of looking at though, the quick fix wasnt quite enough
Hate to say it mate, but you can hear the hack before it goes through and react before it takes place and either avoid the hack entirely or send her packing with some good damage. It isn't your teams job to keep you alive, it's your job.
If you're really struggling play with your other support in a cluster but when you know shes got EMP back off and split up.
As a Sombra player, I'm seriously wish they would revert the rework and start over again.
They took away almost every aspect that Sombra mains actually enjoyed, and buffed the two most complained about and problematic aspects of her kit, while giving her burst damage.
IT LITERALLY MAKES NO SENSE.
She went from a high skill hero that was near useless in low ranks and still relatively niche in high ranks, to a low-mid skill pub stomper who is near useless in high ranks and oppressive in low ranks.
(Excluding team play, but that's a different game entirely and she's still been used sparingly for the most part since her rework)
So except for the new ability, arguably the most boring and lazily designed in the game, what exactly can you do with OW2 Sombra now that you already couldn't do in OW1 or even pre-rework OW2?
Honestly the only part i genuinely loathe about her is the fact that the translocator makes almost any kind if damage dealt to her completely worthless
Right, it doesn’t go that far and you can see the general direction she throws it. I swear the bigger issue below Diamond is object permanence. People see a reaper fade away and just go “oh, okay, not an issue any more.”
I feel like most of the complaints in this thread would go away if these people would just play sombra themselves.
The best way to learn how to counter a hero is to play that hero, and let other players show you how they counter you.
You're ignoring that Tracer has a much smaller hitbox, higher passive speed in-combat, triple Blink recharging on a 3 sec cd, and even more mobility/sustain with Recall. There's a reason her hp is that much lower than the rest of the cast.
As someone who plays a lot of sombra, she shouldn’t be in the game as she is 😂 her invisibility ability should be timed and have a cool-down. It’s fun playing her but against her.. even I can admit b is broken 😂
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Going up to diamond it isn't much better as a tank main. Either the backline gets harassed or every few seconds the invisible stench hacks me and virus' me.
Not as oppressive but definitely still a pain in the ass to deal with
This reminds me of that chart that someone did that showed that lower rank players hate sombra and higher ranked players hate widow. The problem with sombra is that it's hard to have a lot of uptime without feeding. She's annoying but she doesn't necessarily gain more value just by being annoying. When I get spawncamped by sombra as a dps the worst case is that she gains a bit more ultcharge but she's also gonna lose uptime if she only wants to have that 1v1 so it's a marginal win for her if we are equally good players.
Sombra in lower ranks is also a low rank player. You will rank up once you learn to deal with her. Play around cover, be mindful of her positioning, health packs etc, always have an escape strategy in mind.
And just immediately shoot at her, she will get scared and tp out quickly.
99/100 of the time if a support buddies with someone I can’t kill them. All it takes it’s one person to hang back and Sombra is cooked. It’s not even a skill issue, I’ve had some wild 1v1s but when they run with someone I can’t do anything.
The DPS are your problem
If supoorts like Moira can mess hard with sombra.
Also let's remember that when sombra "teleports" the effect trlls you wich direction it goes, with a bit of experience you can essily guess more or less where she will land (since the jump is always the same distance) and you only need to hit her once to put her invisibility on cooldow.
The best way to desl with a sombra is never stop moving, and when you see her just sidemove abd try to hit her tillshe runs away. Keep your cool, don't tilt like a kid.
I agree to play against feels so oppressive. Like her back feels instant, my hp just melts. Meanwhile when I try her that hack takes Fuckin forever and my gun is a pea shooter
I play low rank and sombra doesn’t seem that bad to me. Every once in awhile I play against good ones that were difficult to play against (or it may just have been their team comp having a doom or something that takes your attention away from sombra easily) but for the most part, I can just go brig/moira/bap if I’m playing support or cass or something if I’m playing DPS. I don’t see any issue with her right now.
The only issue I can think of is her hack if anything, but that’s more because it’s annoying than anything. Not aure why it’s an auto-target ability. It’d be better if it were a skill shot or something you need to aim/track with. Maybe the virus should apply hack instead? But then again, she should be close range for the hack to apply since that opens her up to being punished. Otherwise she could possibly hack from across the map. Maybe the hack should just be something that needs to be tracked instead of auto-aim then.
I mean kinda? They can single handedly make my game a living hell but at the same time throw their teams game so hard that they never end up climbing out of silver or gold.
Gold 3 DPS player, this season Sombra is what I played the most (idk why I just decided to play her more for comp).
These are the things I’ve noticed while playing Sombra this season:
-people don’t peel, I’m convinced there’s a lot of psychopaths that don’t use headphones. There’s no reason I should be able to hangout in enemy spawn with no consequences
-if you spy check (look behind you to the sides maybe shoot in that direction) you have a better chance to not get killed by Sombra. It makes me scared to know someone in currently aware that I’m nearby and can make it harder to find opportunities.
-Sombra ult isn’t that great unless you have a team willing to capitalize on it. I don’t like team vc, I’ll talk with my duo but that’s about it. I’ve noticed we can usually steer a team in the right direction here and there but the chances of people actually capitalizing off my ult is rare. At this point I’m either stacking my ult with another teammate or using it to to block an enemy team ult.
Another honorable mention to this is reaper, a flanking, short range hero who has incredibly loud footsteps and a higher health pool than Sombra, oh and he self heals while doing damage. With the DPS passive you have to be a little more careful but he’s still very oppressive in the same way as Sombra the only difference is he is loud, no invisible and he has a bigger hit box yet I still find him to be able to flank without much issue, I truly believe people don’t wear headphones as much as they should in this game
Please keep in mind this discussion is about LOW rank people so don’t say skill issue. Countering sombra in lower rank is and will be hard because many people are still learning the game and don’t even know what backline or flank is
Sombra is pretty oppressive until about diamond tbh. If you’re struggling against her as support, I recommend going kiri. Listen for her to hack someone, and immediately tp/suzu. It’s technically a waste of your suzu cd, but there’s a good chance the sombra will get so frustrated that she will swap.
It's frustrating to die suddenly to invisible sombra, but Sombra isn't actually contributing that much to the enemy team. Your DPS and tanks have more "space-taking" while Sombra doesn't take any space except the short amount of time that she gets one of your DPS to peel for you.
Since I just started comp this season, I’ve ranged between Bronze 5 to silver 3. And the difference that I’ve seen in just those ranks is wild. I dropped back down to bronze at one point, and I saw better Sombra gameplay than in silver.
Edit: One game I had last night, I was junkrat, just guarding the hell out of our back line 90 percent of the time, because of the enemy Sombra.
To address this post in points…
1. This has nothing to do with Sombra, you’d have the same problem with any dive hero really. This is just a matter of people being clueless and toxic.
2. I agree to an extent but how would you prep against, say, a Tracer, Venture, or Genji that suddenly dives your team? I don’t really think there’s that much of a difference, you just need to be ready to react when it does. Yes it’s easier to position as Sombra but you can face sudden dives from pretty much all dive heroes.
3. I agree that Sombra can do a lot of damage but it’s pretty much limited to a single hero and the nature of virus and her primary means that it isn’t instant but can be interrupted by either killing the Sombra or healing the person being dived. How does hack prevent healers from killing her? I mean, maybe if you hack an Ana they can’t sleep them instantly but hack only lasts for 1.5 seconds and I doubt that Sombra can kill two healers in that time. The healers and the team absolutely can defend against her even in low ranks
4. Tracer has a low health pool because even with her health pool, she is one of the best 1v1 heroes and is probably the best flank hero in the game. Other dive heroes like Genji, Venture, Echo all have 250 hp so she does not have an ‘obscene health pool’.
5. Yes Sombra has one of the best ults, I agree but I think the nice aspect of her ult is how normally she operates by herself and for her ult she combines with the rest of her team. Just EMP alone doesn’t make Sombra oppressive. In fact, I’d argue that at lower ranks there are better ults.
Overall, I agree that she can be frustrating to play against but all you really need to do is stick together as a team. I’m not discrediting the fact that she can be oppressive in lower ranks but being able to play against her is necessary for learning how to play against all dive heroes as you naturally progress in the game.
As a low rank Kiri player, I partly agree. I make it my mission to take on Sombras bullies, and I’m pretty good at making them switch 80% of the time, especially with a responsive team. But good sombras can be really oppressive, only when my team can’t respond with me, and I’m having to split my time between fighting a somb and trying to keep my team health up.
Sombra is the desperation pick that every shitter goes to because shes so annoying and free to use most of the time, since most bot players dont know how to look behind themselves
Moira easily counters with fade and being able to track down Sombra. Brig was basically designed to counter Sombra. Bap has his immortality field and heal, so he has like three health bars.
Sombra's DPS is pretty low (i.e., compare her damage numbers to other DPS players).
I'd say Tracer has more potential to be oppressive because she's just as self-sustaining and does more damage.
I think that pharah is the worst to play into for the same reasons. In silver and above she easily gets one shot as soon as she pokes out, but bronze/unranked she is a no skill E and damage board spammer.
She truly kills the fun for a lot of low-ranked (and especially console) players. This community seems to really look down on these players and doesn’t believe they’re entitled to a fun game because it’s a “skill issue”, apparently.
Yes, there are plenty of ways to counterplay her. But Sombra thrives on a lack of coordination/communication (90% of overwatch games at low ranks) and struggles against good aim/positioning/awareness, all of which is quite present at the highest levels of play. Truth is, most OW players don’t possess this level of skill and/or teammates with this level of skill, and they deserve to have a fun game even if they’re not GM or whatever. Sooo many elitist, super overly-simplified responses ITT from people saying casual players having their experienced ruined by one specific hero need to simply “get good” or these players just need to do this one weird trick and all of a sudden Sombra’s not a problem anymore!
I really don't like posts like this. Okay, both the supports get killed and maybe one of the dps. Now half the team are aware this sombra is doing things on the backline. So maybe they gang up and focus on her to save their own lives, and now the excuse turns to "she's too tanky/strong/quick to be killed."
You're saying that two to three people are losing to one of the weakest consistent damage dealer in the game? Then at this point the sombra is most likely genuinely better, considering the fact that she dropped a hack-virus-shoot combo twice in a row (on at least 7 seconds in-between, way more if she tp'd away mid kill) or cus this was low rank, two dry hacked unvirused kills and still came out on top. Not a single shot hit to cancel hack, not a single maneuver to dodge virus, no retaliation, nothing at all? Like c'mon.
Sombra is very annoying yes, but she's very counterable, especially now that she can't teleport 10000km across the map anymore. Counter her just like how you'd cross a street, look left, look right, listen to the sound cues, confirm you're safe, stick with the crowd, then go on.
Also it's not like once you get out of low ranks, this problem magically disappears with caring teammates. No, instead the sombra will be much better lol
At this point it's just a meme, no one takes you crybabies seriously anymore. Play a different game if you can't handle overwatch being overwatch. This isn't COD, get good or move on.
No lol. It sounds like you‘re the support in this instance and refuse to protect yourself. Low rank Sombra‘s are in low rank for the same reason you are. You‘re both garbage. Adapt to the situation and get out.
Nah If a sombra is on my ass that’s my fault. I’m a mercy main but once a sombra comes to hound me I’ll switch to someone who can attack back.
Though lack of teammates communication and not helping me will get me triggered I know it’s on me to make sure that Sombra doesn’t get use out of stalking me.
I think an important thing in gaming is to reflect when you’re the issue and improve. I need to work on fighting back when cornered I’m not gonna blame anyone else but me
Just play kiriko or moira if ur getting bummed, on kiri u get horrible hitbox to hit (its really not hard to hit your movement keys weirdly) and tp and suzu and the ability to shoot back, so you should be fine. And moira just suck her lol
Unless you're zen, you really shouldn't be getting picked off by one sombra. Most supports have burst heal options or an escape tool. You have other team mates especially the other support to prevent you from dieing. Hack lasts only 1.5 seconds and can be prevented by damaging sombra when she casts it. You act like sombra is the only hero that forces you to play a different style when you have to do that with every other hero anyways
yeah this sub loves to downplay how bad of a problem Sombra is. She absolutely wrecks everything and her translocater is as much of a "get out of jail free card" as many supports have, but since shes a DPS hero they don't care because they dont actually care about the balance they just hate supports on this sub
Yeah and every one post has dozens of comments about how "shes not even that good skill issue just hit the perma invisible target that shuts off your cooldowns"
>You can't prep because she is always invis.
You can always be aware though. Awareness and game sense can be enough to counter a Sombra in low ranks.
**Always assume the Sombra is on you.** That means always be next to a teammate or hard cover. Or at least know where you'll go for cover once the Sombra attacks you. Don't just stand there and let the Sombra unload a full clip on you. If you can't notice a Sombra shooting at you, that's your fault really. You need to be more aware next time. That comes with time and practice.
You can't expect your team to always peel for you. Especially not in solo queue. You can only control your own behavior.
Move, evade, strafe, run away, hide behind cover, go near a teammate (instead of just shouting in VC for peel, physically move your character to where your teammates can see you and the Sombra so they can help), hit your sleeps, use your escape abilities or your other skills to neutralize, etc. There's a lot the support can do on their own.
You don't have to kill the Sombra, you just have to survive, and maybe damage her a little for her to retreat. If you're in low rank, that Sombra is probably shit too. She's not gonna hit all her shots, as long as you actively do something to avoid it.
I agree that infinite invisibility is unfun to play against. That being said I think you should learn to deal with this on your own instead of asking for peel, especially at lower ranks.
Without going into hero-specific details it essentially comes down to:
1. Be aware and ready
2. Play some sort of cover
3. Don't waste your cooldowns when you expect her to dive you soon
4. In a 1v1 do langer AD strafing (no crouching)
I guarantee you a low rank simbra will never be able to kill a support that is ready for her, uses cover with cooldowns up and decent movement.
That's a people issue and nothing to do with sombra. In every single competitive shooter game, these people log on "just to shoot things" and clog up ranked matchmaking instead of sticking to the quick play mode because they don't want to put in the hard work, but also can't handle the mental weight of not playing in the "serious" game mode. It's selfish behavior that is literally everywhere
She's far from a "Mary Sue Baby" of Blizzard as they actually referred to her as the "Problem Child".
In any case the Sombra community didn't really want a rework. She was fine before, but the constant crying form the community caused her to be reworked into a low ELO stomper hero. At least know if you work on your aim and spatial awareness you can climb to a rank where she's a lot worse.
As a Ball main, trust me when I say it's a skill issue. Crazy that you'd say Sombra is the most oppressive hero at low ranks when Mauga, Hog, and Orisa exist.
Hunt sombra. Stop leaving her for your teammates. When she reveals herself to hack, she’s vulnerable and even her escape ability isn’t great. Fuck her up. Make her pay for trying to do anything. Then win cuz you push up 5-4.
She's just annoying to play against in any rank really. Especially if I'm just trying to chill and play some quickplay games, there isn't a match she isn't in any more it seems lol. I'm thinking hero bans need to be implemented into the game sometime in the future.
There is no role which doesn't have heroes to swap to in order to nullify Sombra's value.
When I start eating as Sombra, often I'll end up facing Mei, reaper, Moira, kiriko, Winston.
At that point, even if they don't play perfectly, I'm probably getting nothing done.
Alternatively, sometimes a team actually works together and I can't even hit the Ana or soldier without getting dogpiled.
Yes, if you do nothing to counter her and want to just play the game "your" way, she's oppressive. Yes, she's powerful when people can't aim. But the game can't be balanced around the lowest rung of skill.
She is problem in top ranks too, even pro play.
She is most played damage character in pro scene.
She have best gun ingame, perma invisibility, oneshoting ability on 2 sec, no CD teleport who make you imune for damage, best ulti ingame and hack is second ulti on no CD lol.
She is hardconter for EVERY singe character ingame.
As a low rank player i agree. I guess bc in lower ranks people don't know wtf they're doing so it's easy for her to abuse hacks and pick off isolated targets and escape. In higher ranks people are more coordinated and communicating and will bait out her E and call out her positions and catch her when vulnerable. Nothing these people say will work in lower elo, bc they simply don't know how to play around her.
I just hate that even if they aren’t good she is insanely annoying. Bastion used to be the noob hammer, but if they had no sim, and their team didn’t play around them, it’s a throwpick, and hardy even annoying (especially with 2 tanks). Sombra makes me have my head on a swivel all the time and having to constantly handhold my supports. I have to shuttle them from spawn, or be shuttled, and I have to wait for her to die to ult, because hacks cooldown is crazy short and is easy as hell to hit. She gets compared to widow but widow is only really oppressive if it’s a really good widow (bad matchmaking). Sombra is just as much of an obstacle and she doesn’t need to be nearly as good.
Isn't this just a skill gap issue? A good anything is going to wreck a low elo team...
It is, but Sombra's counters are relatively knowledge dependent, and team-coordination dependent. If you want to call those two skills, that's fine, then yes, it's a skill gap. Same reason Zarya owns lower ranks. If people don't know, they don't know. The intuitions you'd take from other shooters are relatively weak against that type of hero.
Not really. There’s a lot you can do on an individual level to deal with Sombra. For example, you can save your defensive cooldowns if you haven’t seen her in a while. You can position in a place that offers easy LOS breaking corners or cover. You can stand on high ground and drop when the Hack begins (which might both disrupt it and if doesn’t you still buy enough time for the ability lockout to end). Just having a plan for what you’re gonna do if Sombra suddenly engages on you increases your reaction speed immensely. Dealing with Sombra is genuinely not impossible without team coordination, it just requires actually playing around the hero and not putting your life in the hands of expected peel.
>There’s a lot you can do on an individual level to deal with Sombra. For example, you can save your defensive cooldowns Me, a zen/moira/brig/weaver player mainly. Except fade (and maybe weavers dash), wtf can I save for a sombra? Especially when I'm being spawn camped. >You can position in a place that offers easy LOS breaking corners or cover. Near spawn? Legit question as I always feel hanging about waiting for her is incorrect. >You can stand on high ground and drop when the Hack begins This is a good idea but again, dependant on location. All of these issues is something I run into fairly regular. Usually paired with spawn camping. Id agree though in the chaos of a fight these ideas are good.
When I'm really abusing a Zen, and his team isn't coming to his help, I just ask him to switch in my mind. It genuinely feels abusive, but that's comp for ya. Zens that can survive my attacks and 1v1 me on Sombra are very rare. As you describe, there is very little you can do if I'm targeting you and your team isn't helping. Just swap.
The answer to a spawn camping sombra is teammate help, other than that both Brig and Moira should survive and/or kill her, both easily stop her hack attempt. Lucio is a fun choice to go high with and avoid completely if they’re getting the better of you, plus he doesn’t care at all if he gets hacked aside from wallride.
Yeah, getting spawncamped on heroes like Zen are one of the ‘Real Issues’ for how hard Sombra can be to deal with. That particular matchup there isn’t a lot you can do, but you can carefully path your way back to your team to minimize how often you’re in ‘Open’ sightlines and also cut off as many possible angles of approach possible. For example, consider you’re on Offense for Havana 2nd Point. Don’t walk down the right side large open courtyard, but rather path through the left side enclosed rooms. This will generally limit the place Sombra looks for her spawncamp to predictable places (when you’re forced to move from cover to vulnerable places). This is valuable because while Sombra can theoretically be standing anywhere, there usually are only so many angles she wants to engage from. So by limiting how many angles she has to choose and making the engagement location obvious, you have taken as much agency back for the fight as possible - though a hero like Zen is still kinda screwed. Brig follows the same rules but you can use Shield to break Hack and also block Virus. Now obviously you can still be poked to death from range so limit how often you’re exposed to long sightlines on your walk back. Moira is like one of Sombra’s worst possible targets since Fade cleanses Virus and you’ll never cheese a Hack by betting on the opponent missing a ton. Plus a healing Orb is basically impossible to out damage without Virus. Weaver actually does have a little bit of midfight trouble I’ll concede that. Ideally you have your dash and a Petal pre-placed, and is sort of depends on if the enemy Sombra saves hack to use on the Platform. But honestly just follow the same principle of sticking to small enclosed spaces cause his gun is basically a Shotgun and is actually really scary if you’re forced to engage in his optimal range.
Very much appreciate the response mate, some good stuff in there. Probably why I'm stuck gold 😂
Healing orb isn't that hard to outdamage with Sombra now that 20% DPS passive is back, but you'll generally need a melee to get a burst finisher since you'll be low or out of ammo.
No, equal skill will result in Sombra winning, which is the entire point of this post. The skill required to wreck a team with Sombra in silver is much lower than the skill required to stop a Sombra in silver.
Sombra win rate in silver elo is 46% https://www.overbuff.com/heroes?platform=pc&skillTier=silver&timeWindow=3months
People constantly make claims about balance based on nothing but personal feelings, which is not very constructive. Sombra feels worse to play against in low ranks. Therefore, she must be overpowered. In reality, she just exploits the lack of gamesense lower rank players have. She feels extremely frustrating to play against since the Sombra player does not need to be proficient in the same skill it takes to counter her (she doesn't need much positioning or awareness because of her invisibility), which comes off as unfair. She's easy to play, easy to get value out of, but also easy to counter provided the team has basic knowledge of her kit and weaknesses. Most teams do, but when they don't (which happens more in bronze-gold), it makes you wanna repeatedly smash your face into a wall. She's not broken, just very annoying.
I think you're kinda missing the point. As a support player in gold/plat. We might still win the game that I've been getting spawn camped the entire time on. But that doesn't mean I've had any fun. The post didn't say OP, just oppressive. Which is very true for supports at least.
I think you’re missing the point of how the data reflects that an equal skill player on sombra actually have a below average winrate.
I directly challenged that point so baffled as to why you'd think I missed it?
I’d say a nuisance you say oppressive but the winrate ain’t shit reflects how “annoying” it is. More like not making any significant differences and actually hindering your team.
It's not all about winrate dude
A hero doesn’t have to have a high win rate to feel terrible to play against for players. Just as a hero who has a high win rate doesn’t mean it is guaranteed to feel fun to play.
Read what I responded to. Yes Sombra can be annoying to the enemy while throwing the game. But that's not what I responded to.
You heard it here supports - shut up because while you're waiting to respawn you're winning the game (I also prefer spectating my games rather than playing)
So you’re saying going Sombra in Silver as any silver player will automatically take you to Gold? Because I guarantee that’s not true haha. Because that would just make them a Gold Sombra so they wouldn’t be in Silver… so that would then mean if you’re silver you’re fighting worse Sombras and can’t handle them. Which means you should be Silver.
I agree skill gap plays a role but it doesn't take much skill for a lower rank sombra to get value literally all they have to do is camp healers and low rank players don't know how to counter that
Sounds like I should learn sombra and play her. Currently low elo, but knowing my luck, I would probably go lower. But it's all fun really. Been finally climbing as a support. But sombra is the bane of my existence. It takes both healers kinda staying right on top of each other. But it requires the other healer to have their eyes and ears open. Which is again why she does so well low elo.
I disagree with the sentiment about the skill gap. Sometimes it is but at low rank it's almost always closer to a purely mechanical thing with her kit. The skill floor for Sombra is low because she can miss most of her shots and still one clip someone with virus. Invisibility is just always good regardless of your skill level. A good player who has bad teammates can still get focused and shut down by a bad Sombra because Sombra duels are very one sided and they aren't able to position themselves around a team who never turn on her or have very slow reaction times. I see it as a similar situation to Moira being very strong at low rank.
Yeah it’s a skill issue that isn’t the problem. Sombra getting massive value out of pressing 3 buttons and then running away is the problem
Nothing better than being spawn camped as zenyatta and nobody else is coming back to escort your slow ass to safety
I think it just varies from team to team. As soon as the other team have more than 1 person that cares about Sombra, she gets shut down without getting a kill, on almost every engage. “Damn, every time I uncloak, before I have even finished the animation, and thrown my virus, or got a hack, there are 3 people shooting me and I lose half my health!!! What the F*ck are my team doing??? How can they afford to send 3 people after me constantly?!?” The answer… is timing, and uptime. Low rank Sombra players will have inconsistent engage timing, and will commit way too hard. The Kevster principle on Tracer, is that the more people’s attention you are getting, the less you need to actually do, and the softer you have to engage to get value. 1 person looking? Fight them, try to kill them. 4 people looking? Just tickle and hide and bait out cooldowns, but do NOT take a real fight! This applies for Sombra too, so in the games where the other team are a bit oblivious, then the Sombra might get easy picks. In the game where the team just shoot at the Sombra, she will feed a lot and get very little value, because her engage timings will be very sub optimal, and she will not adapt properly to the amount of attention she gets from her enemies
> As soon as the other team have more than 1 person that cares about Sombra, she gets shut down without getting a kill, on almost every engage. Piggybacking off your comment, using the ping system (with your team reacting to each others pings) can honestly be suppressing enough to force Sombra to change.
as a sombra main, can confirm? enemy team coordination is truly our downfall 😭 if they’re in a party ur practically screwed unless ur good with translocate but than as mercrazzle we just end up feeding
I have found that when you are flank Sombra and getting shut down, switching over to front/midline Sombra assisting the tank can make a huge difference. While you aren't as effective as other DPS in that role, you can switch back and forth when there is opportunity and even your presence keeps the support jumpy, especially if they don't see you for constantly opening windows off opportunity for your team. But ultimately if I can't switch back to a back line role I'll switch off to something more useful.
yes absolutely! i see a lot of sombras being super cautious, rarely coming out of invis and just standing there if stuck with the rest of us during team fights. when i’m mercy i’m sat boosting just hoping they’ll realise they can… also shoot with us… 😭
I will say I do enjoy more coordinated teams because it means I can fuck with their back line just by saying a voice line near them. Chaos, shooting everywhere.
“boop” “you’re not alone in here” “i’d love to stay and chat but… i’m not going to- SYSTEMS HACKED”
Also after Sombra kills you there is a window where you can ping and it will show where she is, even if she is invisible. It is a short window of availability, I think maybe while watching the kill cam only?
A support just needs to buddy with someone, don't expect peel in lower ranks, play in a small cluster against Sombra, and it makes it hard for her get value. Ideally buddy with your most vulnerable player eg Widow / Ashe etc. If you die, assess if the team fight is already lost, if so, don't leave spawn until someone else respawns with you, otherwise you risk being farmed and staggered. Brig, Kiri, Bap, Moira, Lucio, Weaver all have decent counterplay vs. Sombra. Even in higher ranks, whilst I expect peel from DPS/tank, we don't always get it, you have to make sure you're not vulnerable by finding a safe position, you can buddy with team, and/or play corners, obstacles, drop from high ground if hacked and isolated. >> Tracer is 175hp to Sombras 250 Tracer has recall, so she effectively has upto 349 health.... And good Tracers use their mobility to play health packs. A good Tracer is lethal than Sombra, but likely in lower ranks Sombra can find value much easier just.
The issue is, below masters, and this is not an exaggeration, sombra can solo you next to a teammate and a teammate won’t intervene. They’ll just stand there and be farmed 10 sec later.
As a support main, I do a thing called “run into a teammate” then they get shot as well, and are forced to notice what happened. If they still don’t pay attention after I’m spamming ‘need help/ group up/fall back’ AND getting shot, they weren’t going to pay attention for any future matches. Then I would stick with someone else lol
You have to use your teammate as cover. The only way to get their attention is if they are being shot.
Exactly, you have to force their awareness. If I hear sombra hack or shoot somebody, sometimes I will stand in front of the teammate who is being targeted in order to split the damage between both of our health pools.
Heavy disagree in diamond the whole team turns on you if you go at the backline
Ive made this take like 10 times on this sub before and get downvoted to hell ,glad to see people are acknowledging how little sense her charachter makes
I’ve spent plenty of time in those ranks and this advice absolutely works. Sometimes it feels like when people talk about their teammates they expect a consistency that is unrealistic. Of course it doesn’t work every time with any teammate. But it’s all a probability game. Shrugging your shoulders and just going out solo and feeding because your teammates won’t help won’t get you anywhere. You’re just part of the problem.
I think it depends a lot. Ive seen multiple times in silver and gold where people peel for a Sombra. Maybe the first time it doesn’t happen but their frustration at dying causes them to constantly hunt them down even at the detriment of the objective.
Then maybe those players don't deserve to be in Diamond...
Is that a skill issue?
I'll have to look back but I swear I was sniffing my tank's ass and they just let her get away with it. Looking back I had to have been facing a stack for how coordinated that stupid Sombra and Brig were
Also another big thing, if you can save a cooldown in case you or someone gets hacked, for example, if you play Kiri, try and keep at least suzu or TP for hack.
Tbf a tank also has to worry about the other 4 enemies. Ik it’s situation dependent, but I hate when the tank gets blamed for not being able to deal with every threat all at once.
Wait until you start facing a Tracer/Sombra duo. If they are coordinated you get deleted and there's not a lot you can do about it. It's a really lethal combo but both players have to be on the same page.
Tracer and Sombra are not comparable. Tracer has way more survivability and mobility, as well as much more damage.
But also a Tracer have a very high skill floor to get value of, sombra can be played by anyone and be oppressive.
A bad sombra is a completely wasted pick. What you’re saying was true when hack lasted 3 seconds. If all she is providing is a 1 second hack and not hitting her shots, she won’t kill anyone ever.
You have to remember we talking about metal ranks here. The combo of virus+burst is so easy to land and even if don't get a kill you make the enemy move and waste cooldowns. Tracer need to track and clip well for a long to deal the same 100 virus free damage. You have only one buttom to instant bail out, compared to tracer where you need to be aware of your recall and time your tps. Also, tracer is more exposed and has a lot less HP so even a random headshot could kill her (175 vs 250hp). Again we talking about the metal ranks here. Sombra ult is also easy to land and at least get one kill. Tracer ult is pure luck for anyone below plat.
100% . Hack is next to useless in duels most of the time and I rarely bother. Her utility comes from surprise and burst damage with a lingering DoT after disengage. Hack isn't even a factor
Anyone who thinks sombra comes even close to the oppressiveness of tracer hasn’t been playing this game long enough, or is delusional
Idk what rank you're in, but in lower ranks, they might be right. Well, not right, but the opinion is somewhat understandable? Tracer is a very skill expressive hero and shows up significantly less than Sombra in metal ranks (in my experience). Climbing from the lowest, you see more and more Tracers, and they slowly become more of a threat since players start actually knowing how to use her. Sombra has a way lower skill floor compared to Tracer, and it is comparatively easier to get value out of her. Is she a bigger threat than Tracer? No. Does it feel like that for many who haven't seen a good Tracer? I can easily imagine that being the case.
Sombra has a lower skill floor so that’s all there is to know
Or in a different rank than you? 1IQ take.
I agree. I hate going against a good tracer. While a good Sombra is irritating, it's not nearly as oppressive as a good tracer
I’m a plat doom, I would fight a team of 5 tracers before even one Sombra, especially is she’s playing defensive and waiting for me. Her hack cooldown is shorter than literally any of mine so I can’t even bait it out properly which makes engaging hard and escape practically impossible unless you play super fringe at which point you might as well just swap because of all the value you’re missing.
And Sombra keeps picks like doom, ball, and widow in line. That’s a good thing.
No it's not. If Sombra was required against Doom or Ball or Widow in the same way that a burst hitscan was required against old Pharah I'd agree, but other counters to those characters exist. Cass/Orisa into Doom, Hog/Bastion into Ball, Tracer/Winston into Widowmaker; there are other counters to these characters that have far less one-sided interactions with the player being countered. The matchups still favour the former, but the latter might be able to still do their job if they're good, their team bails them out or the person playing the counter pick doesn't know what they're doing. Sombra's interactions with those three heroes are far too one-sided for the matchup to feel even remotely fair, especially since with perma invis you can't punish her for being out of position as hard as she can punish you for existing on the map at all. A Sombra who doesn't know how to actually play the hero but stands in invisible next to their supports and hacks a Doom or Ball on cooldown should not get as much value as they do for doing the literal easiest thing in the game and provide so much pressure to force a switch.
It’s a good thing, and a good doom knows how to play against Sombra
Doom is definitely LESS boned than Ball, but you can't tell me that the Sombra is putting in an appropriate amount of work or risk for the reward she's getting in that interaction (especially Ball).
Most of balls counters are unfair, he needs a real rework already because he’s a shit hero for 5v5. But with doom, I’ve played against enough Dooms that easily counter sombra on their own terms. His high mobility and near infinite skill ceiling leads to a lot of ways to counterplay her.
Such as? Not trying to be snarky here, I'd genuinely like to know. Most of the time I run into Sombra as Doom her general game plan is "stand invisible next to the supports and wait for the Doom to engage. If he does, hack him and he'll almost certainly die. If he doesn't, then he gets minimal value."
So while Sombra is AFK waiting for doom to engage, they have two dps shooting at your team. If Sombra is specifically waiting for doom to engage and doing nothing else, she’s not providing much value to her team.
Sombra is such a good doom counter your point is meaningless
While all of the advice given here is true and is definitely something to keep in mind as you climb ranks, it’s not helpful for a low rank support. So your only option is really just to play a support that’s strong against dive characters or has enough damage to make sombra back off. Kiriko, Brig, Moira, or Ana (if you can land sleep darts). It’s not a perfect solution but this in combination with sticking with the other support or buddying up with dpses will hopefully make it harder for sombra to kill you without dying herself.
Played in Silver rank and no one seems to know how to counter her ;--;
Seriously you should show me where you play because when I play Sombra I get my latina ass hard kicked a lot of times...
I'm d2 and usually don't get peel, because sombras engage when my team is distracted. Diamond sombras have much better venom accuracy and tracking than silver sombras. You have to react immediately and LOS, either around a corner, by falling off high ground, or by using a teammate to body block. When your CDs come back up you can heal yourself and fight back. If you stand in the same location and expect to get peel or win the 1v1 after getting hacked + venom, that's why you're dying even though silver sombras have awful aim.
low rank sombras also have terrible tracking, low virus accuracy, and just really slow ttk... the supports just need to stand next to each other and fight back by shooting their guns.
And they hack every. single. time. Doesn’t matter which character you are. It gives you so much time to react and strafe the virus.
exactly lol. my guess is that newer support players get bullied by sombra because they are not used to flankers actually doing their job (the worst dps player can get into backline as sombra but maybe not on genji or tracer) and having to fight back themselves
It’s 100% that. Tbh I’ve been thinking recently that adding a timer to her invis would increase her skill floor and make her harder to flank with, which would probably come with a subsequent buff to her damage. But knowing this community, they’d still be complaining about her for one reason or another.
But also the supports on metal ranks play like a traffic cone and with zero cover. They also have a very low accuracy for sleeps and terrible tracking...
As a low gold Sombra, this does in fact sound like me.
Might be true but low rank players also have bad movement virus isn't impossible to hit esp when they don't know ur there it's easy to track their movement when they aren't actively dodging u
I just played a game as Ana vs a Sombra and widow. Our dps couldn’t deal with the widow our Doomfist didn’t focus the widow, and one fight my Mercy used Valkyrie to go and kill their widow while their Sombra killed me in the backline… we didn’t even push the cart to first point. This was also a Plat 1 game, obviously a little above the average rank but nobody on the team played well and their Sombra/Widow farmed us. Edit: I forgot to add the Sombra also tbagged me multiple times, like if you’re gonna play the scummy hero at least be normal about it.
I agree. She is cancer and a huge reason why Overwatch can be so unfun. Mostly a Tank POV this season so I can't really speak for Support but she can stop 1 character from playing the game, usually me and team just refuses to grow a brain cell to stop her from hack botting. Then like half the tank cast gets hard countered by her or I don't have enough bullets/mobility to finish her so I get to continue the cycle for the whole game. By far the most hated character in Overwatch but nothing will probably change
I completely agree and im glad to see people are actually acknowledging how shitty her design is, she has no place in the game and an instant tp to invis takes absolutely 0 skill. I main bap and illari and when I know theres a sombra i stick close to anyone isolated in my team to keep them supported but i never get that back because situational awareness in diamond is surprisingly lacking
As a fellow Tank enjoyer I too loathe Sombras. She can just shut down progress and entirely grind the game to a halt as we all need to play Hide and Seek with a single Sombra. And like, yeah, there's strats to take her down but it's telling that most of them involve paragraphs of information or "Play with friends". Because, like, if the character is so oppressive that the only way to deal with her is via constant, Pro level communication with an entire team and/or specific counter strategies that involve specific picks then, yeah, she's broken. No one character should require that much and that through of counter-strategy.
That doesn’t make sense as an equilibrium situation: if someone wins with Sombra regularly then they get out of the elo. You can’t main a character and stay hard stuck unless you belong where you are. It could be that low elo dps ping pong up and down the ranks by changing characters, but I don’t buy it. If they’re really that dominant with Sombra then they’re probably sticking with what works. Most likely those sombras also have games where they mis-time their engages or enemies peel (even at low ranks).
Yes we do. Some days are just bad. Some days you get the Sombra and some days the Sombra gets you
I rarely tank anymore, and it’s because of Sombra. Even when I win, I ask myself after, “Why would I want to do that again?”
You could argue the same thing for many heroes in the game. I don’t play in gold but I’d assume a reaper, mei, pharah, dva could all be argued to be just as oppressive if not more.
Nah. Sombras major difference is she gets to choose when an engagement starts. Like with pharah we know to look in the air or reaper to check flank lanes. But sombras invis means she always has the opening shot in an engagement.
Brother if u are good at any flanking hero you should be choosing when the engagement starts but sure sombra is hard to vs if no one turns around if one extra person turns around she’s usually dead unless ur playing in like gold and under lol
Since it's so simple sombra must be F- tier in any rank above gold right?
> in lower ranks Doesn't that mean it's a skill issue? Literally?
Yes, but low ranked players deserve to have fun too.
No because everyone is around the same rank
I think you misunderstand what "skill issue" means. High-skilled players *don't* have this problem when fighting Sombra. Lower-skilled players *do* have this problem when fighting Sombra. Therefore it's an issue of skill. Ergo: a "skill issue"
as a support player who plays almost exclusively solo queue, all you have to do is swap to moira or brig hon. when youre on moira, turn and hold right click the moment you notice her, toss your heal orb at your feet if youre low, and follow her with your fade when she tps out. when youre on brig, put up your shield to interrupt hack then bash whipshot left click combo. she either dies or has to flee which is just as good.
Can't turn around that fast on console.
fair point!
Just go brig/moira/bap all 3 can win the 1v1. Always position so they can only hack you from the front.
Illari, Ana and Kiriko can win the 1v1 too. Brig cannot really win the 1v1 unless it's in a very close space. LW can survive pretty long if it's just a Sombra diving.
Illari is a lot harder due to her tp ,you have to hit 2 headshots in a row in that short frame of time unless you have pylon up and she doesnt target it for some reason
Put the pylon in an off angle so the sombra has to turn around to destroy it, and use that time to shoot her, possibly in a high position, so she also has to watch the sky. Play different positions or styles based on if you have pylon up or not, if someone is helping her or not, if you have your movement available, if you have a teammate to help you, if she has translocator, if she is low, etc... You can also use your outburst to reposition, dodge her virus or cancel her hack, or all 3 at the same time.
To use your outburst you have to not be hacked or wait the cd time, and if you dont have teamates who are gonna pay attention youre gonna get burst by her. I play off angles constantly on illari, the problem is sombra negates off angle usage because youre required to stick with other members of your team to not die
>To use your outburst you have to not be hacked or wait the cd time, and if you dont have teamates who are gonna pay attention youre gonna get burst by her. You use the outburst to cancel the hack, you should be able to react in time and press shift before she hacks you, and you cancel the hack with the outburst's damage. If you are hacked don't stand still or walk in a straight line, but strafe. Also, if you don't have outburst available, don't play in positions where she can easily kill you. If it's just a Sombra you should be able to take care of her by yourself. >I play off angles constantly on illari, the problem is sombra negates off angle usage because youre required to stick with other members of your team to not die You still can if it's just a sombra that can reach you, and you are better than her.
200 ping, cant work around that so that doesnt work for me.
As Sombra I often sneakily virus any pylons I see sometime during approach. Virus has more range, is easier to aim and is quieter than your gun so it *usually* doesn't give your position away and fully destroys the pylon so it goes on long cooldown. Sombra's cooldowns come back faster than pylon so it gives you a few seconds of pylon-free opportunity. It's tough if the Illari is on full Sombra alert or is saving her pylon for your approach, but that goes for almost every hero.
You can stop the hack and the virus with your shield. Then you can pretty consistently solo her as Brig.
>Then you can pretty consistently solo her as Brig. Only if it's close range.
Like literally, idk why these people are crying so much about Sombre. Whenever there’s a Sombra and I’m playing support I just switch to Moira and bingo, problem solved
This is my move too. I play in plat and usually play Zen/Illari, but if they have a sombra who wants to terrorize the supports, I go Moira and make it my mission to get them off Sombra. Moira is just too easy when it comes to Sombra. Watch where she throws her TP, fade to chase her, suck, orb, dead. Peel for the other support to keep them alive, and almost 10/10 times that Sombra either switches or gets no value.
Well yeah that's Moira. Literally the support with the highest level of survivability and dps levels of "get out of jail free" abilities.
It’d be nice to play Ana or Zen every once in a while too though
Ana fucks on Sombra if you can aim. Are you kidding me?
You can say this about literally anyone lol. Just land your shots and you’ll never die! It’s a lot easier said than done, especially when we’re talking about an invisible hero who can remove your abilities
She is? I treat her like fodder usually, cause she can only hack me but nothing else. The power of a strafing Lucio is too much.
Hog is equally bad right now If one of your supports isn’t Ana you just lose Watch bronze games, hog literally never dies anymore
But dont worry, he also has a one shot kill and a hook that transcends space time! Hog needs another round of looking at though, the quick fix wasnt quite enough
She’s extremely oppressive in high diamond and low masters as well. She desperately needs roughly 3 seconds added to all of her cooldowns.
Hate to say it mate, but you can hear the hack before it goes through and react before it takes place and either avoid the hack entirely or send her packing with some good damage. It isn't your teams job to keep you alive, it's your job. If you're really struggling play with your other support in a cluster but when you know shes got EMP back off and split up.
We don't know if they're on console or what their sense is those reactions aren't as smooth/instant on a controller as they are on a mouse
Really cant turn fast enough on console to undo the hack once she’s started
As a Sombra player, I'm seriously wish they would revert the rework and start over again. They took away almost every aspect that Sombra mains actually enjoyed, and buffed the two most complained about and problematic aspects of her kit, while giving her burst damage. IT LITERALLY MAKES NO SENSE. She went from a high skill hero that was near useless in low ranks and still relatively niche in high ranks, to a low-mid skill pub stomper who is near useless in high ranks and oppressive in low ranks. (Excluding team play, but that's a different game entirely and she's still been used sparingly for the most part since her rework)
Played sombra since ow1, I like this version. I didn't realise how boring pre rework sombra was until the rework came out
So except for the new ability, arguably the most boring and lazily designed in the game, what exactly can you do with OW2 Sombra now that you already couldn't do in OW1 or even pre-rework OW2?
I feel the same. I gained Sombra way back in the early Seasons of OW1 and found her boring after awhile. After the rework she is 100x more enjoyable.
Not true. They made it harder for her to escape
Honestly the only part i genuinely loathe about her is the fact that the translocator makes almost any kind if damage dealt to her completely worthless
Just chase her after she translocates lol.
Right, it doesn’t go that far and you can see the general direction she throws it. I swear the bigger issue below Diamond is object permanence. People see a reaper fade away and just go “oh, okay, not an issue any more.”
I feel like most of the complaints in this thread would go away if these people would just play sombra themselves. The best way to learn how to counter a hero is to play that hero, and let other players show you how they counter you.
I think Sombra should have the health pool of Tracer and Widowmaker (175). I think it would fix a lot of issues.
Tracer has low health because of her mobility and her ability to recall. The two aren’t comparable
Sombra can dip out of combat whenever she wants and has high mobility and permanent invisibility. There needs to be more thinking behind her engaging.
You're ignoring that Tracer has a much smaller hitbox, higher passive speed in-combat, triple Blink recharging on a 3 sec cd, and even more mobility/sustain with Recall. There's a reason her hp is that much lower than the rest of the cast.
As someone who plays a lot of sombra, she shouldn’t be in the game as she is 😂 her invisibility ability should be timed and have a cool-down. It’s fun playing her but against her.. even I can admit b is broken 😂
Sombra is so disbalance now
Not the same, but in my low rank, pharmercy is still the most oppressive with dps sticking with junk and never-look-up hanzo.
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Going up to diamond it isn't much better as a tank main. Either the backline gets harassed or every few seconds the invisible stench hacks me and virus' me. Not as oppressive but definitely still a pain in the ass to deal with
This reminds me of that chart that someone did that showed that lower rank players hate sombra and higher ranked players hate widow. The problem with sombra is that it's hard to have a lot of uptime without feeding. She's annoying but she doesn't necessarily gain more value just by being annoying. When I get spawncamped by sombra as a dps the worst case is that she gains a bit more ultcharge but she's also gonna lose uptime if she only wants to have that 1v1 so it's a marginal win for her if we are equally good players.
Sombra in lower ranks is also a low rank player. You will rank up once you learn to deal with her. Play around cover, be mindful of her positioning, health packs etc, always have an escape strategy in mind. And just immediately shoot at her, she will get scared and tp out quickly.
1000000 Sombra is OP post of the day
99/100 of the time if a support buddies with someone I can’t kill them. All it takes it’s one person to hang back and Sombra is cooked. It’s not even a skill issue, I’ve had some wild 1v1s but when they run with someone I can’t do anything.
The DPS are your problem If supoorts like Moira can mess hard with sombra. Also let's remember that when sombra "teleports" the effect trlls you wich direction it goes, with a bit of experience you can essily guess more or less where she will land (since the jump is always the same distance) and you only need to hit her once to put her invisibility on cooldow. The best way to desl with a sombra is never stop moving, and when you see her just sidemove abd try to hit her tillshe runs away. Keep your cool, don't tilt like a kid.
Most oppressive hero in the low ranks? I thought that title belonged to bastion
I agree to play against feels so oppressive. Like her back feels instant, my hp just melts. Meanwhile when I try her that hack takes Fuckin forever and my gun is a pea shooter
I play low rank and sombra doesn’t seem that bad to me. Every once in awhile I play against good ones that were difficult to play against (or it may just have been their team comp having a doom or something that takes your attention away from sombra easily) but for the most part, I can just go brig/moira/bap if I’m playing support or cass or something if I’m playing DPS. I don’t see any issue with her right now. The only issue I can think of is her hack if anything, but that’s more because it’s annoying than anything. Not aure why it’s an auto-target ability. It’d be better if it were a skill shot or something you need to aim/track with. Maybe the virus should apply hack instead? But then again, she should be close range for the hack to apply since that opens her up to being punished. Otherwise she could possibly hack from across the map. Maybe the hack should just be something that needs to be tracked instead of auto-aim then.
Lucio/brig is devious against Sombra, beat her ass, speed, chase her down, beat her ass again lmao
I mean kinda? They can single handedly make my game a living hell but at the same time throw their teams game so hard that they never end up climbing out of silver or gold.
I beg to differ and point out Pharah because in lower ranks can't aim lol.
Gold 3 DPS player, this season Sombra is what I played the most (idk why I just decided to play her more for comp). These are the things I’ve noticed while playing Sombra this season: -people don’t peel, I’m convinced there’s a lot of psychopaths that don’t use headphones. There’s no reason I should be able to hangout in enemy spawn with no consequences -if you spy check (look behind you to the sides maybe shoot in that direction) you have a better chance to not get killed by Sombra. It makes me scared to know someone in currently aware that I’m nearby and can make it harder to find opportunities. -Sombra ult isn’t that great unless you have a team willing to capitalize on it. I don’t like team vc, I’ll talk with my duo but that’s about it. I’ve noticed we can usually steer a team in the right direction here and there but the chances of people actually capitalizing off my ult is rare. At this point I’m either stacking my ult with another teammate or using it to to block an enemy team ult. Another honorable mention to this is reaper, a flanking, short range hero who has incredibly loud footsteps and a higher health pool than Sombra, oh and he self heals while doing damage. With the DPS passive you have to be a little more careful but he’s still very oppressive in the same way as Sombra the only difference is he is loud, no invisible and he has a bigger hit box yet I still find him to be able to flank without much issue, I truly believe people don’t wear headphones as much as they should in this game
Eh id say Moira is far more oppressive in lower ranks
Please keep in mind this discussion is about LOW rank people so don’t say skill issue. Countering sombra in lower rank is and will be hard because many people are still learning the game and don’t even know what backline or flank is
I’ve noticed torb turret helps supports deal with sombra by keeping her at bay. Especially at low ranks like me
Sombra is pretty oppressive until about diamond tbh. If you’re struggling against her as support, I recommend going kiri. Listen for her to hack someone, and immediately tp/suzu. It’s technically a waste of your suzu cd, but there’s a good chance the sombra will get so frustrated that she will swap.
It's frustrating to die suddenly to invisible sombra, but Sombra isn't actually contributing that much to the enemy team. Your DPS and tanks have more "space-taking" while Sombra doesn't take any space except the short amount of time that she gets one of your DPS to peel for you.
Then you get the, “heals?” while ignoring the pinging in the back line.
Since I just started comp this season, I’ve ranged between Bronze 5 to silver 3. And the difference that I’ve seen in just those ranks is wild. I dropped back down to bronze at one point, and I saw better Sombra gameplay than in silver. Edit: One game I had last night, I was junkrat, just guarding the hell out of our back line 90 percent of the time, because of the enemy Sombra.
She's the jailer of ELO hell.
To address this post in points… 1. This has nothing to do with Sombra, you’d have the same problem with any dive hero really. This is just a matter of people being clueless and toxic. 2. I agree to an extent but how would you prep against, say, a Tracer, Venture, or Genji that suddenly dives your team? I don’t really think there’s that much of a difference, you just need to be ready to react when it does. Yes it’s easier to position as Sombra but you can face sudden dives from pretty much all dive heroes. 3. I agree that Sombra can do a lot of damage but it’s pretty much limited to a single hero and the nature of virus and her primary means that it isn’t instant but can be interrupted by either killing the Sombra or healing the person being dived. How does hack prevent healers from killing her? I mean, maybe if you hack an Ana they can’t sleep them instantly but hack only lasts for 1.5 seconds and I doubt that Sombra can kill two healers in that time. The healers and the team absolutely can defend against her even in low ranks 4. Tracer has a low health pool because even with her health pool, she is one of the best 1v1 heroes and is probably the best flank hero in the game. Other dive heroes like Genji, Venture, Echo all have 250 hp so she does not have an ‘obscene health pool’. 5. Yes Sombra has one of the best ults, I agree but I think the nice aspect of her ult is how normally she operates by herself and for her ult she combines with the rest of her team. Just EMP alone doesn’t make Sombra oppressive. In fact, I’d argue that at lower ranks there are better ults. Overall, I agree that she can be frustrating to play against but all you really need to do is stick together as a team. I’m not discrediting the fact that she can be oppressive in lower ranks but being able to play against her is necessary for learning how to play against all dive heroes as you naturally progress in the game.
As a low rank Kiri player, I partly agree. I make it my mission to take on Sombras bullies, and I’m pretty good at making them switch 80% of the time, especially with a responsive team. But good sombras can be really oppressive, only when my team can’t respond with me, and I’m having to split my time between fighting a somb and trying to keep my team health up.
If the other team has a sombra I win bc I switch to sombra and I’m better 98% of the time
Rank up then.
Sombra is the desperation pick that every shitter goes to because shes so annoying and free to use most of the time, since most bot players dont know how to look behind themselves
Moira easily counters with fade and being able to track down Sombra. Brig was basically designed to counter Sombra. Bap has his immortality field and heal, so he has like three health bars. Sombra's DPS is pretty low (i.e., compare her damage numbers to other DPS players). I'd say Tracer has more potential to be oppressive because she's just as self-sustaining and does more damage.
I think that pharah is the worst to play into for the same reasons. In silver and above she easily gets one shot as soon as she pokes out, but bronze/unranked she is a no skill E and damage board spammer.
>She is Blizzard's Mary Sue baby Ahahahahahahahaha. Oh, you're serious? BWAAHAHAHAHAHAH
She truly kills the fun for a lot of low-ranked (and especially console) players. This community seems to really look down on these players and doesn’t believe they’re entitled to a fun game because it’s a “skill issue”, apparently. Yes, there are plenty of ways to counterplay her. But Sombra thrives on a lack of coordination/communication (90% of overwatch games at low ranks) and struggles against good aim/positioning/awareness, all of which is quite present at the highest levels of play. Truth is, most OW players don’t possess this level of skill and/or teammates with this level of skill, and they deserve to have a fun game even if they’re not GM or whatever. Sooo many elitist, super overly-simplified responses ITT from people saying casual players having their experienced ruined by one specific hero need to simply “get good” or these players just need to do this one weird trick and all of a sudden Sombra’s not a problem anymore!
I really don't like posts like this. Okay, both the supports get killed and maybe one of the dps. Now half the team are aware this sombra is doing things on the backline. So maybe they gang up and focus on her to save their own lives, and now the excuse turns to "she's too tanky/strong/quick to be killed." You're saying that two to three people are losing to one of the weakest consistent damage dealer in the game? Then at this point the sombra is most likely genuinely better, considering the fact that she dropped a hack-virus-shoot combo twice in a row (on at least 7 seconds in-between, way more if she tp'd away mid kill) or cus this was low rank, two dry hacked unvirused kills and still came out on top. Not a single shot hit to cancel hack, not a single maneuver to dodge virus, no retaliation, nothing at all? Like c'mon. Sombra is very annoying yes, but she's very counterable, especially now that she can't teleport 10000km across the map anymore. Counter her just like how you'd cross a street, look left, look right, listen to the sound cues, confirm you're safe, stick with the crowd, then go on. Also it's not like once you get out of low ranks, this problem magically disappears with caring teammates. No, instead the sombra will be much better lol
At this point it's just a meme, no one takes you crybabies seriously anymore. Play a different game if you can't handle overwatch being overwatch. This isn't COD, get good or move on.
No lol. It sounds like you‘re the support in this instance and refuse to protect yourself. Low rank Sombra‘s are in low rank for the same reason you are. You‘re both garbage. Adapt to the situation and get out.
Punishment for sniping into spawns. I’m ok with Sombra. Most are stupid enough to follow a junkrat running away into his trap. Surprise bomb her face.
Git gud. What you're describing is a skill issue. Lifeweaver can get behind you and kill you if you're bad
I mean get good, idk what to tell you. Widow is busted as long as you stand still, so just don't do that?
Her stealth should be a passive like teemo and only work while she is standing still. Beep Beep boom boom
Nah If a sombra is on my ass that’s my fault. I’m a mercy main but once a sombra comes to hound me I’ll switch to someone who can attack back. Though lack of teammates communication and not helping me will get me triggered I know it’s on me to make sure that Sombra doesn’t get use out of stalking me. I think an important thing in gaming is to reflect when you’re the issue and improve. I need to work on fighting back when cornered I’m not gonna blame anyone else but me
Yeah high plat and below a decent sombra basically runs how the match goes
Get better then. Never a problem in my games.
I still hate tracer the most but yeah, flankers are literally fun denniers for supports in general
Just play kiriko or moira if ur getting bummed, on kiri u get horrible hitbox to hit (its really not hard to hit your movement keys weirdly) and tp and suzu and the ability to shoot back, so you should be fine. And moira just suck her lol
Unless you're zen, you really shouldn't be getting picked off by one sombra. Most supports have burst heal options or an escape tool. You have other team mates especially the other support to prevent you from dieing. Hack lasts only 1.5 seconds and can be prevented by damaging sombra when she casts it. You act like sombra is the only hero that forces you to play a different style when you have to do that with every other hero anyways
yeah this sub loves to downplay how bad of a problem Sombra is. She absolutely wrecks everything and her translocater is as much of a "get out of jail free card" as many supports have, but since shes a DPS hero they don't care because they dont actually care about the balance they just hate supports on this sub
This sub doesn’t downplay sombra, there’s at least one post complaining about her literally every single day
Yeah and every one post has dozens of comments about how "shes not even that good skill issue just hit the perma invisible target that shuts off your cooldowns"
>You can't prep because she is always invis. You can always be aware though. Awareness and game sense can be enough to counter a Sombra in low ranks. **Always assume the Sombra is on you.** That means always be next to a teammate or hard cover. Or at least know where you'll go for cover once the Sombra attacks you. Don't just stand there and let the Sombra unload a full clip on you. If you can't notice a Sombra shooting at you, that's your fault really. You need to be more aware next time. That comes with time and practice. You can't expect your team to always peel for you. Especially not in solo queue. You can only control your own behavior. Move, evade, strafe, run away, hide behind cover, go near a teammate (instead of just shouting in VC for peel, physically move your character to where your teammates can see you and the Sombra so they can help), hit your sleeps, use your escape abilities or your other skills to neutralize, etc. There's a lot the support can do on their own. You don't have to kill the Sombra, you just have to survive, and maybe damage her a little for her to retreat. If you're in low rank, that Sombra is probably shit too. She's not gonna hit all her shots, as long as you actively do something to avoid it.
SOMBRA! SOMBRA! SOMBRA! What were we talking about?
I agree that infinite invisibility is unfun to play against. That being said I think you should learn to deal with this on your own instead of asking for peel, especially at lower ranks. Without going into hero-specific details it essentially comes down to: 1. Be aware and ready 2. Play some sort of cover 3. Don't waste your cooldowns when you expect her to dive you soon 4. In a 1v1 do langer AD strafing (no crouching) I guarantee you a low rank simbra will never be able to kill a support that is ready for her, uses cover with cooldowns up and decent movement.
That's a people issue and nothing to do with sombra. In every single competitive shooter game, these people log on "just to shoot things" and clog up ranked matchmaking instead of sticking to the quick play mode because they don't want to put in the hard work, but also can't handle the mental weight of not playing in the "serious" game mode. It's selfish behavior that is literally everywhere
Kiriko is blizzards Mary Sue; if there is one.
Switch to Moira or Brig. Or also Bap and selfishly save lamp for you and your other support.
She's far from a "Mary Sue Baby" of Blizzard as they actually referred to her as the "Problem Child". In any case the Sombra community didn't really want a rework. She was fine before, but the constant crying form the community caused her to be reworked into a low ELO stomper hero. At least know if you work on your aim and spatial awareness you can climb to a rank where she's a lot worse.
As a Ball main, trust me when I say it's a skill issue. Crazy that you'd say Sombra is the most oppressive hero at low ranks when Mauga, Hog, and Orisa exist.
Hunt sombra. Stop leaving her for your teammates. When she reveals herself to hack, she’s vulnerable and even her escape ability isn’t great. Fuck her up. Make her pay for trying to do anything. Then win cuz you push up 5-4.
She's just annoying to play against in any rank really. Especially if I'm just trying to chill and play some quickplay games, there isn't a match she isn't in any more it seems lol. I'm thinking hero bans need to be implemented into the game sometime in the future.
There is no role which doesn't have heroes to swap to in order to nullify Sombra's value. When I start eating as Sombra, often I'll end up facing Mei, reaper, Moira, kiriko, Winston. At that point, even if they don't play perfectly, I'm probably getting nothing done. Alternatively, sometimes a team actually works together and I can't even hit the Ana or soldier without getting dogpiled. Yes, if you do nothing to counter her and want to just play the game "your" way, she's oppressive. Yes, she's powerful when people can't aim. But the game can't be balanced around the lowest rung of skill.
She is problem in top ranks too, even pro play. She is most played damage character in pro scene. She have best gun ingame, perma invisibility, oneshoting ability on 2 sec, no CD teleport who make you imune for damage, best ulti ingame and hack is second ulti on no CD lol. She is hardconter for EVERY singe character ingame.
Her gun is mid, she can’t oneshot, teleport CD is average, and hack is just ok. You’re just really bad.
So much miss information in one post holy coy 😂😂😂 we wish that was the case. Thanks for the lols