Overwatch‘s First Lady of Vishkar is a support hero, but an unconventional one. Unlike the other members of her hero class, Symmetra isn’t able to heal and many believe that Blizzard should quit the charade and turn her into the defense hero she was always meant to be. But it doesn’t take a healer to make a support character. Symmetra doesn’t create health for her team, she fosters opportunity and that can be just as important as making sure everyone stays fully charged.
I Will Put you in your Place.
As a support hero, you can probably guess what Symmetra’s r’aison d’etre may be, it is to support and her best way to achieve it this is by turrets. One turret alone isn’t going to do much – in fact, it might not do anything – one Sym turret is more of a warning system than it is a danger. But all 6 together? That’s a spicy meatball! Continuous damage coupled with the ability to slow down enemy heroes is a great way to occupy a space and make sure you control it. Sym really thrives on capture point maps, putting all 6 turrets into a “nest” – or as I call it, a “web” – ensures that the point will be much more difficult for the enemy to capture.
But the placement of turrets is EVERYTHING. So often a Symmetra will place 6 turrets in a row, close together and all it takes is one Rein swing or Lucio boop to blast them all to smithereens. They have one HP a piece, so protect them by spreading them out.
You Lack Imagination
After 100 hours of Symmetra I’ve learned this: Triangulate. I’m going to use the map Hanamura as an example. Symmetra (A) places 6 turrets on each door next to each other, a Reinhardt walks through the “death gate” and gets a bunch of heat from them. He immediately flips around and hammers the easily reachable turrets in one fell swoop.
Now Symmetra (B!) Sym-B places 6 turrets as well, but these 6 turrets are nowhere near each other. The range of the turrets will all meet but now when Rein enters the door he can’t hammer and take out all 6 as easily. He has to find each turret, swing and turn again. Taking more damage and wasting more time for Sym B to come in for the kill. If you remember to make a triangle with the turrets you will always do more damage. Your web will be all the stronger. It takes a bit of cleverness and creativity to do it right, to find new and inventive places for your turrets. So try out new things, hide them in new places and have fun with it!
This Will Protect Us
In every game of Overwatch you play, it’s important to remember, you’re on a team. This is essential for support class heroes, your abilities can’t be properly utilized unless someone is there to capitalize on them. So often it’s forgotten that Sym is a support hero and like it says above she doesn’t give health she creates opportunity. So this tip is for all those who are on a team with a Symmetra, know where she’s set up a turret web and use it to your advantage. Solo engaging a Roadhog and need an edge? Luring him into that trap will almost surely secure you a victory in the bout. So take note of where your “safe zone” is and where your Sym has placed her turrets. You will always be more protected if you’ve got a system of turrets at your back.
I Will Shield Us
Since her update Sym has lost her – useless – personal barrier ability and gained a great photon barrier ability. She can project a moving shield on a track straight forward, with about 1000 health it can be pretty beefy and is great to advance on people with some cover. The shield is best used in a few different ways. First, to shield – a-duh – if your teammate is really hurting and can’t get out of a scenario fast, a barrier can add some much-needed cover. Second, it’s a great engage for close range heroes. A McCree Flashbang, Ana’s Sleep Dart or Junkrat’s Fire will blow up right on the shield leaving Sym – pretty well – unharmed. It’s not a fail-safe engage tool but it’s pretty great if you can get the timing and reads of your enemy’s movements just right.
I Will Put You in Your Place
Lastly, Sym’s ultimate or ultimates are both pieces of utility that can really boost a team’s ability to function. But knowing when to use them is the tricky part. First and foremost? When selecting an ultimate make sure you choose the right one, there’s been a few times where a Teleporter has been placed when it obviously was meant to be a Shield Generator.
That Shield Generator is great added defense for a second point! It adds 75 regenerating life to your squishier teammates. Placing the generator in a location that isn’t easily destroyed or located is key, even having the enemy waste their time finding it is an asset – in a way. Unless you’re getting really tricky with your Symmetra techs the shield generator is the best option for Symmetra on the attack, adding health for a push or a fight is going to help your team more than getting back in quickly with the teleporter. Better to keep your team alive than have to bring them back. There is the “Trojan Horse” method of secretly placing a teleporter behind enemy lines and attacking from the back, but that is a rarity to see work well. Teammates have a tendency to walk through and immediately die; It mostly looks like this. So go for the shield generator on attack for the most part.
Sym’s Teleporter is a great tool for defending a point that’s far away from the spawn. Point A on a Capture map or a Payload/Capture map is where the teleporter shines. Placement again is everything, the teleporter should be far enough away from the point to not be easily found and destroyed and close enough that teammates can quickly rejoin. There’s no set place on any one map to put it, it’s going to take some creativity to place it somewhere to be used to its full potential. Of course, for both of these ultimates, it’s important never to place it in the same spot twice if it gets destroyed where it was? Think up a new strategy.
The fun of playing Symmetra comes from the constantly evolving puzzle of defense and security. It takes clever, creative placement and tactics to make sure her full potential is unlocked. You’re playing a game against the enemy team, but also yourself. You have to adapt to the situation, to place and maintain turrets and to keep your team swimming in potential and opportunity!
