Sombra’s mini-rework is now on live servers

UPDATE 02/27: These changes are now live.

Overwatch fans were startled to find some pretty serious Sombra changes in the most recent Year of the Dog patch that were missing from the official patch notes. Luckily, those changes were a mistake and are being removed, which gives us some time to process the numbers and give the mechanics a try on the PTR. Geoff Goodman stepped in to explain what Sombra’s current deal is, and what her PTR rework will look like.

These changes have yet to even hit the PTR, and the PTR is always subject to change, so none of the below is final. Expect further information to come as the new Sombra is tested both internally by Blizzard and by players.

* No longer gains ult from health pack healing

* Weapon Spread decreased by 10%

* Hacking speed increased from 0.8s to 0.65s

* Hacking will disable more abilities. Basically any ability that requires a button press will also be disabled. Here is a list:

Genji - Double Jump/Wall Climb

Pharah - Hover Jets

Hanzo - Wall Climb

Lucio - currently running Crossfade song will be disabled

Mercy - Angelic Descent

The idea here is to take some power out of her ult (and awkwardness of ult gain through health packs), and give her more power and usefulness in the rest of her kit.

Sombra has had a hard time catching on in both pro and casual play, and part of that is because her play pattern centers around locking down a health pack and then getting massive ult charge off of it. Her EMP is indisputably useful, but the rest of her kit has faded into the background. These changes would turn her health pack hacks into a nice little bonus, and center her power around shutting down key targets with hacks. Pharahs will hit the ground, Mercys will plummet instead of drifting, and Lucios will be left with no music at all.

These changes are a major shift to Sombra’s identity, so it remains to be seen whether they’ll survive the PTR testing process and what further tweaks may be made.