Stealth is a bit of a dirty word in competitive games - it’s a class archetype that most developers like to see filled, but doing it in a way that feels fair to people playing against it is no small task. Blizzard’s latest addition to Overwatch, Sombra, is going to be the first hero to feature a stealth mechanic alongside some other extremely unique abilities that have the potential to blow the current competitive metagame wide open. Sombra was only recently revealed and isn’t currently playable, but we can still analyse her abilities to arm you with the knowledge of what to expect when she hits the servers.

Her passive is called Opportunist. It allows Sombra to track enemy players through walls if they are at half health or less, although unlike Hanzo’s Sonic Arrow or Widowmaker’s Ultimate, they will only be revealed to Sombra, not the rest of her team.

Sombra’s weapon of choice is a Machine Pistol. This hitscan weapon has 60 rounds to a clip with a high rate of fire and a surprisingly long effective range. The spread ramps up quickly to force Sombra into close range engagements, but this does open up the possibility of finishing off low health targets at a distance through burst firing.

Sombra’s right click is Hack, which has to be held down until the hack completes. It can be used on enemies to cancel their channeled abilities or prevent them activating abilities, although it seems to not effect abilities on the Mouse. For example, you would not be able to use Reaper’s Wraith Form but you would be able to use Pharah’s sustained flight on her right click. The hack lasts for around 6 seconds, and hacked enemies will display whether they have access to their Ultimate abilities or not. You can also hack health packs, causing them to respawn faster and also preventing them from being usable be enemies. It only takes a second or two to complete a hack, but it cannot be used through barriers and taking damage will cancel the hack.

Her E is Translocator, an ability that will be familiar to the Unreal Tournament players. It allows her to fire a beacon which Sombra can teleport to by reactivating the ability, and it cannot be destroyed by enemy players. Using this ability does not break invisibility but failing to teleport to it within 15 seconds will cancel the beacon.

On her Left Shift she has Thermoptic Camo, her invisibility spell. While invisible Sombra will move faster and cannot be targeted by turrets. The stealth lasts for around 5 seconds, and does render you completely invisible although it does not mute your footsteps. Moving too close to someone will reveal you, as will taking any damage or firing your weapon.

Sombra’s Ultimate is called EMP, and it acts like an instant-cast AoE version of her Hack ability. Enemy barriers or shields will be destroyed, and all affected players will be hacked and rendered unable to use their abilities. The EMP does not travel through walls, so it requires line of sight to affect an enemy.

Sombra fits into the game as a new offensive flanker with high potential of being used as a counterpick to powerful Ultimate combos. She is similar to Tracer in the way that she functions, with one major difference - Sombra must be far more careful in choosing her engagements as she lacks the raw mobility and survivability offered by Tracer’s blinks and Recall. Sombra will instead choose to plan her fights, favoring a more strategic play style than Tracer who prefers to focus on mechanical outplays. Sombra’s invisibility will make her an effective flanker who can reposition with less fear of being caught out alone, and her Translocator gives her a lot of flexibility. It can be used offensively to reach high ground or cross large distances, or it can be used as an escape by leaving it behind at a safe location so that you can assassinate a target and teleport away. The highest potential ability on Sombra’s kit is her Hack, that allows her to effectively silence dangerous enemies, rendering them mostly useless for a short duration. Her EMP is Hack on steroids, and a well positioned Sombra will be able to counter most Ultimates and force enemies to fight on more even grounds.

As far as flanking goes, Overwatch is a game that rewards players that successfully take a target out before team fights begin, and Sombra will be no different. Her real strength doesn’t lie in her ability to flank though, instead Sombra will primarily be used as deterrent to enemy team compositions that rely on winning fights through their Ultimates, and for this reason she will likely have a huge impact on the metagame when she is released. Being able to shut down all-in Ultimate compositions such as the popular Ana-Reaper combination could cause a massive shift in hero popularity, but it will have huge dependence on Sombra’s ability to position herself wisely and hack her targets in time to prevent catastrophe. Although her EMP will shut down channeled abilities such as Reaper’s Death Blossom, it will not remove activated Ultimates such as Ana’s Nano Boost, meaning we may see a switch to a meta where Ana is focusing on Nano Boosting heroes that are strong without their abilities - such as the Offense heroes or Reinhardt.

Sombra is not without weaknesses - for starters, her Invisibility is nullified by AoE damage, vision-based abilities such as those used by Widowmaker, Hanzo or an enemy Sombra’s passive, and Soldier 76’s Tactical Visor can lock onto an Invisible Sombra. She has a limited health pool of 200, making her a relatively easy kill if you can catch her without her stealth or teleporter, and the usual anti-flanker heroes will be equally effective at shutting her mobility down. Effective use of Sombra is definitely going to be a challenge, but for the players that take the time to master her kit, she may prove to be a catalyst for change in the competitive meta.