Key Takeaways
- Symmetra plays well on maps that allow her to use her teleporter to take high ground and set up alternate angles of fire on her opponents, such as Dorado Point A. Thanks to her Sentry Turrets and primary fire, she is also a good pick on short-range maps like Nepal: Sanctum.
- Symmetra struggles on maps with long sightlines where she can’t close the gap on enemy hitscan damage (DPS) heroes. Her slow-moving secondary fire is too unreliable to enable her to output significant damage at range.
- Symmetra counters heroes that are forced to play up close, such as Reinhardt and Mei, because her primary fire is a lethal and easy-to-use short-range weapon.
- Symmetra is countered by heroes that can keep her at a distance and burst her down if she gets too close, such as Sigma and Cassidy.
Symmetra Quick Tips
- Symmetra has 225 total health, with 125 shields.
- In organized play, Symmetra gets much of her value from her team using her teleporter. When playing more casually, like in Solo Queue, Symmetra players should play more selfishly, because teammates may not always communicate or make use of the teleporter.
- Download the Z League app to find teammates in your skill bracket who understand when to use your Teleporter.
- Symmetra is a hero that relies heavily on game sense in addition to aim, which is unique for a damage (DPS) hero.
Symmetra Abilities Explained
Img via Blizzard Entertainment
Photon Projector (Primary and Secondary Fire)
Symmetra’s primary fire is a beam weapon that quickly ramps up in strength the longer it damages enemies. Her primary fire can charge up on enemy shields, making it a dangerous weapon for tanks like Reinhardt and Winston to contend with. However, at its lowest charge, the weapon deals only 60 damage per second (as opposed to 180 damage per second while fully charged). Therefore, Symmetra players should look for opportunities to charge up her primary fire and keep it charged before commiting to an engagement.
Symmetra’s secondary fire is a projectile weapon that can deal up to 90 damage when fully charged. Its projectile speed is relatively slow, meaning the orbs can be dodged fairly easily at a distance, but with less reliability at short and medium range. Symmetra’s secondary fire is a good tool for poke damage and finishing off low health enemies, and can also be used in 1v1 duels, especially at the start of the duel to remove a chunk of the enemy player’s health.
Sentry Turrets
Symmetra can place up to three Sentry Turrets, which damage and slow enemies in their radius of effect. In general, Sentry Turrets are best used to either lock down a position, by placing three turrets in different places in a similar area of the map, or as a surprise source of damage, by placing all three turrets directly on top of one another.
Due to their low health, Symmetra benefits from placing her turrets in hard-to-reach places, such as high up on a wall above where Reinhardt can swing at them with his primary fire.
Teleporter
Symmetra’s Teleporter allows her and her teammates to move instantaneously across the map in between the two Teleporter locations. It has 200 total health, meaning it can be destroyed relatively easily by the enemy team. Intelligent Teleporter usage can turn the tide of a teamfight by setting up alternate angles for Symmetra and her allies to attack from.
Teleporter can also be used in the middle of a fight to get Symmetra into the enemy backline. “Weaving” in and out of the Teleporter is a skill that experienced Symmetra players have mastered. When deployed, Teleporter will also teleport allied buildables that are within its deployment radius, such as Symmetra’s Sentry Turrets. With this feature of the ability, Symmetra can create “Teleporter bombs” consisting of one or more Sentry Turrets.
Photon Barrier (Ultimate)
Photon Barrier is a shield that deploys across the entire map, from the ground to the top of the skybox. It has 4000 health, meaning it can’t be easily killed by anything other than Bastion’s Configuration: Tank mode or Pharah’s Rocket Barrage. The ability lasts for 12 seconds once deployed.
Photon Barrier is an incredibly impactful ultimate if it is placed well and Symmetra and her allies get aggressive onto the enemy team with it. Note that some abilities are not blocked by shields, such as Orisa’s Terra Surge, meaning teams who push too aggressively with the help of Photon Barrier are able to be punished in some circumstances.
Recommended Overwatch 2 Streamers
- Shadder2k – This former player for both Team Liquid and Gigantti continues to top the leaderboard in Overwatch.
- Warn – Has hit rank 1 on the ladder for Ashe and continues to provide entertainment nearly every day from 6 pm – 2 am ET.
- Eskay – She is top 500 in every role and member of Dart Monkeys. She plays tournaments on stream. She is often live by 5 PM ET on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and the weekend.
- mL7support – High-level support player who streams usually starts before 9 AM ET and often runs for 8-10 hours each day.
- Emongg – Associated with the San Francisco Shock and can be seen playing every Monday through Saturday starting around 9 AM ET.
