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Hack
Enemy-targeting debuff hitscan type
15 m range
0.65 seconds cast time
Lasts 6, 20, 10, or 60 seconds
8, 4, or 2-second cooldown
Sombra hacks enemies to temporarily stop them from using their abilities, or hacks first aid kits to spawn faster and make them useless to her opponents. Taking damage interrupts the hacking.
Default Key: (, , )

Notes[]

Sombra is able to "hack" enemies, Torbjörn's turrets, Orisa's Supercharger and health packs, if the target is within 15 meters and in her line of sight. The casting of Hack will be interrupted if Sombra and the target move out of range, or if Sombra takes any damage from any source; if interrupted, Hack will go on a 2-second cooldown. Killing Sombra will not remove the hacked status on heroes, health packs or turrets. Sombra cannot cast Hack before the attacking team's spawn room opens.

A successfully hacked hero/object will have a floating holographic skull symbol above their head, with helix lines surrounding their body. The color of them is purple for allied Sombra, and reddish orange for enemy Sombra. The symbol is revealed to all of Sombra's allies. Furthermore, hacked status does not stack to each other; another successful hack from Sombra (or from other allied Sombra in the team) will only reset the timer.

Hacked enemy heroes will be blocked from using some of their active abilities for 6 seconds. Hacked enemies are still able to change weapons, use their passive ability, jump, reload, crouch, perform Quick Melee, and gain ultimate charge. Their health and ultimate status (only if their ultimate is ready) will be revealed for 20 seconds. Some abilities are interrupted upon a successful Hack, and will be nullified completely; for more information, check the table below.

A hacked health pack will last for 60 seconds. It will respawn much faster than normal (2.5 seconds for the small health pack, and 3.75 seconds for the large health pack), and it will be seen through the wall by all of Sombra's team. In addition, hacked health packs will become unusable by the enemy team. The skull symbol also serves as an indicator for the timer. Sombra cannot use Hack to "flip" a hack done by an enemy Sombra.

Hacked turrets will be inactive for 10 seconds. Making a new turret will not transfer the hacked status from the former turret to the new one.

When used on a Zomnic or Zombardier in Junkenstein's Revenge, the target will become immobilized for a brief moment.

In the Game Options, Sombra has an option that affects her Hack:

  • Hack Sensitivity: Adjust the sensitivity of hack's targeting. The less value it is, the closer the distance between crosshair and the target has to be for locking her "hacking thread".

Ability Interactions[]

The best rule of thumb for hack is thus: if it has a cool-down in the HUD or requires a direct button press, it will be affected by hack.

More specifically:

Key
Counter Hack will block immediately, ending the ability prematurely and/or causing it to fail.
Block Hack will block this ability if intercepted before usage.
Unaffected Hack has no impact on this ability.
EMP EMP has a unique interaction with this ability.
Intercept "Counter" in the window between button press and animation finish, "Block" otherwise.
N/A This hero has no ability under this category.
Hero Alt Fire Ability 1 Ability 2 Ability 3 Misc Passives Notes
Ana Scoped Mode Sleep Dart Biotic Grenade Nano Boost N/A N/A
Ashe Scoped Mode Coach Gun Dynamite B.O.B. N/A N/A Hacking B.O.B. stops his charge and completely disables him for 5 seconds.
Baptiste Healing Grenade Regenerative Burst Immortality Field Amplification Matrix Exo Boots N/A Regenerative Burst cannot be interrupted once started. EMP destroys Amplification Matrix.
Bastion Self-Repair Reconfigure N/A Configuration: Tank N/A Ironclad Bastion will be forced out of Sentry into Recon, but not out of Tank.
Brigitte Barrier Shield Whip Shot Repair Pack Rally Shield Bash Inspire
D.Va Defense Matrix Boosters Micro Missiles Self-Destruct Call Mech N/A Intercepting Call Mech before D.Va touches it will waste the ultimate, requiring recharge before retry.
Doomfist Rocket Punch Rising Uppercut Seismic Slam Meteor Strike N/A The Best Defense… Health provided by "The Best Defense…" will be wiped by EMP.
Echo Sticky Bombs Flight Focusing Beam Duplicate N/A Glide Sticky Bombs will not be interrupted if they're already fired. Neither Hack nor EMP can interrupt Duplicate, but it can temporarily prevent Echo from using any copied abilities
Genji Fan of Blades Swift Strike Deflect Dragonblade N/A Cyber-Agility
Hanzo N/A Sonic Arrow Storm Arrows Dragonstrike Lunge Wall Climb Once a special arrow is nocked it will remain in Hanzo's bow under hack, though it cannot be removed unless fired. Intercepting Dragonstrike will refund the ult charge.
Junkrat Detonate Concussion Mine Steel Trap RIP-Tire N/A Total Mayhem Hack prevents placed mine detonation.
Lúcio Sonic Amplifier Crossfade Amp It Up Sound Barrier N/A Wall Ride Health provided by "Sound Barrier" will be wiped by EMP, and hacking before he lands will interrupt it. Lúcio cannot swap between speed boost or healing when hacked.
McCree Fan the Hammer Combat Roll Flashbang Deadeye N/A N/A
Mei Icicle Cryo-Freeze Ice Wall Blizzard N/A N/A Mei can be hacked within Cryo-Freeze if it finishes just as she enters; she can still end it prematurely. A placed Ice Wall can still be smashed prematurely by a second button press. Blizzard is unaffected by hack or EMP outside blocking or intercepting.
Mercy Damage Boost Guardian Angel Resurrect Valkyrie Angelic Descent Regeneration
Moira Biotic Grasp Fade Biotic Orb Coalescence N/A N/A Hack can only apply if it finishes as soon as Fade starts, though the ability will still finish.
Orisa Halt! Protective Barrier Fortify Supercharger N/A N/A Halt! projectiles cannot be controlled under hack, and will only "detonate" on hitting environment.
Pharah N/A Jump Jet Concussive Blast Barrage Hover Jets N/A
Reaper N/A Wraith Form Shadow Step Death Blossom N/A The Reaping Hack can only apply if it finishes as soon as Wraith Form starts, though the ability will still finish.
Reinhardt Barrier Field Charge Fire Strike Earthshatter N/A Steadfast With the exception of Steadfast, all other abilities can be intercepted provided the animation does not complete.
Roadhog Shrapnel Ball Chain Hook Take A Breather Whole Hog N/A N/A Hooked players will not be released and the animation will finish.
Sigma Experimental Barrier

[note 1]

Kinetic Grasp Accretion Gravitic Flux N/A N/A Hacking Sigma will recall the barrier.
Soldier: 76 Helix Rockets Sprint Biotic Field Tactical Visor N/A N/A Soldier can continue Sprinting under hack provided he doesn't release the button. Placed Biotic Field is unaffected by hacking or EMP.
Sombra Hack Stealth Translocator EMP N/A Opportunist Sombra can still finish hack while being hacked herself provided it completes just as it is applied. A placed translocator cannot be used under hack. Sombra is able to be hacked after turning invisible if bumped into visibility, under Infra-Sight debuff, or if she doesn't finish cloaking; she otherwise cannot be targeted while invisible.
Symmetra Energy Ball Sentry Turret Teleporter Photon Barrier N/A N/A Her buildings are unhackable outside EMP. Photon Barrier will be destroyed instantly by EMP, but cannot be hacked normally.
Torbjörn Rivet Burst Build Turret Overload Molten Core Destroy Turret N/A A placed turret cannot be manually destroyed when hacked.
Tracer N/A Blink Recall Pulse Bomb N/A N/A
Widowmaker Scoped Mode Grappling Hook Venom Mine Infra-Sight N/A N/A
Winston N/A Jump Pack Barrier Projector Primal Rage N/A N/A
Wrecking Ball Grappling Claw Roll Adaptive Shield Minefield Piledriver Health provided by "Adaptive Shield" will be wiped by EMP. EMP temporarily disables mines.
Zarya Explosive Charge Particle Barrier Projected Barrier Graviton Surge N/A Energy Hacking only stops unused Barriers being used, Sombra cannot hack through an active Barrier. Hack can apply through a Barrier if it finishes just as Barrier starts. EMP will destroy Barriers and grant Zarya energy.
Zenyatta Orb Volley Orb of Harmony Orb of Discord Transcendence N/A N/A Placed orbs will not be removed or lose effect, but Zenyatta cannot apply them to new targets.
  1. EMP can also affect the barrier if it and Sigma are in range.

Trivia[]

  • Until Patch February 27, 2018, Hack used to gain ultimate charge for Sombra every time the hacked health pack is used: hacked health packs used by either Sombra or her allies contribute as healing done by Sombra.

Patch changes[]

  •  September 17, 2019 Patch: Experimental Barrier can now be hacked.
  •  July 24, 2018 Patch: Can now cancel her reload to use Hack.
  •  March 20, 2018 Patch: Now goes on a 2-second cooldown when interrupted by damage; now more consistently interrupted when targets break line of sight
  •  February 27, 2018 Patch: No longer gains ultimate charge from health pack healing. Cast time reduced from 0.8 seconds to 0.65 seconds. Now disables the following abilities: Genji's Cyber-Agility, Hanzo's Wall Climb, Pharah's Hover Jets, Lúcio's Healing Boost and Speed Boost (turns off current song entirely), Wall Ride, Mercy's Angelic Descent
  •  October 10, 2017 Patch: Now interrupts the following ultimate abilities: Ana's Nano Boost, Orisa's Supercharger, Mei's Blizzard, Reinhardt's Earthshatter, and D.Va's Call Mech.
  •  March 21, 2017 Patch: Sombra’s teammates can now see hacked healthpacks through walls
  •  February 28, 2017 Patch: New Hero Option: Hack Sensitivity.
  •  January 24, 2017 Patch: Cooldown has been reduced from 12 seconds to 8 seconds; Time it takes to hack a target has been decreased from 1 second to 0.8 seconds.
  •  December 20, 2016 Patch: Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to permanently hack a health pack.
  •  December 13, 2016 Patch: Fixed a bug that allowed players' Ultimate ability voice lines to play uninterrupted, even if they were hacked by Sombra during use. Console only: Fixed a bug preventing Reinhardt from deactivating his Barrier Field after being hacked by Sombra. Console only: Fixed a bug preventing Sombra’s Hack from cancelling Soldier: 76’s Sprint ability. Console only: When multiple Sombras attempt to hack a health pack, the player that initialized the hack first will now control it.
  •  November 30, 2016 Patch: Fixed a bug preventing Reinhardt from deactivating his Barrier Field after being hacked by Sombra. Fixed a bug preventing Sombra's Hack from cancelling Soldier: 76's Sprint ability. When multiple Sombras attempt to hack a health pack, the player that initialized the hack first will now control it.
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