As a live-service game, Overwatch 2 frequently introduces new elements to the game with every Competitive Play Season that comes and passes. These new additions can be anything: a new Battle Pass, hero cosmetics, in-game events, limited-time game mode, new features and collectibles, and changes or reworks to heroes or game mechanics.
One of the characters in Overwatch 2 who has received quite a bit of attention in terms of altering their kit and abilities through buffs and nerfs is the notorious Talon hacker DPS, Sombra. With the arrival of Season 13, Sombra has received yet another rework to her kit, which drastically alters her abilities, and therefore changes her playstyle. If you're wondering how she operates following these tweaks, you can find all the information regarding her revamped kit, as well as how she generally functions, in the guide below.
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Overwatch 2 Sombra: Season 13 Hero Kit & Abilities, Explained
As seen in the Season 13 patch notes for Overwatch 2, Sombra has received perhaps the most significant changes out of any hero in the game. This new rework removes Stealth as a passive ability and introduces a five-second cooldown. On top of this, Stealth is now linked to Sombra's Translocator ability, meaning Stealth has been revamped to work as a tool for engaging or disengaging from team fights.
In addition to this, Sombra has received the Opportunist passive, which buffs her damage to hacked enemies and enables her to see critically damaged targets through walls. With these changes, Sombra can no longer lurk undetected for long periods, but has a massive impact when successfully engaging and combining her abilities against a single target.
Sombra Abilities
- Machine Pistol (Weapon - Primary Fire): Short-range automatic weapon.
- Hack: Hold to hack. Hacked enemies cannot use abilities and can be seen through walls. Hacked health packs spawn faster and can't be used by enemies. Taking damage interrupts the Hack attempt.
- Virus: Infect enemies with a projectile that deals damage over time. Virus damages hacked enemies at a faster rate.
- Translocator: Throw a beacon and teleport to it. Become stealthed for a short duration after teleporting.
- EMP (Ultimate): Deal damage to all nearby enemies equal to a percentage of their current health, hacking them and destroying barriers around you.
- Opportunist (Passive): You detect critically injured enemies through walls, and deal more damage to hacked enemies.
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Sombra Gameplay Tips & Counters In Overwatch 2
These changes to Sombra's key abilities and the overall rework mean players can no longer take the 'AFK Sombra' strategy and remain invisible while standing near the enemy spawn, or within their backline, for long periods of time. Instead, this rework forces the player to play closer to their team, and engage and disengage carefully to gain the most value from a team fight.
Here are a few tactics worth taking into account when playing Sombra's new rework:
Sombra Gameplay Tips
- Sombra has always required strong communication with your team or call-outs to have the most impact. This is now even more crucial, as without infinite Stealth to help you make an extended flank, you will need to work alongside the rest of your allies to safely engage, target an enemy for picking, and then work with them to safely disengage.
- Keep your eyes and ears out for any call-outs or pings regarding critical health enemies. Sombra can see these enemies through walls thanks to her Opportunist passive, so when you can safely do so, you should always be chasing these targets down to finish the kill.
- Look for enemies who are out of position, or who your teammates are already pushing. By Translocating over to them and hitting them with Virus, they will become extremely vulnerable to the incoming damage — especially if you're assisting someone else in damaging them.
- Translocator, though now linked to stealth, is still a great tool for engaging. Once you have the stealth timing down, you will find more opportunities for closing the distance to engage a target, such as throwing it over a rooftop and then using your five seconds of stealth to approach.
- By the time you have successfully initiated a Virus + primary fire, Hack + primary fire, or Hack + Virus combo, Sombra's Translocator cooldown should be replenished. This means that you can get in, pick an enemy (or harass them and cause their team to turn and potentially peel, thereby giving your team an opportunity to push), and get back out to safety to re-engage as the team fight continues.
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Sombra Synergy Picks
While she is quite functional in most team compositions with strong communication, Sombra works exceptionally well with other Dive heroes due to the combined pressure that can be applied to the enemy team, strong follow-up opportunities, and potential ability combinations.
- Wrecking Ball, Winston, or D.Va can both follow up on Sombra's initiation and peel for her escape with Slam + Adaptive Shields, Jump + Bubble, or Boosters + Defense Matrix. These highly-mobile Tanks also thrive at chasing down hacked or low-health targets, which Sombra can ping for these Tanks, due to being able to see them through walls.
- Doomfist can also work for the same purpose, as his Charged Punch into a Hacked target can be absolutely brutal, and he is very capable of keeping up with Sombra as she initiates isolated targets. His Slam and Punch can also be used to chase down or close distance on these enemies.
- Juno or Lucio's utility partially makes up for Sombra's vulnerability when uncloaked by providing her with speed boosts that she can use to disengage in a pinch or cover more distance with her initiation.
- Tracer and Genji are great at following up alongside Sombra on isolated targets to confirm kills with Blink and Pistols or Dash and Shurikens + Melee. These characters are, once again, also great at chasing down those critical health targets if they manage to escape Sombra's range.
- Sombra thrives when she has teammates capable of dealing high burst damage on targets she hacks or hits with Virus. Soldier: 76, Ashe, and Cassidy are all capable of this as reliable hitscan heroes. Cassidy's Stun can make hacked targets absolutely miserable, giving them no escape. Soldier: 76 has strong chip damage with his Pulse Rifle and can deal bursts to finish off targets with his Helix Rockets. Ashe has strong DPS as a sniper hero, which makes her great at picking off Sombra's targets — even from a distance. Additionally, Ashe can use her Dynamite to ignite the team as Sombra engages, causing burning damage over time, which is well-paired with Virus, or with EMP.
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Sombra Counters
- Even though he can work well with her, Cassidy is also a huge threat to Sombra. Once she initiates against a target, Cassidy has huge peel potential for affected teammates if he can turn and hit her with his Stun. This will stop Sombra's escape and slow her down, allowing them to pick her off with ease.
- Junkrat can harass Sombra by placing his Trap in flank routes, or areas that Sombra has been frequenting. He can also make areas such as corridors and choke points hard for her to get through or engage beyond with his ability to spam primary fire down these chokepoints. In addition to this, he has powerful burst fire, and can even one-shot combo Sombra with his mine and primary fire once he gets the jump on her.
- Once again, one of the best Sombra counters is Sombra herself. If a Sombra is disrupting certain teammates, such as Supports, playing close to them and waiting for her to use her key abilities will then leave her vulnerable. Once she hacks an ally, try to hack her — this will give a brief opportunity for everyone to destroy her with burst fire.
- Torbjorn has a Turret that will automatically shoot at any target within its range. With Sombra's Stealth no longer being endless, the Turret can pick up on her much more consistently, and make it harder for her to disrupt the backline, especially if she's making a solo attempt.
- Kiriko can use her Suzu to cleanse both Hack and Virus, essentially denying Sombra's opportunity to capitalize on her strongest skill. With great timing, Kiriko can also cleanse multiple Hacked targets as Sombra uses EMP. With her strong headshot damage multiplier, Kiriko is also brilliant at following up on a Hacked or Stunned Sombra.
- Just as Juno and Lucio can help Sombra engage and disengage, they can both also use their speed boost abilities to help affected allies run to safety when Sombra targets them.
- Zarya can bubble teammates who are hacked by Sombra, as her bubble will cleanse the hack and provide just enough time to try and scurry away.
Overwatch 2
- Released
- August 10, 2023
