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Overwatch's Symmetra is getting two ultimates

Blizzard is giving the support character a real overhaul.
Eirik Hyldbakk Furu Editor-in-Chief Norway 23 November 2016

Symmetra has been a much debated character in Overwatch, as many players consider her to be weak and too situational. It's been two months since Blizzard said they were looking into it, and now they're ready to reveal the changes.

Game director Jeff Kaplan detailed the changes in the latest "Developer Update". One of the most noteworthy changes is that she'll get two ultimates, so now she'll be able to swap between a teleporter and a shield generator. The teleporter has been given more overall health on top of regenerative shield health to make it more durable, meanwhile the new shield generator will give shields to any allies within a very large radius.

Symmetra is also getting an entirely new ability called the Photon Barrier. Kaplan compares this to Reinhart and Winston's projected shields, although Symmetra's version is an elliptical projectile and moves along a trajectory when activated. This allows you to hang back while continuing to shield your team.

Her gun and turrets have also been slightly tweaked. She can now place up to six turrets (as opposed to the three right now), and the lock-on laser gun has a bit more range. Kaplan says that it's not a big enough increase to make her a sniper or anything, but still fits better with the other tweaks.

These changes will be coming "soon" to the Public Test Region on PC, and it'll be interesting to see how the players react. Do you like the sound of this new Symmetra?

Editor-in-Chief Norway Eirik Hyldbakk Furu wrote for Gamereactor from around 2015 to 2026, first as news editor and from 2022 as editor-in-chief of the Norwegian edition. He covered video games across news, previews and reviews for both the Norwegian and international sites.
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