Overwatch 2's mid-season patch has made Sigma's ultimate even more terrifying than before
This isn't singing to me.
Overwatch 2 just got a small mid-season patch that buffs a few of the heroes and improves competitive matchmaking slightly, and while most of the changes are pretty minimal, one sticks out like a sore thumb: Sigma's ultimate is even more terrifying than it was before.
Sigma's ultimate Gravitic Flux lifts enemies in an eight-meter radius, launching them into the sky and then dragging them back down to earth, dealing 50 damage on take-off and then follow-up damage of 50% of a hero's max health once they are slammed into the floor. This means most squishy heroes like Tracer or Ana can be killed in one fell swoop.
There aren't a lot of ways to counter this, with the few exceptions being a personal/projected barrier from Zarya, Mei's cryo-freeze, or Kiriko's protection suzu. You can also interrupt the ult (like all the others) with crowd control methods like Ana's sleep dart of a spear from Orisa.
But apparently, this ult wasn't strong enough as-is because now Sigma won't even need line of sight to affect enemies, so you can be dragged into the sky even if you're on the other side of a wall or obstacle.
Twitch streamer and Top 500 Overwatch Tank Main Flats gave us a look at what this change means for Sigma in a short Twitter video. Here, he takes Sigma to the practice range and uses his ult to lift a couple of bots in the air despite them being on the other side of a building.
(insert generic overwatch 2 training range outrage clip here)Seriously though they did kinda break sigma LOL pic.twitter.com/cEpb0ojmakMay 14, 2024
Expectedly, players aren't too happy to see this change, mostly because it makes Sigma's ult even more dangerous and hard to avoid than it was before, despite no one campaigning for a change. "I read the patch notes and instantly thought this would be possible but I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, and lo and behold," one player says in reply to Flats' video.
I've already fallen victim to this change. Playing defense on Shambali Monastery last night was pretty terrifying as an Ana main. Every time I heard "The universe sings for me," I tried to run for cover, but no matter where I was, Sigma managed to trap me in his ult. With no way to sleep him through a wall, my fate was pretty much sealed every single time.
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Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.