Overwatch Playing With Sombra On Your Team Guide

Overwatch Playing With Sombra On Your Team Guide by HoytG

Hey guys,

I am a Sombra main in Diamond (I put this in the first sentence so that anyone who thinks Diamonds are trash can leave, others will still enjoy the info). The reason I’m making this post is because a vast majority of players do not know how to play with a Sombra on their team. So, if you get one of us sombra mains on your team and are instantly tilted, this will hopefully help you come out with a win.

(1) Please don’t berate us for our winrate unless we have 50+ games. It’s a vicious cycle. You see our winrate after only a few hours this season on her, you think we’re throwing, you throw or you decide to turn the team against us, our winrate goes down, rinse and repeat.

(2) Despite what Your Overwatch and other moneygrab YouTube accounts think, Sombra is not a support pick in the competitive ladder. She is best played with two supports. Please do not tell 1/2 of the supports to swap because we have a Sombra, that is not accurate. Ladder teams are not Korean professionals who will strategically use our healthpacks while supports strategically do not heal. If you run 1 heal with a Sombra, it’s going to be a rough time. Fitzy and Codey and other high rank Sombra mains agree. I know some will disagree, but it’s pretty unanimously agreed among anyone who has time with her in comp. Do some research on the pros thoughts.

(3) If your team is running 2-2-2 with Sombra as DPS, the ideal partnership with Sombra is a McCree or Soldier. Something consistent. Many prefer 1-3-2 with 3 DPS, since you have a disruptor, their dps aren’t going to bully your tank too often because they will be protecting their backline hopefully.

(4) Sombra is not a fragger. She will show up in the killfeed frequently, but do not think your Sombra is shit because she isn’t constantly on the killfeed. She sets up plays, so you will see your tanks getting golds and etc. because they can just mow through the enemy team due to Sombra’s hack or whatever.

(5) When we EMP, PLEASE GO IN. It has the same utility as Zarya’s ult, it requires team followup in order to be successful. When Sombra EMPs, it’s not her job to go get 3 kills, it’s the team’s job to run in and fuck shit up. Ideally, pop your ults as soon as EMP goes off, as the enemy team will not be able to counter them whatsoever. However, it is your Sombra’s job to count down an EMP or let the team know exactly when it is coming. Just as it’s Zarya’s job. If Sombra EMPs behind a corner or where you can’t follow up, it’s her fault. It happens.

(6) Hacked targets (from right click or EMP) cannot use abilities or their ult for 6 seconds, however their ult remains above their head for 20 seconds. So just because Mercy has a check mark above her head DOESN’T mean she can’t use res. There are 14 seconds after hack wears off where we can see the check mark and she can still res.

(7) During EMP, all barriers and SHIELDS (the blue bars after heroes HP) are depleted. Here’s a list of enemy health during EMP due to them losing their shields (so people you should immediately look for and pounce on), also, obviously kill people if they have a checkmark above their head, or move away if you can’t secure the kill:

• Zenyatta – 50HP
• Symmetra – 100HP (Also wipes her 75 shield to allies if she has generator up)
• Zarya – 200HP
• Shield Generator/Teleporter – 50HP (this is a 350hp reduction, a big deal)

(8) Sombra is slow to ramp up, so don’t get frustrated if it takes you a few pushes to get your first point. Same with Defense, she is slow to get going. She has to hack healthpacks, figure out how she is going to play against the enemy team, who her threats are, just like any flanker. It takes a second… be patient.

(9) Her EMP counters Lucio’s ult. Yep, it takes away all of the shields instantly. That’s a big deal.

(10) DON’T HEAL US UNLESS WE HAVE ULT OR ARE LEGITIMATELY GOING TO DIE. A core part of our playstyle is taking damage so that we can tele back and get a healthpack (for 15%+ ult charge). If a sombra is running away from the fight but in your vision, please don’t heal her. It’s pretty obvious if we need help. During a teamfight, if we’re low and running around cart and clearly don’t have a safe tele set up, by all means heal us. But let us charge our ult. It’s like an Ana with nano taking all of the heals from Lucio. It’s a nice thought, but let your other players get their ult. The charge we get from healthpacks is a huge deal.

(11) Hacked healthpacks respawn faster AND GIVE US A TON OF ULT CHARGE IF OUR TEAMMATES USE THEM (no, self damage doesn’t work, Pharah/Zarya, we get that question all the time). I know many of you know this, but for some reason people think only the enemy team can’t use them. No, they respawn every 2.5s for small ones, and 3.75s for large packs. That’s a big deal. You can stand on the packs and 1v1 almost anyone. Use this to your advantage.

(12) Sombra has been out for 8 months, there’s no excuse to not know how to play with her on your team. If you see one, you should be welcoming to learning a new strat after a couple hundred hours in the game. Don’t ruin our experience because you’re too hard headed to try something new. You’ve been at the same rank for 6 months, mixing things up can’t hurt you that much.

(13) We will be hacking D.Va a ton, so she can’t fly away or use matrix and is a huuuuge ult feeder, also getting her out of her mec takes away DM so that others can ult, please follow up when we call this out. We will also be hacking Winston so he can’t leap out for safety, when we do this, please follow up so we can get the harass off of our team and he’s also a big ult feeder.

(14) Stop telling us “we have no answer to the Pharah, please go hitscan” I know this is a surprise to some, but Sombra is a mid to close range hitscan hero and with her mobility from translocator, she can do some good work on Pharah. She can also hack her to prevent her from boosting any higher, or hack the mercy to keep her freefalling in a straight line so you can gank her. What you should say instead, and what is much more productive, is “we need to focus on the pharmercy better.” But as with any hitscan in the dive meta, we can’t kill pharmercy alone and neither can soldier or McCree. Keep in mind what your alternatives are before you ask someone to swap to something they have less experience/comfort on.

(15) Follow the 33/33/33 rule (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpAPTKz5cGk explained at 1:40. I’d highly recommend watching that video, it’s great). You’re going to be out played and lose no matter what your comp is sometimes. We’ve all been there. Don’t let that change and flame Sombra for “throwing” unless it’s true.

(16) Have fun and stop telling Sombra mains to kill themselves :)