The Overwatch League finals were today, and Blizzard revealed some pretty huge changes to our favorite traveling robot and devious hacker. The lovable Bastion and the stealthy Sombra are each getting a huge rework in Overwatch 2, changing how they play completely.
Currently, both heroes are rather niche. Sombra is a stealth character, designed to deal damage across the map to unsuspecting foes while invisible. She also has a hack ability that allows her to disable enemy abilities altogether, rendering them useless. However, Sombra’s damage is not actually very good. Currently, she’s utilized for her Ultimate ability, which hacks all enemies in a wide radius.
Meanwhile, Bastion deals tons of damage at once in his Sentry mode, hailing bullets at the enemy team in a Gatling gun form. However, he’s immobile during this form, which allows enemies to dive into him and overwhelm him quickly. Overwatch is a very mobile game, so a character like Bastion who has low mobility doesn’t work well.
Revitalizing old heroes
Sombra’s rework in Overwatch 2 seems designed to take her in a more damage-oriented direction. Her hack does not pause enemy cooldowns as long, only disabling them for one second. However, to hacked enemies, Sombra deals bonus damage. Additionally, her Ultimate now deals damage, instantly wiping out 40% of all enemies’ current health in the range of her ult. Previously, her Ultimate could wipe out shields, indirectly dealing damage that way. However, her Ultimate paired with her new passive should allow her to deal more damage than before. What will likely be most controversial is her ability to hack targets while invisible, now. You can see Sombra briefly as she’s hacking while invisible, but this is bound to be the bane of many players.
Meanwhile, Bastion’s rework will modernize him a bit, making him more viable compared to the current Overwatch metagame. His base form, Recon mode, now fires his gun more accurately than before. His fire rate is lower as a result, but this change should allow him to fight at longer ranges more efficiently. Meanwhile, during his Sentry mode, Bastion can now move. Additionally, his Sentry mode is now on a cooldown, where previously, you can change between Recon mode and Sentry mode on command. His Ultimate is an artillery cannon, allowing him to fire explosives across the map at any range. Yes, that means his tank form will no longer be his ult. He also can no longer self-repair.
A new coat of paint
The two characters also received some visual updates, similar to the other Overwatch 2 characters. Bastion’s build looks a little more modern, with a shinier body and a nifty hat on his head. Ganymede, his bird companion, also seems more prevalent than before. Meanwhile, Sombra looks more vibrant, with her purple hair intensified.
Unfortunately, these two reworks were the only Overwatch 2 news announced today. We still don’t have a release date on when Overwatch 2 will actually release, with the only news being the Bastion and Sombra rework. Personally, while it’s nice that two niche champions are getting some more refinements, character reworks are common updates for multiplayer games like League of Legends. I think it’s about time we get some news about new characters, and maybe even a release date soon. But this will do for now.
