A serious Overwatch 2 bug appears to have caused an unintended but significant nerf to Symmetra in Blizzard’s multiplayer game. The hero DPS has undergone many dramatic overhauls and reworks over the years, but his latest iteration appears to have been accidentally broken in several different and rather unfortunate ways that could render his cap unplayable in Overwatch Season 3.2 until it is released. rectified.
The first of these concerns his ultimate, Photon Barrier, which received a small but largely insignificant nerf (the only change mentioned for Symmetra) in Season 3 that increased its cost by 10%. However, as a video from YouTuber Not Muda points out (see below), it seems his ultimate now takes a lot longer to appear after using it.
It’s not just a visual effect either, as the video shows a trick of Rein and Sombra hitting Sombra before the barrier appears to block them. Ultimate also ends earlier than intended, allowing the damage to pass as its duration decreases further. Luckily, the barrier still seems to appear if you die during the cast animation, but it probably feels uncomfortable right now.
However, Symmetra’s second error is perhaps even more serious. When placed turrets collide with moving parts of the environment, such as sliding doors, turntables, or the payload rolling over them, they are traditionally destroyed. A pain, sure, but you can replace them. Unfortunately, that last issue seems like a much bigger problem, as turrets now disappear without being properly destroyed.
We’ve tested this in game and can confirm the issue occurs as shown in the video below: if one of your turrets is removed by environmental collision, the game seems to think it’s still in place, which means you can now only remove two. of your usual three turrets. Attempting to place a third one will simply replace the oldest of the two. This effect stacks, meaning you may find yourself in a situation where you cannot place turrets.
For a moment I thought the problem was fixed: the cooldown is reduced as usual and the usual Symmetra turret deployment animation and voice line plays. But no turrets actually spawn, and you have to fend for yourself. That’s not to say that Symmetra can’t be dangerous on its own, as anyone chased by its fully charged Photon Projector can attest. But it’s definitely a blow to its overall usefulness, which makes it hard to recommend until Blizzard fixes that particular issue.
Update – February 10, 6:55 p.m. GMT: After a live update from Blizzard, based on our own testing, both bugs appear to have been resolved. Blizzard hasn’t officially commented yet, but we’ve reached out to them and will update with more news.
In the meantime, take a look at our Overwatch 2 tier list for the best characters to play in Season 3. We’ve also got a guide to all of Overwatch 2’s maps and game modes, including the new control location of the Antarctic Peninsula and an explanation of how the Overwatch 2 leaderboards work in the FPS game’s competitive mode.