Overwatch’s Huge New Sombra Rework Is 10x Better Than Expected

It’s extremely rude of Blizzard to prove me wrong. I, like many others, was all set to scoff at Overwatch‘s latest Sombra rework. Moving the pesky, perpetually banned hacker from damage to support? What a horrible concession to people who don’t want to learn how to play the game! Well, maybe it is a concession to the segment of people who don’t like paying attention to their surroundings. But it turns out it’s an awfully good concession either way.

Sombra’s last version, as a damage hero, looked like this:

• Primary fire with a deadly little rat-a-tat-tat gun
• Secondary fire hacked enemies and inhibited their abilities, and could render healthpacks unusable for the opposing team
• Mobility skill turned Sombra invisible and transported her a short distance away
• Other ability shot a virus at enemies that slowly reduced their health for a few seconds

New Sombra has her primary fire and translocator the same as before, but her hacking ability now has two charges and heals an ally for a decent amount over time. It’s a bit like Zenyatta’s orb, only placeable on two allies and not permanent. In place of the virus is Cyberspace, a fantastically versatile skill that heals allies and damages enemies. It also weakens enemies, a new status effect for Overwatch that reduces damage and healing output. It has so many uses. Dive tank get too far away? Cyberspace saves the day. Juno or Lifeweaver pop their ultimates and heal everyone? Not in Cyberspace, they don’t (well, not as effectively anyway). Reinhardt about to wipe the team with Earthshatter? Cyberspace. Freja’s Bola Shot pulling everyone in for an explosive finish? Cyberspace. You get the idea.

Much as I’m extolling the virtues of Cyberspace, Sombra’s new health hacking has more going for it than I expected. Yeah, okay so it kinda demolishes the hero fantasy of the evil hacker. She’s not messing with folks anymore. She’s taking their help requests and pushing patches to get them back online. But those patches sure are good. Sombra might be in the “technician” subrole instead of the “medic” role, like Mercy and Moira, but I’m averaging about 8,000 healing in a match and roughly 4,000 damage. I’ve already seen more skilled Sombra players push 10,000 healing and 6,000+ damage, too.