Overwatch 2's ongoing development has faded into the background amid the news regarding the ongoing lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for gender discrimination, as well as related events. That doesn't mean Overwatch 2's development has stopped, at all. The team at Blizzard is still working hard preparing the online multiplayer shooter, likely champing at the bit to share more with fans. Today, it's followed through, sharing plans for Sombra's rework in Overwatch 2.
Blizzard surprise dropped the update details for Sombra in Overwatch 2 on Twitter via a message reading, "Boop! All new ability updates for Sombra in Overwatch 2." The post features a graphic detailing all of Sombra's attacks and abilities, breaking down what's been kept the same, what's been adjusted, and what's entirely new. While Sombra isn't being completely reinvented, Overwatch players will agree that Sombra will likely play entirely differently in Overwatch 2.
To start, Sombra's Passive ability Opportunist has had a major buff. Currently, Opportunist allows Sombra to detect enemies below 50% health, even through walls. Now her passive adds an offensive element, granting Sombra a very dangerous 50% damage buff to hacked targets. That stands in contrast to Sombra's Machine Pistol basic attack, which has been side-graded. Damage has been reduced from 8 to 7, but bullet spread has been reduced by 20%.
Getting into Sombra's abilities, Translocate hasn't been changed so her mobility remains identical between Overwatch and Overwatch 2. Stealth has some curious changes. Detection radius has been increased from 2 to 4 meters and fade-in time has been cut in half. However, Hack no longer removes Stealth, though it does briefly make Sombra visible. Hack is similarly altered, serving a different purpose. Its cooldown is now 3 seconds and its duration is 8 seconds. However, it only locks abilities for 1 second instead of 5 and also reveals enemies to the player's entire team. Combined with Sombra's Opportunist bonus damage, Hack now makes a player a massive target.
Finally, there's Sombra's EMP Ultimate ability. To start, EMP no longer does "additional" shield-specific damage, which assumedly means all of its 10,000 damage is being replaced. Instead, Sombra's Ultimate will do 40% of enemies' current HP. That means that even if enemies don't have any shields or armor, if they're low health or full health, EMP will still have a healthy impact -- even if it won't kill an enemy.
Suffice to say, Sombra will play dramatically differently in Overwatch 2. The biggest change being tied to Hack and her passive, Opportunist. Sombra's strength will be sneaking up on opponents, hacking them, and dealing 50% increased damage while trying to maintain stealth. Her ability to create massive team fight opportunities is weakened, in favor of strategically disrupting opponents at key moments and independent damage. Overwatch 2 is going to be a serious meta shift, to say the least.
Overwatch 2 is in development for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
