Overwatch 2 Sombra Guide: Abilities, Tips, How To Unlock

This Overwatch 2 Sombra guide is for the enthusiasts who fell in love with the stealthy hackster, and want to learn about her reworked abilities in the sequel, and how that changes her function in the team. As you may know, Sombra is one of the original characters from Overwatch who will return in the latest iteration, Overwatch 2, with all her abilities reworked to fit the new meta. So, take a look at our full Overwatch 2 Sombra breakdown to learn all you need to know. 

• Are you planning on becoming a Kiriko main in Overwatch 2? Check out our Overwatch 2 Kiriko guide: Abilities, tips, how to unlock, and more. 

Overwatch 2 Sombra Guide: Abilities

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Here is the complete abilities kit for Sombra in Overwatch 2. 

• Machine Pistol 
  • Type - Primary Fire
  • Effect - A fast-firing machine gun that fires a spread.
• Hack 
  • Type - Ability 
  • Effect - Hacked enemies can't use their abilities briefly, take more damage, and can be seen through walls. Health packs can be hacked only to help friendly players and recharge faster.
• Translocator 
  • Type - Ability
  • Effect - Throw a beacon and then activate it again to teleport back to it.
• Stealth
  • Type - Ability 
  • Effect - Become invisible and move quickly. 
• Opportunist
  • Type - Passive 
  • Effect - You can detect critically wounded enemies through walls.
• EMP
  • Type - Ultimate 
  • Effect - Sombra hacks enemies and does 40% of their current health in a massive radius.

Assuming you have gone through Sombra's kit, let us check out the abilities rework Sombra received in the newest iteration, Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2 Sombra Rework: All Changes 

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With Overwatch 2, Sombra's abilities and overall kit received a massive overhaul, making her more of a damage dealer with tracking and disrupting abilities. Here is the Sombra rework you will experience in Overwatch 2 while using her during matches. 

• Passive: Opportunist
  • Now also deals 50% more damage to hacked targets.
• Machine Pistol 
  • Damage reduced from 8 to 7.
  • Spread reduced by 20%.
• Ultimate: EMP
  • Removed effect: No longer deals any additional shield-specific damage.
  • Added effect: Deals 40% of enemies' current HP.
• Translocator
  • No changes. 
• Hack
  • Cooldown reduced from 8 to 3 seconds.
  • Duration increases to 8 seconds.
  • Ability lock duration reduced from 5 seconds to 1 second.
  • Now reveals hacked enemies to Sombra's team through walls for 8 seconds.
  • Cooldown is no longer halved when hacking health packs. 
  • Health pack hack duration reduced from 60 to 30 seconds.
• Stealth 
  • Fade-in time reduced by 50%.
  • Detection radius increased from 2 to 4 meters. 
  • Using Hack no longer removes Stealth, but Sombra does become briefly visible while hacking.  

That sums up all the changes that Sombra has received in Overwatch 2. 

Overwatch 2 Sombra Guide: Early Tips, How To Use Sombra

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Starting with Sombra's primary attack, Machine Pistol, the base damage per bullet of the weapon got reduced to 7. Still, the bullet spread was also reduced by 20%, implying players can now use it to land headshots to deal with opponents quickly. Combine it with the Hack ability, and you will deal more damage using your Machine Pistol. And if you are roleplaying as support and want other team members to get the kills, you can always use your primary attack on Tank type opponents to ready your ultimate, EMP, at a much faster rate. 

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The Translocator is Sombra's best ability as it allows you to outperform your opponents and make great plays as you can use it to reach high ground. When your EMP ultimate is at 100%, you can use the Translocator to get close to the enemy team and use EMP. But make sure your team is nearby to support you. That aside, you can place it near hacked Health Packs to replenish your health. You can also use it to surprise attack opponents and use it with other abilities to make a deadly play. 

• With the release of Overwatch 2, players wonder if the first game will shut down. You can check this guide, Is Overwatch 1 Shutting Down?, for the answer. 

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Sombra's Hack ability has received a massive rework with Overwatch 2, and most were positive changes like reduced cooldown, increased ability uptime, and other things. You can use Hack on Support type characters to interrupt their abilities, and it can also work as a tracker, as when you use Hack on an opponent, you and your team can see the opponent even through walls. That aside, you can use Stealth to approach an opponent you want to get rid of as fast as possible and use the Hack ability and then Machine Pistol to take the opponent out. 

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You can use Sombra's Stealth ability to close in the enemy team; make sure you are at least 4m away, or they will spot you. While in Stealth, use Hack on an opponent only when you are not in sight of other opponents, as you will be partially visible and prone to attack. 

How To Unlock Sombra In Overwatch 2

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In Overwatch 2, you can unlock Sombra while playing Quickplay matches. While there is no exact information on when exactly you get Sombra. But on September 27, 2022, Tuesday, Blizzard said new players who are experiencing the game for the first time will unlock the different game modes and characters "over the course of approximately 100 matches."

That is it. This concludes our Overwatch 2 Sombra guide as we have spoken about her abilities and the rework it received, shared some tips, and how to use Sombra's abilities while talking about how to unlock her. 

• If you want to know how the Overwatch 2 Battle Pass works and the different rewards it offers, you can check our guide Overwatch 2 Battle Pass: How it works and rewards for more details. 

For more on Overwatch 2, keep reading GGRecon.