Blizzard announced that its next character will hit Overwatch in a week as part of the game’s test servers, and now we can finally detail how she will eliminate you during matches.
Sombra is all about infiltrating and debilitating the enemy team as one of the “offense” heroes in the team-based shooter. The hacker can weaken an opponent to give her team an advantage during encounters. Blizzard has detailed how all of these attacks work, so let’s take a look.
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Sombra’s primary weapon is a submachine gun with a short-range spread. It is fully automatic, so it sounds similar to Tracer’s weapons. I would expect that this weapon is meant to work as a finisher after using Sombra’s other capabilities to get in close and weaken an opponent.
Hack
This ability enables Sombra to disable her opponents’ abilities for a set amount of time. Alternatively, Sombra can hack health packs to make them useless to the enemy forces. You can see how this would change the balance of an engagement if Sombra is able to get off the hack as her teammates jump in to wipe out an opponent.
Thermoptic camo
Since most of Sombra’s capabilities require her to get in close, she’s going to need a way to do that. Her camo ability is the key here, as it turns her invisible for a short period of time while also giving her a significant speed boost. Flanking with Sombra at the start of a push seems like the intended way to play her, and mastering this skill is probably a prerequisite to getting the most out of her.
Translocator
This is another travel mechanic where Sombra tosses out a beacon that she can return to instantly as long as it’s still active. You can even throw it and teleport to it while it’s still in midair. I can’t wait to see the GIFs of how players are using this in wild and unexpected ways.
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EMP
Finally, Sombra’s ultimate is a charge that destroys barriers and shields and hacks any opponent inside an area of effect. Again, this seems like the ideal way to start off a team push. By eliminating shields and barriers, she can make some middle-of-the-road damage dealers far more effective, which should have a heavy impact on matches as well as the overall competitive meta-game.
Sombra comes soon
So that’s Sombra. She will hit the test server next week, and you can expect to find her on the official region servers not long after that. That’s smart timing for Blizzard considering that some players might start shifting to holiday titles, and giving everyone a new experience — whether they’re playing as or against Sombra — is a great way to retain players.