The Capture the Flag game mode for Overwatch is one of the game's most popular features. It’s been out for over two years now, and people are still finding new strategies to tackle it with. This latest one involving Sombra, however, might be a little over-the-top, quickly crossing from “strategy” into “glitch” and “exploit” territory for Overwatch.
The trick was posted on Reddit by user ZeMedicIsHere, and it involves Sombra and her teleporting abilities. The player sets up Sombra’s teleporter near their own flag and then bum-rushes the enemy’s flag while using Sombra’s invisibility skill. As soon as the player grabs the flag, they teleport back to their flag and end up taking the enemy’s flag with them, thus earning their team a point with little effort.
This trick is obviously one of the reasons why Overwatch’s Capture the Flag game mode took so long to release initially. Jeff Kaplin, Overwatch’s director, explained that it was the unique character abilities and skills that made implementing Capture the Flag so difficult. He described the problem as some characters being able to get around maps easier than others. With this new exploit, Sombra looks to be the primary perpetrator of this.
Normally, Sombra’s supposed to drop the flag whenever she tries to teleport away with it. It would seem that if you activate the ability quickly enough, however, the flag won’t drop until Sombra has actually teleported away with it. This new trick sounds like its something that could be done consistently too. Several commenters on the Overwatch subreddit claimed that they had similar experiences when dealing with Sombra players.
Exploits in multiplayer happen all the time, and developers are normally quick to patch them out. This case doesn’t seem like it will be any different. Sombra players should get their fill of using it as much as they can before Blizzard figures out how to correct the exploit. Although, with Blizzard now chugging full-speed ahead with Overwatch 2, this exploit might stick around a little longer than normal. Hopefully, the other game modes of Overwatch can satisfy fans in the meantime if Sombra happens to be ruining their fun in Capture the Flag.
Overwatch is out now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.