Less than half a year since the release of their 30th hero, the healer Baptiste, Blizzard is back once again with a new hero, the “eccentric astrophysicist” tank Sigma who is able to harness the power of gravity.
In his origin story, we get to know a little more about Sigma, a kind and brilliant scientist who suffered serious psychological damage following a failed experiment that granted him the ability to manipulate gravity. Unfortunately, he was locked away in a secret government following said failed experiment and only got his freedom after he was broken out of the facility by Talon.
Not long after his origin story was released, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan released a developer update, giving us more insight into Sigma and how he works.
According to Kaplan, Sigma is a barrier tank hero that uses the power of gravity to attack his does and protect his allies. Sigma will come with 400 health, of which 100 is made up of Shields. Much like Zenyatta, Sigma floats around in-game and will not have any audible footsteps.
Here is a look at Sigma’s various skills and ultimate:
Hyper Spheres
Sigma launches two gravitic charges that implode after a short duration, dealing significant damage in an area.
Sigma’s primary fire launches two short distance projectiles which bounces of a surface at least once and then explode after a short time, dealing proximity damage and unleashes a slight gravitational pull. Each orb does 60 damage for a direct hit (including the explosion).
Experimental Barrier
Sigma propels a floating barrier to a location of his choosing. He can recall the barrier at any time.
Sigma’s right click ability is a projected barrier with 1500 health that can be deployed in different angles to help his team in different situations. Players can stop the barrier on command and retrieve the shield at any time, and place it in a different place. The shield regenerates health when it is not deployed, similar to how Reinhardt’s shield works.
Kinetic Grasp
Sigma stops incoming projectiles in midair, converting them into shields.
Sigma’s Shift ability lets him put a field in front of himself which stops incoming projectiles and converts them into protective Shields for himself. This ability is currently able to generate up to 400 shields.
Accretion
Sigma gathers a mass of debris and flings it at an enemy to knock them down.
Sigma’s E ability throws a big rock at enemies. This ability not only deals damage but also knocks them back slightly.
Gravitic Flux (Ultimate)
Sigma manipulates gravity to lift nearby enemies into the air and slam them back down.
Much like fellow Talon hero Doomfist, Sigma’s ultimate gives him a big targeted area on the ground. Everybody on the opposing team that is caught within the radius of his ultimate will be thrown into the air, where they will be suspended there and left vulnerable to attacks from Sigma’s allies. At the end of the ultimate, those caught in the ultimate will be flung back down to the ground and be dealt massive damage.
Sigma is currently available on Overwatch’s Public Test Realm on PC, so you can head on down to try the new hero out.
Germaine is a fun-sized introvert who loves nothing better than sleeping in on rainy days. She can be found reading fanfiction and manga while still waiting for her Hogwarts acceptance letter. It’ll come eventually.
Edwin Teo
Si Jia
