1. #1
    Banned Rorke's Avatar
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    How exactly are you supposed to play sombra?

    I don't understand how to play this character. I've read that you need to hack medic kits and focus on hacking the Tanks/Support while building up as much of your ult as possible so you can disable the enemy team where your team can kill them easier.

    It sounds great in theory except when you actually play the game. Hacking health packs is great until you find out you have to wait 12 seconds to hack again. So its basically do nothing for that amount of time because Sombra's mid range damage is awful. You can stealth around the enemy team but it does no good to your team when they're basically down one person in the team fights.

    Hacking is also extremely hard to pull off against people with a brain. The only hacks I can get off 100% of the time is when I'm literally behind them. Sometimes however, hacking just feels like a waste of time. It's like why hack the Mercy when I can just ambush her and kill her? Hacking tanks such as Dva/roadhog/zarya is actually good but against most characters it feels like a complete waste of time.

    I feel as though I'm just a burden to the team when I play this character because of the amount of set up you need to do. Sometimes it can be rewarding especially when you hack important health packs on the map the deny runners to heal. Or ambushing low health targets + hacking frontline tanks with the ultimate.

    But most of the time I just feel as though I'm better off playing Pharo or Soldier and spam ridiculous damage instead of wasting time running around the map hacking and trying to play support half the time.

  2. #2
    The Insane Kujako's Avatar
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    Far as I can tell, you're not supposed to.
    It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shakes, the shakes become a warning.

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  3. #3
    Banned Rorke's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kujako View Post
    Far as I can tell, you're not supposed to.
    Well that's sad. The character is the most fun to play for me.

  4. #4
    Only do it in quickplay, that's rule #1.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan Cailan Ebonheart View Post
    Well that's sad. The character is the most fun to play for me.
    best use i have found for her is utility soldier. It requires a rein/dva and some team coordination. Basically you take soldier's place in the meta and rein's shield as hacking cover to hack their tanks and take out enemy rein/dva defensive cabilities and just lay fire down into big enemy targets. Use your teleporter to escape enemy dives and invis to traverse the map. but all in all don't play her usually pick soldier for damage.

  6. #6
    Can't really speak to playing on PC since I have only played her on console. But she's my favorite character lately for attack on payload maps.

    Hack health packs close to choke points and have your team poke in and out taking damage and then healing up with the health packs. This will charge your super REALLY fast. Then once it's charged get behind the enemy team with either your teleport or stealth and then EMP the enemy team. Your team should be ready and when you do, they should do their best to clean up.

    Teleport can be used as a good escape from a gun fight too. you can warp even if it's mid air.

    She is dependent on your team working together though. if they aren't picking up the health packs you hack regularly you won't get enough supers..... but you should be aiming to EMP 20-30 people or more per match when your team is working with you correctly.

    Honestly 3 tank 1 ana 1 76 + 1 other isn't going to change until they nerf tank dmg. so at super high tier SR's you're just not gonna play her.
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  7. #7
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    #5 that is a new way of looking at her, I never seen that but I will try that when i play later with some friends. The theory you come with there is so good it must be tried

  8. #8
    She needs more teamwork than Mercy does.

    You're not going to be able to do anything really unless your team is distracting them for you. Like you said in your first line, that's exactly how she should work, but it requires your team to actually follow up on you hacking the Reinhardt, while distracting them so you can hack the Reinhardt.

  9. #9
    With a good aiming hand, map knowledge, and quick reflexes.

    Generally the basic strat is to hack a large health pack, set up your translocator, and run in stealthed. If they have a healer or two, shoot them up and hope they die. For a Zenyatta, try and hack him so he can't heal or debuff. If they have a Reinhardt then hack him so he can't put his shield up.

    When you take too much damage, or if your locator is about to run out, port back, rinse, and repeat. It makes her a fairly decent hassler but her squishiness makes her difficult to play considering her locator is her only escape, while McCree has a roll and stun grenade, Pharah has her jetpack and knockback rocket, Soldier plays at ranged, Tracer has stupid mobility, and Genji is... well he's Genji.

    Aside from that, good translocator teleports and stealth in mid-combat can help you get away to heal up and reposition. Throwing your translocator to higher ground or across the map, teleporting and stealthing will be able to get you out of trouble providing they haven't got a badass Hanzo or Widowmaker tracking you for a headshot.

    Besides that? Not much else to it. She's one of those dip in and out characters like Tracer.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Guyviroth View Post
    With a good aiming hand, map knowledge, and quick reflexes.

    Generally the basic strat is to hack a large health pack, set up your translocator, and run in stealthed. If they have a healer or two, shoot them up and hope they die. For a Zenyatta, try and hack him so he can't heal or debuff. If they have a Reinhardt then hack him so he can't put his shield up.

    When you take too much damage, or if your locator is about to run out, port back, rinse, and repeat. It makes her a fairly decent hassler but her squishiness makes her difficult to play considering her locator is her only escape, while McCree has a roll and stun grenade, Pharah has her jetpack and knockback rocket, Soldier plays at ranged, Tracer has stupid mobility, and Genji is... well he's Genji.

    Aside from that, good translocator teleports and stealth in mid-combat can help you get away to heal up and reposition. Throwing your translocator to higher ground or across the map, teleporting and stealthing will be able to get you out of trouble providing they haven't got a badass Hanzo or Widowmaker tracking you for a headshot.

    Besides that? Not much else to it. She's one of those dip in and out characters like Tracer.
    I've tried this and tbh it doesn't really work, the dmg you do isn't fast enough to kill anybody. You get noticed quickly and the moment you do you kind of need to teleport back or risk death.

    Maybe it's me but I can kill more staying at the choke point then running behind enemy lines emptying my clip and then teleport back.

  11. #11
    Deleted
    Everything Sombra does Tracer does better, it's a shame.

  12. #12
    She's great at picking off lone enemies if you have good aim and catch them unaware. She's very, very situational though - and unlike Tracer her escape tools are less reliable. A good Junkrat who catches sight of her translocator can place a trap and mine to kill her instantly when she chooses to escape. Heck, if any hero stumbles across her translocator they can typically get the jump on her if she uses it.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Graeham View Post
    She's great at picking off lone enemies if you have good aim and catch them unaware. She's very, very situational though - and unlike Tracer her escape tools are less reliable. A good Junkrat who catches sight of her translocator can place a trap and mine to kill her instantly when she chooses to escape. Heck, if any hero stumbles across her translocator they can typically get the jump on her if she uses it.
    Picking off low targets lone that wander off is a bad design, since this is, in the end, a team game.
    Last edited by ati87; 2016-12-20 at 09:02 PM.

  14. #14
    I am Murloc!
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    Her only useful ability really is her ability to hack health packs, her ultimate isn't bad either.

    She has multiple problems really. She was meant to counter some heroes by hacking them, but hacking those high priority targets usually means you're going to die, as any of the useful ones to hack are usually in a clump. She has pretty bad DPS too.

    Honestly she is a worse tracer with the only cool thing about her is the ability to hack health packs so you can setup shop around a choke point while building ultimate. That's not really enough to take her though as you would be better off with any other offensive hero or another support.

    Some of her problems aren't really because her toolkit or damage is bad (although I'd argue both are) but how the game is currently being played. Same problem exists with reaper, who is more or less suppose to be a tank buster. Reaper can't really bust tanks there are 2-3 tanks in every game, they have more health and do an incredible amount of damage. Sombra is suppose to break up defenses, like Reinhardt shield, but getting that close to actually do it will probably result in death.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by ati87 View Post
    Picking off low targets lone that wander off is a bad design if that was the case since this is in the end a team game.
    Oh, definitely. Especially with the current trend of there being multiple healers and tanks in both regular and competitive play. She cannot really engage head on and if she's sneaking around she can't really count on her team to back her up.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Tojara View Post
    Her only useful ability really is her ability to hack health packs, her ultimate isn't bad either.

    She has multiple problems really. She was meant to counter some heroes by hacking them, but hacking those high priority targets usually means you're going to die, as any of the useful ones to hack are usually in a clump. She has pretty bad DPS too.

    Honestly she is a worse tracer with the only cool thing about her is the ability to hack health packs so you can setup shop around a choke point while building ultimate. That's not really enough to take her though as you would be better off with any other offensive hero or another support.

    Some of her problems aren't really because her toolkit or damage is bad (although I'd argue both are) but how the game is currently being played. Same problem exists with reaper, who is more or less suppose to be a tank buster. Reaper can't really bust tanks there are 2-3 tanks in every game, they have more health and do an incredible amount of damage. Sombra is suppose to break up defenses, like Reinhardt shield, but getting that close to actually do it will probably result in death.
    I think the idea was having a character that could counter game-changing abilities for at least a bit.

    I mean if you see a group pushing pass the choke point for the objective with ulti's ready them options you have to hold them at the choke point is limited. The moment the fight ends up at the objective the defending team loses their natural advantage and then it's the question of which team can kill the other team fastest.

    With this in mind I can understand having a stealth character that has a almost sure-way to flank and with a defensive ultimate, but in the end this game has limited player slots and if you're role is damage then you need to kill targets and not just piss them off, we have tanks and even healers to piss off the other team.

  17. #17
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    Essentially Planetside 2's Infiltrator class. Time one of your teammates to get their ulti (soldier or ana) then lockdown the enemy's key hero (reinheart, dva, turret) to enable a teamkill. Aside from that keep harassing like tracer - find yourself a healthpack, hack it and use it on cooldown by attacking the enemy and retreating to it whenever you get damaged as hacked packs recharge very fast you can keep healing yourself constantly. Use your ulti to shutdown enemy ultis, such as roadhog or pharah.

  18. #18
    The Insane Kujako's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sushu View Post
    Everything Sombra does Tracer does better, it's a shame.
    Nonsense, Tracer cant stand there for several seconds trying to get her "hack" ability to land on someone.
    It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shakes, the shakes become a warning.

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  19. #19
    As someone who plays Sombra a lot. (But I don't touch the competitive mode) here is how I tend to play her.

    Firstly, never underestimate the lack of awareness people have. While yes in competitive mode I will be people are generally better players if you're in quick play always be on the look out for flanking opportunities. On the best of 3 capture the point type maps, personally I always at the start try to hack the major square health packs near the start while looking for an opening to flank in. If I can I will always try to hack Rein or genji due to their secondaries. Rein being the shield, gen the deflects and you can tell it seriously pisses off the players as they almost immediately when realise turn towards you. Though by this time you should be long gone, porting back to somewhere safe, hoping the rest of the team has realised what you done and finish off said players.

    One thing I have noticed is manual hacks of turrets is a no go. Torbs just immediately turn on you no matter what and Symmetra's HP is so low your better off just destroying them if you can and be safe doing it. Also with Bastion this is the major point where I mean don't under estimate a players lack of awareness. I have lost count how many times Bastion players are too focused on unloading on someone over there that they never hear you sneak up being and unload a magazine on their weak spot. If they do, again teleport away before they turn on you if you can't kill them in time.

    As for the ultimate, it's the perfect Lucio counter. It will rip away Lucio's shield ultimate of anyone in range, it will also take down Rein's shield, disable Torb's turrets (though I found the EMP does nothing to Symmetra's), it seems to also lock any medipacks in range to your side to as well as the hacks that work on other players.

    I guess TLDR, Sombra is good for people who have poor awareness. Teams with good awareness will give you a much harder time. But if you know what you're doing and can be stealthy you can be trouble for good aware teams too.

  20. #20
    I really target tanks and high mobility heroes. I try to pair with a high dps o/d hero, and make their job shooting everything easier. I tend to keep my teleport somewhere safe, try to get rein's shield or dva's defense matrix, and then port back to safety before I die. Chasing down heroes fleeing to safety is also more important than you realize.

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