Symmetra’s rework is still in progress, can go anywhere

Symmetra has always been the odd hero out in Overwatch’s vast and varied cast. The cowards in the Overwatch League refuse to pick her, despite the fact that every other hero has seen play in the pro scene. She’s the only support with absolutely no ability to heal. Her comic appearance has her building hard light constructs of basically anything she wants, Green Lantern-style, from bridges to domes, but in game she’s forced to wait to charge up her ultimate to put a structure down.

Her first rework aimed to give her a little more utility and reliability. Her photon barrier is a vast improvement over her original small, individual shields she manually placed on teammates. Her shield generator is a very interesting concept that makes holding a contested point much easier. When it comes to her second rework however, Blizzard is still figuring things out. Jeff Kaplain explained in a forum post:

We’re doing a lot of experimentation with Symmetra right now. Nothing is clicking yet. We’ve even experimented with her in different roles. We’re not confident enough in a direction to really share details at this point yet.

Hanzo’s rework, which is much simpler in scope and on a hero who has already been successful in the Overwatch League, still took months to iterate and prepare. We should be seeing it hit live servers before summer rolls around. Symmetra, on the other hand, is a much trickier nut to crack. Moving her to a defense role would certainly solve a lot of her problems, but it’s also interesting to have a non-healing support.

Symmetra may be the rare hero who offers too much opportunity in her lore. The comic version of Symmetra can create literally anything as a hard light physical construct. The developers are tasked with a much more difficult goal: They have to create a Symmetra who doesn’t exist in a weird, non-viable limbo.