Blizzard released a new Overwatch video for the through-and-through support character, Symmetra. She’s not very tough, can barely take a hit and doesn’t do much on the damage output vector but she can really help the team out with her team teleporter and multi-turret skill that can help wear down and stop opponents right in their tracks.
The video is actually a second perspective based on the gameplay match that featured Tracer. Only this time they’re centered in on Tracer’s teammate, Symmetra. She’s no where near as useful or as threatening as the speedsters, given that Symmetra doesn’t come anywhere close to racking up the 25 kill streak that Tracer does. You can see how well she performs below in the eight minute gameplay video.
Symmetra doesn’t really seem to offer much to the team other than the ability to quickly teleport around the arena. The two-way teleporter works similar to the portal gun from Portal; one teleport station is set down as the target destination and the other teleport station is where you transport from. As showcased in the video above, Symmetra uses the station to help her teammates get back into the fight and defend the location. A noble and worthwhile gesture, no doubt.
The problem comes in with Symmetra’s damage output. She barely managed to get any kills because first off her main weapon is extremely weak. She fixates the beam on various opponents who run by her location but nary does she get a kill. Instead she seems to weaken them a bit as they move on to more threatening targets. Her turrets also suffer from being under-powered unless she has three of them up and out and ready to work in cohesion with her plasma beam.
Many of the YouTube comments try to argue away that perhaps Symmetra’s team-focused tactics outweigh her inability to defend herself, but she seems to fall into the same category with Mercy where they’re so heavily reliant on being support characters that they offer little else to the team other than to ensure that the super-badasses stay super-badass. In fact, one of Symmetra’s other skills is the ability to add a shield to teammates, enabling them to take a few extra hits before going down. It’s a character designed to protect others before she can protect herself.
Nevertheless, Overwatch doesn’t head into beta testing until this fall, so Blizzard has plenty of time to iron out, fix up and balance the characters right proper before release.
You can continue to keep an eye on Overwatch or learn more about the characters by paying a visit to the official website.
