How to Fix Sigma

General Discussion
1

Sigma needs to be a reasonable main tank to be paired with Roadhog or Zarya if he is to move out of his 38% GM winrate without bringing back double barrier. To do this, he needs more survivability without buffing his barrier so he’s not overwhelmed so easily. Since most of his strengths (the oneshot rock combo, his uninterruptible ult, his barrier that is now clunky and weak) have been nerfed out of him, it’s time for the backbreaking weaknesses that make him so easy to counter to be worn down too.

-500HP base. 350HP, 150 shields. He’s still more fragile than Rein and Orisa because he has no CC mitigation and no armour, but he doesn’t die to a stiff breeze any more. Now that his barrier is worse and Kinetic Grasp is still on a long CD, he needs to be better at tanking damage if he’s supposed to be a main tank.

-Let him use Kinetic Grasp during his ult animation, like how Genji can use Deflect during Dragonblade. He needs to be able to be caught out by things like Roadhog hook, opposing Accretion and attacks from angles he can’t see coming but still have some sort of self-defence. If you get grabbed by a Sigma ult the correct play should not be “pop Deadeye and 100-0 this tank who cannot fight back or escape before he dies, cancelling his ultimate that took four hundred years to charge and did 50 damage”. With that you’ve actually got to try to outplay him during the ult rather than just get a near-free cancel if you’re paying attention.

2

Sigma needs to be a reasonable main tank to be paired with Roadhog or Zarya if he is to move out of his 38% GM winrate without bringing back double barrier.

“I want sigma to be better, but without being good.” Just reread this to yourself. This is insanity. You complain about a hero being too powerful until they get nerfed, then you say they’re too weak and demand buffs. Have you tried just leaving them alone?

500HP base

Kinetic Grasp already raises his health above 400, this would be pointless.

Let him use Kinetic Grasp during his ult animation

Dragonblade is a transformation ultimate, not a channelled ultimate. No hero can use abilities during a channelled ultimate, in exchange for them being very damaging.

If you get grabbed by a Sigma ult the correct play should not be “pop Deadeye and 100-0 this tank who cannot fight back or escape before he dies

You should be able to activate Sigma’s ult before deadeye gets enough damage to kill you. You also have teammates, who should try helping you.

With that you’ve actually got to try to outplay him during the ult rather than just get a near-free cancel if you’re paying attention.

All channelled ultimates are designed to be able to be cancelled like that. That’s the point, you have to actually use your brain to get value out of them. The best strategy has always been to use your ult when the enemy team is already dealing with something else. If you just run at the enemy and ult as Reaper or Pharah you’re going to die. Roadhog almost always dies during his ult. That’s how these abilities work, it’s not the game’s fault that you don’t understand what you’re meant to be doing.

3

That’s not my complaint. If double barrier comes back, Sigma and Orisa will get dumpstered again and I don’t want that to happen. So for Sigma to come back he needs to come back in a composition that doesn’t also run Orisa.

No it wouldn’t, it’d mean he wouldn’t have to use his worse Defence Matrix on a 10 second cooldown to have more HP than a Zarya.

Then Sigma’s ult needs a buff in some other way, because as it stands any team with their eyes open can shut down one of the longest charging ultimates in the game extremely easily without really much Sigma can do about it most of the time. There’s a reason why his statistics over the past week are catastrophically bad: Sigma sucks now and that’s awful.

Deadeye goes from 0dmg to 400 in just over 1.5 seconds (it charges 80 dmg in the first half a second, then 138 over the next second, then 550 per second beyond that, so the remaining ~190 damage is charged within the next 0.35 seconds,) meaning Sigma’s dead in 1.85 seconds assuming he starts the Flux at full HP.
The lift animation lasts for 2 seconds.
If McCree ults as the lift starts, Sigma will die before the lift ends and there is nothing he can do about it. His team is much more capable of doing chip damage to you, an unprotected floating tank with no abilities, to kill you faster than this than your team will be equipped to help you stay alive up there.

And their ults charge really really quickly to reflect that (and in the case of Blossom and Barrage can wipe teams by themselves if unanswered). Hog presses E and gets a third of his ult. Hell, Reaper heals off Blossom damage! Sigma’s ultimate takes as long as Graviton Surge to charge for a much easier to counter effect, to the point that it’s not worth the time it takes to generate it.

4

If double barrier comes back, Sigma and Orisa will get dumpstered again and I don’t want that to happen.

It will happen because of YOU.

it’d mean he wouldn’t have to use his worse Defence Matrix on a 10 second cooldown to have more HP than a Zarya.

Why does he need more HP when he has a barrier?

Then Sigma’s ult needs a buff in some other way, because as it stands any team with their eyes open can shut down one of the longest charging ultimates in the game extremely easily

That isn’t my experience, have you tried being better?

There’s a reason why his statistics over the past week are catastrophically bad:

Because he was nerfed into the ground on the orders of people like you.

If McCree ults as the lift starts, Sigma will die before the lift ends and there is nothing he can do about it.

It seems like what you’re saying is that you’re doing that thing bronze Sombra’s do where they run in alone, pop their ultimate and then they get confused when they die instantly and achieve nothing. You have to work with your team.

their ults charge really really quickly to reflect that

Tank ultimates cost more because tanks are more survivable, but Gravitic Flux costs less ult charge than Whole Hog.

Hog presses E and gets a third of his ult.

Do you play Roadhog a lot? Because that’s not the case. Hog has been bad for ages and that doesn’t seem to bother you.

Sigma’s ultimate takes as long as Graviton Surge to charge for a much easier to counter effect

Graviton Surge doesn’t deal (meaningful) damage… If you don’t like Sigma then the solution isn’t to change the character, it’s to stop playing him. I don’t like Wrecking Ball, I don’t ever pick him playing tank, but that doesn’t mean that he needs buffs. It means that his playstyle doesn’t suit me. If you want a tank who can pop ultimate without as much thinking then try Reinhardt or Orisa.

5

I love Sigma. I have loved Sigma since he came out. I renamed my account in his honour. I don’t want him in the dumpster tier. I don’t know why you think that. I want Sigma to be good, and I know that bringing double barrier back will just result in him getting dumpstered again because double barrier is a composition so vicariously hated by most of the community (But not me) that a nonstop hissy fit will be thrown about it until it dies (we just saw that), which I do not and have never wanted. I don’t know why you’re so accusatory.

He’s struggling in all ranks from bronze to GM. I’m sure you can show them all a thing or two though, right? I’m sure the 38% WR Sigma players in GM aren’t playing on your galaxy brain level, right? Jokes aside, I’m glad you’re doing well with him, but it’s indisputable that Sigma’s struggling really badly now for everyone else, especially as you climb ranks and people are more aware of what you can do and how to shut you down. That’s not a dig at you or a boast about myself, that’s verifiable statistical truth.

Hog was a meta hero not that long ago, just before Sigma’s release. When Orisa and Sigma, the two tanks who are best with him, have been placed in the dumpster, Mei exists, and tanks that synergise with Rein are at a premium, Roadhog is going to struggle no matter how much you buff him (within reason). I would like to see Hog be good again (more diversity among tanks is always good), I just don’t think buffs will do that as well as cultivating a wider metagame where he can thrive because by raw numbers his kit has almost never been stronger: it’s just not his meta right now.

6

I am only stating the fact that he’s perfectly viable, what other people can or can’t do isn’t my concern. I would expect people in higher ranks to be more capable, but invariably they cry and beg for balance changes.

it’s indisputable that Sigma’s struggling really badly now for everyone else, especially as you climb ranks and people are more aware of what you can do and how to shut you down.

Sigma may be outside the meta in high rank play, but SOMEONE has to be. If it wasn’t Sigma it would be Reinhardt or Orisa, and then people would make posts about them.

Hog was a meta hero not that long ago

It was half a year ago, practically an eternity in game time. That was before role queue.

Mei exists

It is perfectly possible for you to counter Mei if you put in the lowest level of effort. If you don’t I can see why you would be frustrated.

I just don’t think buffs will do that as well as cultivating a wider metagame where he can thrive because by raw numbers his kit has almost never been stronger: it’s just not his meta right now.

He is never going to be the meta, because (like D.va) his strengths lie in countering things that do not exist anymore. Hog deletes multiple DPS comps, those no longer exist. Barriers were nerfed excessively, so teams require multiple barrier tanks to survive. This is not only never going to be reverted, but it is highly likely that even more drastic changes are on the horizon, which is why Blizzard are pushing hero pools.

Sigma is welcome in the battered heroes shelter, but it’s pretty clear that he’s not doing nearly as badly as some other tanks. Yes he was nerfed, but there’s nothing wrong with his ultimate specifically.

7

So im assuming as you are talking about GM winrates you’re around that rank, however my tank is diamond rank so the player base is slightly slower, meaning when i play sigma and use ult i just shoot my shield slightly up and in front of me and use it to get the ults off, also you shouldn’t be ulting out in the open on him so play him on maps where its close quarters and there is lots of cover as you can use your ult behind walls.

8

I agree with a lot that has been said here. I especially want to underline the shield idea. I think a weak shield that I can cast instantly would restore it’s use and not make it too oppressive in a double shield scenario.

All I wanted to say. Just… Someone please give me insta-shield back. Its fun.

9

Bro, if you want it then you just need more other people which complain about it too. This is how it works in this community.

Look, this whole community hates hanzo and widow. So they get nerfed. Heroes like mccree get HP buffed for no logic reason.
If someone would buff hanzos arrow speed a little bit to fix the physics issues then all would complain about it and then he would get a nerf.
And with physics issues I mean bugs like doomfist can just eat you arrows if he push you in the air xd (But nobody care about it)
Also you have to hardcore predict for the ball in close range to be able to hit him and thats really really wrong and shouldnt be like that.
And if you dont trust me at all then just look the reasons why they buffed orisa, the ape or reaper. Those statements say me that they dont know what theyre doing.

OR a good ecample is tracer xd. All guys in this community love tracer and so do the devs. But FINALLY after thousand of years tracer got nerfed.

10

well sigma is one of those tanks that you can’t buff or nerf properly because of a bloated kit, if he becomes good he becomes TOO good, if he becomes bad he becomes irrelevant.

there’s a lot of characters that are like this.

but it’s gonna be interesting when they are trying to make tanks into brawlers and how that is gonna work for orisa and sigma in particular.