Overwatch's Sombra Rework Will Change The Character Forever
While "Overwatch 2" still does not have a release date – or a release window for that matter — Blizzard has announced some of the reworks coming in the long-awaited hero shooter sequel. One of the characters getting overhauled is the Damage hero Sombra. A talented infiltrator, Sombra can sneak up behind enemies and "Hack" them, disabling their abilities temporarily.
In the trailer for Sombra's "Overwatch 2" rework, after showing off Sombra's new base skin, lead hero designer Geoff Goodman and game director Aaron Keller detailed the new changes. These alterations to Sombra's kit are meant to reduce her crowd control (stopping enemies from using abilities or moving) and increase her potential to deal damage. Sombra's hacking ability now has a reduced cooldown period and lasts eight seconds. It also has two new aspects: disabling enemy abilities for one second and highlighting the enemy through walls for the entire team, which lasts the full eight seconds.
Sombra's passive ability, which allows her to detect enemies below 50% health through walls, now deals 50% more damage to Hacked targets. Sombra's ultimate ability no longer removes all shields, instead dealing damage up to 40% of their current health. Lastly, Sombra can hack while in Stealth mode, only briefly revealing herself during the process. Yes, Sombra is getting quite an overhaul, but that's only the beginning of the changes coming to "Overwatch."
Big changes for Overwatch 2 are a big gamble
It's clear from all of the announced changes that "Overwatch 2" is going to overhaul the series in some major ways that will change it forever. The Sombra shakeup and the Bastion rework are likely only the beginning of the character alterations coming. After all, "Overwatch 2" multiplayer will notably shift the size of matches to 5v5 from the classic 6v6, so it makes a good bit of sense for characters' powers to change and make up for the sequel's new sense of balance.
"Overwatch 2" will drastically change the multiplayer for the series, which could rub some fans the wrong way, especially if they find that their preferred character suddenly plays entirely differently. Many live service multiplayer games make changes in smaller batches, so they can playtest with players and course-correct if necessary. If the Sombra and Bastion reworks don't work as intended when released to the public, Blizzard will have to deal with that amidst the launch of a new game. Hopefully fans can get a feel for the new changes before "Overwatch 2" is fully unleashed on the world.