Sombra Overwatch 2 – Everything you need to know

With 35 different heroes to choose from in Overwatch 2, choosing the right one for the match can seem a bit daunting. On top of each hero having their own unique playstyle, abilities, and weapons, they also belong to one of three different roles. Each one of the roles helps to further define each hero and help them out in combat. These roles are tanks that can help to shield their foes from damage, supports that can heal their team and DPS that can deal a lot of damage to enemies quickly. Sombra is a DPS hero that specializes in movement and hacking her enemies she catches them off guard to easily eliminate them. Here is everything that players need to know about using Sombra in Overwatch 2.

Who is Sombra in Overwatch 2?

Sombra is a mobile assassin hero that is capable of hacking her opponents to cause them to lose access to their abilities. When the enemy is hacked, Sombra can make her move and take them out easily. In addition, her team can gain increased support from her updated abilities in Overwatch 2 which can allow her to mark priority targets for her team to follow up on. Played properly, Sombra can be an effective hero that is very hard to counter in the current meta of Overwatch 2.

Note: You can read about all of the Overwatch 2 characters here.

DPS heroes were reworked for Overwatch 2

Of the many different changes that came with Overwatch 2, one of the most significant ones was the change in team compositions. In the original Overwatch, teams consisted of 6 players each. However, this changed in Overwatch 2 to now only having 5 players per team. With this reduction in team size, both teams now have 1 less tank to work with. Because of this, players will now need to have a bigger impact on each side. To help balance this out, each role received their own special passive abilities to bolster them in combat. For DPS heroes such as Sombra, this ability is a 25% increase in movement and reload speed on eliminating a foe. While this ability does not stack, getting multiple eliminations can reset the passive abilities duration.

Sombra’s abilities in Overwatch 2

Sombra has received some significant changes to the way she functions in Overwatch 2. While at the core her playstyle remains the same and will overall feel familiar to returning players, there are multiple changes worth noting. Most notably are changes to her signature hacking abilities and how they function for herself and her team. However, when mastering Sombra’s abilities, players will be able to make short work of almost any foe and can help to guide their team to victory in Overwatch 2.

Opportunist

Sombra’s passive ability, Opportunist was changed for Overwatch 2. Previously, this ability allowed her to see critically wounded enemies through walls. This made her able to easily make her way over to low HP foes and finish the job. However, this was updated to now allow her and her entire team to deal 40% more damage to hacked enemies, which can be a huge boost in overall damage. Enemies who are hacked will need to retreat to cover or risk-taking huge amounts of burst damage. This means Sombra’s new kit can help to bolster her team’s damage output as well as her own.

Machine Pistol

Sombra’s weapon of choice is the Machine Pistol, a small SMG hitscan weapon that can deal damage quickly at shorter ranges. While the weapon does have damage falloff between 15-35 meters, up close it can deal 7 damage per round, with a staggering 20 rounds per second. The damage of Machine Pistol was reduced for Overwatch 2, but the spread was reduced by 10% making it easier for players to land hits. The magazine holds 60 rounds and takes 1.5 seconds to reload. Because of her reliance on this weapon to deal damage at close ranges, Sombra will want to use her movement abilities to get close and personal with her targets.

Hack

Hack is Sombra’s signature ability, and can make a big difference in any fight. When Sombra hacks a player, they will temporarily be unable to use their abilities for 1.75 seconds (reduced from 5 seconds in the original Overwatch). In addition, Sombra can hack health packs for 30 seconds (reduced from 60 from the original Overwatch) to make them spawn faster and be unusable by the enemy team. The cooldown of Hack was reduced to 4 seconds from 8 to make it be able to be used more often, but have less of a devastating effect, especially combined with a 40% damage increase.

When Sombra uses Hack, she must channel the ability for .85 seconds (up from .65). Targets who are hacked by Sombra also are revealed to her entire team for 8 seconds, which can allow her to track down her prey. Lastly, Sombra can now use Hack during her Stealth, but she will be revealed while hacking and for .75 seconds after hacking, which can allow her to sneak in to get the jump on high-priority targets.

Stealth

A cornerstone of Sombra’s abilities, Stealth allows her to cloak herself from enemy sight. On casting stealth, Sombra must briefly channel the ability (with a 50% faster cast speed for Overwatch 2) and will become cloaked. Enemies will not be able to see her unless they are within 4 meters of her (updated from 2 in the original Overwatch). Sombra can also be revealed via abilities such as Infra-Sight and Sonic Arrow. 

Sombra can stay inside of Stealth indefinitely unless she is revealed or takes an action such as attacking, using her abilities, or taking damage. If she comes out of Stealth, she will incur a 6-second cooldown on the ability. In addition, when Sombra is in Stealth, she will receive a 65% movement speed increase, allowing her to quickly make her way across the battlefield unseen.

Translocator

When Sombra uses this ability, she throws out a Translocator projectile that will land in the area she targets. When she uses this ability again, she will instantly teleport back to the location the Translocator was placed. Sombra can also remove the Translocator if she wishes. When the ability is used, Sombra will become invulnerable for .4 seconds after translocating. This ability can be used to jump off a high ledge, deal damage to foes, and then instantly teleport back up to evade damage, in addition to many other uses. However, players will need to be careful that enemies do not see where she places the translocator, because if they know where she is going to teleport, they can punish her for it when she does so.

EMP

The EMP is Sombra’s Ultimate Ability and can cause a lot of issues for the enemy team when used. When Sombra uses EMP, all targets within a 15-meter radius of the EMP will become hacked. This will make them take more damage from Sombra and her allies, as well as being unable to use their own abilities for 1.5 seconds. Combined with high damaging abilities, this can be devastating for an enemy team. In addition to hacking the enemy, EMP also will destroy all barriers in the area, allowing Sombra and her team to push through to victory.

Tips for using Sombra in Overwatch 2

Sombra is a powerful DPS hero that can easily catch her foes off guard. By hacking the enemy team, or health packs, she can give her team the upper hand in almost any situation. Sombra also excels at attacking any enemies who may be separated from their team. She is great at initiating fights and her hack’s damage boost can help her secure eliminations of high-priority targets with ease. 

In addition, her stealth combined with her ability to teleport can make her a very slippery hero to play against. Some of her biggest weaknesses however are her lack of damage at range and her reliance on teleporting for movement. If caught outside of her Translocator cooldown, she can be defeated by enemies with high burst damage, provided Sombra has not hacked them.

Choose Sombra to secure victory in Overwatch 2

Sombra is currently one of the strongest heroes for DPS in Overwatch 2. Her newly updated kit just makes her better at what she does, and heroes will need to work together to defeat her as she stealths and teleports around the map. Players who want to get the drop on their foes and hunt them from the shadows can pick Sombra and secure their team’s victory in Overwatch 2.