Sigma Overwatch Guide

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John-Carlo Vijuan

Having cut his teeth in the writing game at WhatifGaming, Jae has turned his attention to writing about his most beloved genre, MOBA's and has a particular passion for the breakout FPS MOBA titles, Valorant and Overwatch, and can't wait to see what Overwatch 2 has to offer!

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Sigma is a very great and versatile tank. He has a wide range of abilities, ranging from stuns to projectile absorption and even shields. He offers excellent offensive potential, especially at medium-range and choke points. Let’s take a look at Sigma’s lore, skills, beginner tips that you should know, synergies and counters, and skins.

Lore

The Brilliant Astrophysicist That Aims To Harness Gravity

Dr. Siebren de Kuiper is an astrophysicist hailing from his lab centered in The Hague City in the Netherlands. Most of his work revolves around harnessing gravity and transforming it into a tangible power within his grasp. De Kuiper believed that “gravity is a harness,” considering that the unifying theories are true.

His true aim was for humans to use and direct a black hole, which we all know as the most potent version of gravity. Achieving his goal will change humanity forever and open up an infinite number of possibilities for technologies and understanding of the universe.

Coming to a conclusion with one of his most impressive works yet, De Kuiper went to the International Space Station to perform his “Finale” to the experiment. Unfortunately, his experiment started to fail as the work area became unstable. De Kuiper tried his best to contain the situation, and this is where a black hole appeared due to the influx of gravity.

De Kuiper was within the exposure to the black hole where his brain was split in half, resulting in some psychological damage. Gravitic fluctuations were responding through De Kuipers actions indicating that he got powers due to the exposure to the black hole. He immediately left the work area and fled back to Earth.

The government welcomed De Kuiper with a warm quarantine in a secret facility. They might have seen De Kuiper as a menace due to what happened in his facility, and his damaged psyche didn’t help much with his situation. The government kept De Kuiper contained in the secret facility and gave him the name of “Subject Sigma”; hence, he is now known as Sigma.

Sigma retreated into his own mind in hopes of controlling everything within himself, and at the same time, he knows that he probably will never see the outside world ever again.

Allegiance With Talon Mercenary Group

A mercenary group called Talon found out about Sigma’s capabilities and decided to break him out by sending their agents to crash the facility. Talon wanted to use Sigma’s ability for their evil schemes, which are to create chaos, fix the mess, and get paid for it.

They successfully broke Sigma out of the government’s secret facility he was in and took him into their confounds. During his tenure within the Talon mercenary group, Sigma learned more about his powers and how to control them until he could command gravity around him at will.

This discovery excited Sigma as this was his true intention from the get-go. Still, with his damaged mind, Sigma persevered to hold everything intact and continued to develop his grasp over his newfound powers. At the same time, he continued working in an off-site laboratory that Talon conveniently gifted him.

Skills

Hyperspheres

• 2 charges per burst, each, 55 H.P Direct Damage, 9-30 H.P Splash Damage, 2.25-7.5 H.P Self Damage.
• Projectile Speed: 50 meters per second; maximum range 22 meters. 3 meter area of effect implosion radius.
• Rate of Fire: 1 burst per 1.5 seconds; infinite ammo. Not capable of headshots.

Sigma’s Hyperspheres bounce off of walls, floors, and ceilings. Enemies within the implosion’s A.O.E. will be slightly pulled towards the center of the projectile.

These hyperspheres work best at medium-range and at choke points, similar to Junkrat‘s grenade launcher; however, what’s different between Hypersphere’s and Junkrat’s grenade launcher is that Hypersphers do not have much of a downward falling motion; hence you do not have to account too much for the projectile motion.

Experimental Barrier

• 700 H.P, regenerates 80 barrier health per second, after being down for 2 seconds.
• Projectile Speed: 16.5 meters per second; maximum range is infinite; Area of Effect 4.5 meter height, 5 meter width at the poles, curves to 7 meters in the middle; Cooldown 2 seconds when recalled, 5 seconds if destroyed.

Upon activating the ability, the barrier/shield moves forward until you stop holding down the ability button. This barrier is essentially good for blocking D.P.S. at the high ground since you can force the shield up to their faces, causing them to find a new vantage point or waste their time shooting at the barrier.

Remember, if Sigma dies or Sombra hacks Sigma, the barrier instantly disappears, so keep that in mind whenever you’re using this ability to cross dangerous points on the map.

Kinetic Grasp

• 60% of the damage absorbed is converted to temporary shields (maximum of 400 shield H.P.)
• Maximum Range 3 meters. Duration 2 seconds; Cooldown 12 seconds.

Sigma absorbs projectiles and hitscan in front of him and converts them to shields. This ability is powerful as it can negate incoming projectiles, even projectile ultimate such as Graviton Surge, Blizzard (Drone thrown by Mei before the Blizzard starts), and the Dragonstrike (Arrow before it becomes a dragon.)

Be very careful when using this ability, though, as crowd control abilities like Brig’s stun, Sigma’s Accretion, and Cassidy’s Flashbang cancel the Kinetic Grasp early, negating any shield gain if Kinetic Grasp is canceled too early.

Accretion

• 70 H.P direct damage, 12-40 H.P. Splash Damage, 6-20 H.P. Self Damage.
• Movement Speed -75% penalty. Projectile Speed 37.5 meters per second.
• Maximum Range of 4 meters Knockback (direct), 1-2 meters knockback (splash), 2 meters knockback (self)
• Casting Time 0.65 seconds; Duration 0.8 seconds knock down. Cooldown 10 seconds.

Sigma gathers a mass of debris from the ground and throws it at an enemy, knocking them down and interrupting any skills that they are casting. This ability goes through Genji’s deflect, D.Va’s Defense Matrix, and even Sigma’s Kinetic Grasp.

Use this ability whenever you want to interrupt any important casting skills such as Roadhog’s healing ability, Sigma’s Gravitic Flux (very hard to do since this ability has a lot of downward movement as a projectile), and if you can time it correctly, Reinhardt’s Earthshatter.

Gravitic Flux

• 50 damage (lift), 50% maximum H.P (Slam).
• Movement Speed: 7.15 meters per second. Area of effect 7 meter radius.
• Casting Time 0.6 seconds (intro), 2 seconds (lift) 0.6 seconds (high gravity); Ultimate Cost 1960 points

Sigma manipulates gravity to a particular area and lifts enemies caught within the A.O.E., and slams them back down. A few tips to remember here is that while using this ability, you can use your hyperspheres to attack enemies while they are in the air to deal more damage to them.

There are a few heroes who can get out of the “lift” phase of this ability, which are Orisa (Fortify), Mei (Cryo-Freeze), Reaper (Wraith Form), and Moira’s Fade ability. Some heroes will also be able to disrupt your casting time, like Brig’s stun (if you’re low on the ground during your ultimate), Ana’s Sleep Dart, Cassidy’s Flashbang, Mei’s Blizzard, etc.

Make sure that whenever you use this ultimate ability, you’re making yourself very mobile by moving side to side and moving up and down; this is to ensure that you won’t get hit by any crowd control abilities.

Beginner Tips That You Should Know If You Want To Main Sigma

Sigma is a difficult tank to master, he has so much potential on a good player, yet he becomes a burden on players who are not so used to the hero’s kit. Let’s talk about a few tips per each of his abilities, a few matchups, and some situations in which you have to be cautious about when using Sigma.

Learn the optimal distance for your Hyperspheres

Hyperspheres have a weird distance of when they will explode, and this is the main reason why you should always position yourself optimally to directly land hits on your opponents, as these hyperspheres can do up to 120 H.P. of damage. One good tip to utilize proper spacing for Sigma is to use your barrier to move up to an optimal distance for your hyperspheres to land.

If you are not at the optimal distance, you’ll see your hyperspheres whiff, and your opponents will only take a fraction of the damage potential that Sigma has. This ability is essential for Sigma, as landing the spheres will help you gain a much faster ultimate, and force your opponents to respect your distance, possibly putting them in a position that will be more detrimental to their team.

In CQC (Close Quarter Combat), learn to weave in melee attacks in between your Hyperspheres as the time between firing two hyperspheres is slow.

Deploy, retract and redeploy your barrier constantly

Sigma isn’t the same as he was when Blizzard first released him. His barrier only now has 700 H.P., before it was 1500 H.P. This technique allows you to block key abilities that your opponents might throw at you, such as Roadhog’s hook.

Also, this technique gives enemies a sense of signal for them to throw their key abilities and long cooldown abilities, only to be disappointed as they see you redeploy your shield and block them. Use this technique in conjunction with his Kinetic Grasp Ability to move up to an optimal position for Sigma’s Hyperspheres.

Remember, once your Experimental Barrier is down, it can regenerate at least a few H.P. before you redeploy it once again, replenishing the damage it takes.

Know when to use your Accretion ability

Accretion is a disruptive ability that can counter channeling skills. The most useful for Accretion in low ranks is when an enemy Roadhog heals himself or when Roadhog uses his ultimate ability.

You can cast Accretion to cancel either of these abilities and nullify Roadhog’s ability to sustain and the ability to possibly eliminate your teammates. Make sure to practice the range and drop-off of the Accretion’s projectile in the training range so once you hop into a match, you are already accustomed to its mechanics and timing.

Understand the usage of Kinetic Grasp

Kinetic Grasp is a straightforward skill to use; however, you need to know when to use this ability. You can use this ability in conjunction with the deploy, retract and redeploy barrier technique we have discussed to move aggressively and take space for your team, forcing enemies to back out of a tricky spot to be in with Sigma.

There’s an available map called Sigma Reaction Time Practice Tool as part of the custom maps in Overwatch, which allows you to practice either Accretion or the Kinetic Grasp.

This map gives you the option to practice countering a Doomfist Rocket Punch with Accretion, a Mei Blizzard with Kinetic Grasp, a Reinhardt Shatter with Barrier, a Moira Coalescence with Accretion, and a Pharah Barrage with any of your abilities. The map also has four difficulty or modes for you to choose from so ensure that you practice these skills as they will definitely help you in clutch situations.

Choose the proper targets when using Gravitic Flux

Using Gravitic Flux allows you to levitate and be more mobile on the battlefield. There’s a great way to use the Gravitic Flux, and one of them is by deleting squishies (Heroes with less than 250-200 H.P.).

Once you’ve gotten at least the supports during the lift phase of Gravitic Flux, make sure to use your mobility to distance yourself properly and hit these supports, and kill them once the slam phase begins. Also, this ability is interruptible with crowd control abilities; make sure that you keep track of these abilities and cooldowns so you can successfully perform the Gravitic Flux.

Synergies, Team Composition, and Counters

Let’s get to synergies and counters to Sigma. Similar to other heroes, Sigma can not carry a team on his own; however, paired with the right teammates, you can easily dominate low ranks and competitive queues with your friends.

Heroes That Synergizes Well With Sigma

• Reinhardt– Reinhardt synergizes well with Sigma as he can handle tight corners and C.Q.C. (Close Quarter Combat), whereas Sigma is great at medium-range combat. Not to mention that Reinhardt functions as the main tank, which is something that Sigma is terrible at doing.
• Zarya–  Zarya can provide further protection to Sigma if he wants to go all-in, which makes Sigma viable for the main tank role. She can harness Sigma’s aggressiveness to gain energy to increase her attack damage.
• Bastion– Sigma, along with Orisa, can provide a bunker/pirate ship-like spot for Bastion, protecting him at all costs. This strategy is good for low ranks as many players in the low ranks, especially on solo queue, can not deal with a well-protected Bastion.
• Baptiste– Baptiste is Sigma’s best friend as Baptiste can stay behind Sigma to heal him constantly while providing constant damage under his barrier.
• Ana– Ana is also similar to Baptiste, wherein she can stay aggressive while pocketing her tanks and throwing critical Biotic Grenades to disrupt C.Q.C. tanks.

Heroes That Counter Sigma

• Winston/D.Va/Wrecking Ball– Winston, D.Va, and Wrecking Ball is Sigma’s worst nightmare in a tank vs. tank matchup. Due to their mobility, these tanks can easily go around Sigma’s shield, bypassing his protection. For D.va, you have three options when she uses her Defense Matrix, either wait it out, bounce your hyperspheres off of the wall to avoid the Defense Matrix, or use Accretion to stun her off of it. For Winston, I highly recommend using Accretion to stun him off of his jump. For Wrecking Ball, carefully predict where he is going to use his Piledrive ability, immediately put your shield up and use Accretion to stun him and burst him down.
• Reinhardt– The biggest problem with Reinhardt is when he gets too close to Sigma. Sigma is not that good with C.Q.C., and this is where Reinhardt excels. There’s also the problem that Reinhardt’s rocket hammer goes through Sigma’s Kinetic Grasp. Reinhardt can also negate your Hyperspheres whenever you use your Gravitic Flux, especially when the enemy team is clumped together. Keep your distance against Reinhardt, and try to whittle down his shield with your Hyperspheres before using Accretion on him.
• Orisa– Orisa has too much health and shield. By the time you destroy Orisa’s shield, she should have another one ready by that point. Orisa can negate your Accretion and even Gravitic Flux by using her ability called Fortify. Orisa can quickly destroy Sigma’s shield, especially now that Sigma’s barrier only has 700 H.P. Wait for Orisa to use most of her skills before engaging her in a 1v1 fight.

• Sombra– Sombra can hack Sigma during his Kinetic Grasp, disabling Sigma early and causing him not to get enough shield and, at the same time, cancels Sigma’s barrier. A few tips I can give you against Sombra is by spamming corners to force her out of stealth and she will now instantly translocate away from you. Another tip is that you can place your shield closely to you so that when you hear Sombra remove her stealth and hack you, you can quickly jump on the other side of the shield to break the “hacking process.”
• Doomfist– Doomfist’s rocket punch goes through Sigma’s Kinetic Grasp, and most of his mobility can quickly get him out of Sigma’s optimal range. It would be best if you practiced using Accretion while Doomfist is charging up his Rocket Punch and bursting him down with your teammates. Another point where you should use Accretion is when he uses his Uppercut. He usually doesn’t have maneuverability while using that skill so you can easily land your Accretion on him. If Doomfist uses his ultimate ability, try to look for your backline and throw a shield in front of them to protect them from the damage of Doomfist’s ult.
• Brigitte– Brigitte’s power in C.Q.C (Close Quarter Combat) is a nightmare for Sigma, as Brigitte can quickly delete Sigma’s health. Not to mention that Brigitte can cancel Gravitic Flux and Sigma’s Kinetic Grasp. Sigma can block Brigitte’s Shield Bash ability with his own shield, try to time it correctly so you can protect yourself from getting stunned by her. Play at a safe distance against her as she only has 200 shield health, and if possible, try to bounce your hyperspheres so that they’ll bounce directly to Brigitte killing her in the process.
• Zenyatta– Zenyatta’s orbs burn through Sigma’s barrier, and also, his Orb of Discord is a problem for Sigma since he has such a low health pool. Zenyatta’s Transcendence also counters Sigma’s ultimate ability, negating any damage to squishies and preventing Sigma from being able to burst down supports. A few tips against this match-up that I can provide is that you can block off Zenyatta’s Trans with a shield in front of Zen. A blocked healing can net you kills as Zenyatta usually activated this ability whenever most of his teammates are low. Lastly, when you try to activate your ultimate ability, Gravitic Flux, try to hold off as long as possible to see if Zenyatta will preemptively activate Transcendence. Doing so will disable the amount of heals that he can provide.

Skins

• Classic (Default)
• Blauw (Rare)
• Groen Oranje (Rare)
• Roze (Rare)
• Dr. De Kuiper (Epic)
• Talon (Epic)
• Asylum (Legendary)
• Subject Sigma (Legendary)
• Oracle (Legendary)
• Prophet (Legendary)
• Rime (Legendary: Winter Wonderland)
• Overwatch League Skins

FAQs

Conclusion

Sigma is a difficult hero to master; however, you are greatly rewarded for your time and patience in knowing everything about his kit down to the optimal range for him. He is a strong Off-Tank hero that can wipe out everyone in a given choke point with only his Hyperspheres.

Recommended Reads:

• Sojourn Overwatch Guide
• Wrecking Ball Overwatch Guide
• Izanami Build Ideas
• Ravana Build Ideas