More Sombra Changes Are Coming to the Overwatch PTR

Joe O'Brien

More changes are coming to Sombra in the next Overwatch PTR update.

Overwatch lead developer Geoff Goodman has revealed that further changes to Sombra are on their way as Blizzard continues to work on her overhaul.

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Sombra is the latest in a series of heroes to receive some significant reworking, following on from major changes to Hanzo and Symmetra. While Sombra’s changes might not be quite so drastic, they could result in a distinct shift in how she’s played.

The first update that went to the PTR saw her stealth and the duration of her translocator increased to infinite, but enabled enemies to detect her more easily and prevented her from contesting objectives while stealthed, as well as reducing her movement speed in stealth.

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In a recent post on the Blizzard forums, Goodman revealed that the detection change would be reverted along with several other changes in the details of her kit.

“We have another round of Sombra changes coming to the PTR soon as well. This is what is coming:

 – Reverting the detection radius from 4 to 2.

 – You no longer need to look at the translocator to destroy it, you can now just hit the interact button and it will be destroyed. If you’re standing on a Symmetra teleporter hitting interact will only teleport you to Symmetra’s other teleporter, rather than destroying your translocator.

 – Dramatically lowered the enemy sound cue for the translocator location. You need to be nearly standing right on it now to hear it.

 – EMP now works on Wrecking Ball Minefield, disabling the mines for 10s

 – You can now interrupt reload by hacking.

We’re still evaluating the changes overall, but shes unlikely to regain the ability to contest objectives or have +75% move speed while invisible. The goal of these changes is to make her stronger overall, even if it means being slightly weaker in some areas.”

While many game updates make it through the PTR more or less unchanged, it seems that this Sombra rework is very much open to feedback, with Blizzard appearing willing to continue to make adjustments based on how the changes play out.

About The Author

Joe O'Brien was a veteran esports and gaming journalist, with a passion and knowledge for almost every esport, ranging from Call of Duty, to League of Legends, to Overwatch. He joined Dexerto in 2015, as the company's first employee, and helped shape the coverage for years to come.