“Please change heroes.” “We need an actual healer.” “Stop throwing.” These are some of the things Overwatch players who choose the current support hero Symmetra have been hearing and seeing for quite some time. On June 5, Blizzard patched the Overwatch Public Test Region with some general updates and certain hero reworks, including an all-new Symmetra.
The first thing that should be noted is that Symmetra will no longer be listed in the Support class. Blizzard is now compounding the Offense and Defense classes into one “Damage” class which Symmetra will be a part of.
To be clear, every single thing about Symmetra has changed. Let’s look at how her primary weapon, the Photon Projector, has been reworked.
Symmetra’s Photon Projector will no longer lock onto enemies and will work more like Zarya’s Particle Cannon. The range for Symmetra’s primary fire has been increased to 10 meters and damage ramping has been increased but will take an extra second to start. Also, firing at energy barriers will provide ammo rather than deplete it.
As seen above, the alt-fire for Symmetra’s main weapon has changed as well. With faster charging-up and quicker movement, the alt-fire projectiles are now explosive. Though they no longer pierce enemies, the projectiles can inflict massive damage on multiple targets.
The next change is for Symmetra’s main calling cards, her turrets.
Symmetra mains now have an entirely new dimension to how they can set up their laser-locked death traps. In addition to receiving initial mobility, the damage has been increased on these little punishers. Fortunately, for everyone else, Blizzard has nerfed the amount of turrets from 6 to 3 and the slowing debuff on effected targets has been decreased.
Symmetra’s soon-to-be-ex-Ultimate, Teleporter, is now a regular ability.
No longer being restricted to spawn room entrances, Symmetra players can place the exit to their teleporters up to 25 meters away and an entrance gate will spawn right in front of them. As seen in the video above, lots of things can go through the teleporters now, opening the door for better RIP-Tire plays, surprise Reinhardt charges, or unexpected D.Va bombs.
To top off her rework, Symmetra has an all-new Ultimate that would have placed her in the Defense class were it not for the new Damage class merger.
With 5,000 health, the new Photon Barrier can span an entire map and can be reoriented if initial positioning is botched for whatever reason. It also seems that the previous half of her Ultimate, Shield Generator, will be no more.
Again, from the latest PTR patch notes, Blizzard provides insight into Symmetra’s rework:
The goal of these changes is to move Symmetra to her new damage role and make her more flexible and viable across more areas of the game than she was previously. Now that Symmetra is no longer a support hero, she is expected to be able to dish out heavy damage, and these changes allow for her to do so. She should be more powerful and interesting in more team compositions and maps, and she should also be stronger on offense and defense.
The all-new Symmetra is currently available to play on the Overwatch PTR for PC (sorry console players).