Overwatch 2 is full of changes to the hero shooter, some of which have made Sombra is a top-tier hero. The switch to 5v5 with one less tank and the removal of some crowd control abilities means that Sombra has a much easier time flanking the enemy team and getting away unscathed. Here's how to best play as the hacker Sombra in Overwatch 2.
You can see how all heroes, including this one, stack up in our Overwatch 2 tank tier list, DPS tier list, and support tier list. Where did your favorite land?
Sombra overview
Overwatch 2's resident hacker comes equipped with a high-powered machine pistol, which has a short effective range, but is deadly at short distances. Sombra is designed to be a flanker and a disruptor. Typically, you want to find a health pack, hack it, and set up your Translocator. After that, use Stealth to flank the enemy team, hack someone on the back line, preferably a support hero, and kill them. Once they die or you are close to death, use the Translocator to teleport out and get health from the hacked health pack. Rinse and repeat, leaving the enemy team disoriented and down a support at every opportunity.
Sombra abilities
Machine Pistol: Short-ranged automatic weapon.
Hack: Hold to hack. Hacked enemies cannot use abilities for a few seconds and can be seen through walls. Hacked health packs respawn faster and cannot be picked up by the enemy team. Taking damage interrupts the hack attempt.
Opportunist passive: Detect critically injured enemies through walls, and deal 40% more damage to hacked enemies.
Stealth: Become invisible and move faster.
Translocator: Throw a beacon. Press again to teleport to the beacon. Can be remotely destroyed.
EMP ultimate: Deals damage equal to 40% of nearby enemies health, hacking them, and destroying any nearby barriers.
Not a head on fighter
When playing Sombra, you should pretty rarely be pushing with the rest of your team. Sombra's abilities aren't effective when trying to fight head on, so you want to always be sneaking into their back line. You will want to use the Hack ability while still in stealth, as your enemy likely won't notice you quick enough to stop you. It's important to note that while enemies' abilities are only diabled for a few short seconds, the hack lasts longer than that, so they still take the extra damage from you. While hacking a tank so they can't use their abilities briefly can be useful in certain situations, the priority should be support heroes, followed by damage heroes. If you aren't sure who to prioritize, keep an eye on the kill feed and the scoreboard. You can use this information to target whomever is performing the best in the match.
Switch up your Translocator location
When Sombra teleports to her Translocator, there is a purple light that indicates to the enemy team which direction the Translocator is relative to where Sombra was when she used it. After you get a few kills or cause enough headaches to the enemy team, one of them will likely track down your Translocator to either destroy it, leaving you unable to teleport, or to camp it and kill you when you return. To avoid this, switch up which health pack you are setting up on. Playing Sombra requires you to have strong map knowledge, so make sure you know where lll the health packs are. A good strategy is to set up on one of the smaller health packs, as most people will check the mega health packs for your translocator.
The EMP blast
The EMP blast is best used when the enemy team is all together, either pushing the objective or trying to stop your team. Just like the normal Hack, their abilities will be shut down for a few seconds, giving your team a chance to push hard. Since Sombra can get right into the middle of the action using Stealth before pulling the EMP, it's easy to wait for a good opportunity. Another great time to use the EMP is if the enemy team is using an ongoing ultimate ability, like Soldier 76's or Moria's. The EMP will shut down their ultimate abilities, making them a complete waste for the enemy team.
Other Sombra tips
- Sombra can see enemies through walls when they are low on health. If you see an enemy retreating to heal, go pay them a visit.
- Sombra's normal hack ability can also stop an enemy ultimate ability, but since it takes a moment for the ability to work, it can be harder to pull off than the EMP.
- You can cancel your Translocator and place it somewhere else whenever you want, so if you think an enemy is waiting on the other end, don't use it.
- The hack on health packs doesn't last forever, so make sure you are regularly topping it off.
- If you get too close to an enemy in Stealth, you will be exposed and become briefly visible, but it doesn't break your Stealth unless they do damage to you.
- Not every Hack needs to result in a kill, sometimes getting the enemy team to turn around to deal with you can make an opportunity for your team.
- Sombra spends a ton of time setting up, so don't sweat if you aren't dealing as much damage as your other damage hero, the eliminations are what matters.