Sombra Boops Into ‘Overwatch,’ New Hero, Map, And Arcade Mode Now Live


It didn’t take long for Blizzard Entertainment to officially make Sombra available to all Overwatch players on the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A new patch went live Tuesday to bring the new hero to everyone along with one new map, a new mode, and some significant gameplay changes.

As previously covered, Sombra hails from Mexico where she grew up an orphan following the Omnic Crisis. Blizzard has established her as a bad guy, but one with an agenda very different from Reaper and Widowmaker. She’s smart, she’s sassy, and she’s capable of thoroughly confusing those that get in her way via a medley of abilities.

Machine Pistol

Sombra’s fully automatic machine pistol fires in a short-range spread.

Hack
Sombra hacks enemies to temporarily stop them from using their abilities, or hacks first aid kits to make them useless to her opponents.

Thermoptic Camo
Sombra becomes invisible for a short period of time, during which her speed is boosted considerably. Attacking, using offensive abilities, or taking damage disables her camouflage.

Translocator
Sombra tosses out a translocator beacon. She can instantly return to the beacon’s location while it is active (including when it’s in mid-flight).

EMP
Sombra discharges electromagnetic energy in a wide radius, destroying enemy barriers and shields and hacking all opponents caught in the blast.

Sombra in Overwatch for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
[Image by Blizzard Entertainment]

The new Arcade mode is meant to add some additional variety to Overwatch beyond the weekly rotation in the Quick Play mode. This will offer “a variety of regularly rotating game modes, maps, and rulesets” such as “1-on-1 duels, 3-vs-3 skirmishes, our alternating selection of brawls, or special rulesets like ‘no hero switching.'”

“Ecopoint: Antarctica” officially enters the map rotation for the Arena mode. Obviously, this map is a favorite of Mei-Ling and revolves around her backstory as a climatologist cryogenically frozen for a decade. The map is on the small side to support 3-vs-3 battles and 1-on-1 duels. Expect to see plenty of it in the Arcade.

The other new map Blizzard Entertainment announced for Overwatch still needs to bake. The “Oasis” map for Control gametypes will remain in the Public Test Region (PTR) for now and is expected to release in early 2017.

The full patch notes for today’s Overwatch update was posted to the Battle.net forums and is quite lengthy. It hits several heroes to balance gameplay. The biggest change comes to how ultimates abilities are charged for all heroes. Heroes can no long charge their ultimate by dishing damage to non-player objects like Torbjörn’s turret or Symmetra’s teleporter. Additionally, the cost of ultimates has been increased by 25 percent for all heroes.

“Game-changing ultimate abilities were coming up a bit too frequently. This change helps keep them in check while still allowing them to be powerful,” Blizzard explained.

The Ecopoint: Antarctica map in Overwatch.
[Image by Blizzard Entertainment]

Interestingly, D. Va saw her ultimate cost decreased by 20 percent following the 25 percent increase. She also received a significant buff to her Mech health from only 100 points to 200 points. Other buffs include Pharah able to fly longer while the minimum explosive damage has been increased by 13 percent. Soldier 76 sees his bullet damage increased 3 points to 20 balanced by a slight increase in bullet spread.

Meanwhile, some heroes received some significant nerfs. Ana’s Nano Boost no longer increases movement speed for the target while Lucio’s Amp It Up sees the healing rate decreased by 10 percent. Zarya is also hit with a 20 percent decrease in power gained from her barriers.

Don’t forget there is a free weekend coming up for Overwatch on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. This will run from Friday, November 18, through Monday.

What do you think about the addition of Sombra along with the various balance changes made to Overwatch? Sound off in the comments section below.

[Featured Image by Blizzard]

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