Sigma, Overwatch’s newest hero, is here. Oh!
Sigma no longer an enigma
Gravity grappler Sigma, Overwatch’s 31st hero, went live last night, and now the servers are covered in debris. This weaponised Richard Feynmam bobs along like an angry balloon, throwing out bombs, chunks of the world, and barriers. I haven’t had the chance to play him, but I have seen the confusion he brings to the game, and I can explain his abilities below.
Here he is:
He technically has two shields. Experimental Barrier is a shield he can throw a decent distance and have it hang in the air where he chooses, which means it can sit in front of an ulting Pharah and nullify her brand of sky justice. He also has Kinetic Grasp, a more immediate skill that grabs projectiles out of the air and turns them into a shield. I’m of the opinion that Overwatch probably doesn’t need another hero that can throw up a barrier. I play too many games where people are cowering behind Orisa while firing, though this one does feel like a change from her static death camp.
His offensive capabilities include Hyperspheres, which are a pair of explosive orbs. They heavily ricochet off walls and floors, so it’s possible to blast around corners. They feel like a genuine game-changer, enabling elaborate trick shots around defences. His other attack, Accretion, grabs a huge chunk of the world and throws it at an enemy, for a fair pile of damage.
His ult, Gravitic Flux, picks enemies up and slams them down. It does some damage, but I can see it being used to disrupt whole teams in one swoop. Plans tend to fall apart when you’re thrown skywards and locked in place.
The role queue is in beta as well. In it, you’ll pre-select Tank, DPS or Support, and when the game loads you’ll select from within class. You can choose any and all classes, and the game will sort you into a 2-2-2 competitive game, dropping rewards for those who take on the less desired class types. I confess, I prefer a looser feel to the game’s structure, where the meta doesn’t matter and my Symm/Lucio skills are feared and insulted in equal measure. 2-2-2 is something I don't have much time for, so I'll probably avoid role queue and head into the Arcade where the classic version of Quick Play will reside. There's a bug right now in QP that forces the meta on teams, and I've hated every second of it. I need to be free!