Overwatch 2’s “worst designed hero” is finally getting a much-needed nerf

Sombra has been terrorizing Overwatch 2 ever since her “lethal” rework went live with even more tools to dominate the battlefield and Blizzard is finally hitting her with some balance changes.

For years, Sombra has been one of the hardest heroes to balance. Prior to her recent Overwatch 2, the Talon DPS saw success in organized play where high-level players could capitalize on her hacks and EMPs.

Her rework added a new ability, Virus, that when combined with an invisible Hack and primary fire, allowed Sombra players to quickly delete unsuspecting supports.

Needless to say, players haven’t been happy. Across social media and the official Blizzard forums, users have expressed their frustration at playing against the stealthy hero with some going as far as quitting Season 9 because of her.

“Sombra is the worst designed DPS in the game. They spend all this time reworking Sombra and don’t remove invis. Make her more oppressive in the DPS matchup. Rat hero,” one player remarked on the Overwatch forums.

“I kinda quit the game (more than 3 weeks now) because of Sombra. I play support so you can imagine how painful it is to face her, especially against good Sombras,” someone else chimed in.

“Sombra is the sole reason why I decided not to play comp. If she is already so f**king unfun and at times oppressive in quickplay, then what can I expect in comp,” echoed another. “You legit could remove Sombra from the game and I guarantee a decent chunk of people would play the game again or more often at least.”

Luckily, it seems like the devs have been listening. In a recent blog post, Game Director Aaron Keller revealed that Sombra will be getting a small nerf in Season 10 with Virus’s damage going from 100 to 90.

Sombra has always felt boom or bust to me, but while her rework definitely promoted a more active playstyle, there’s no getting around the fact she became a bit too easy to get value with.

The combo of hacking a target and hitting them directly with Virus currently results in an easy 150 damage. This is even more devastating on console, where players rarely turn around as fast as their PC counterparts to thwart the Sombra’s offensives.

This often results in a quick elimination for the Sombra player, securing an all-important first kill and snowballing it into a team fight win.

Dropping the combo down to 140 is a step in the right direction of lowering Sombra’s time to kill, but it may not be enough to make the hero less frustrating to play against.

One option Blizzard should consider is lowering Sombra’s HP to make these engagements a tad riskier while still rewarding good Sombras who excel in the 1v1. Until then, expect the Sombra supremacy to continue as Season 10 kicks off on April 16.