Symmetra’s role in the meta is very straightforward. Her ultimate ability, Teleporter, allows teams to reduce the long distances from their spawns to the point of contention, in turn allowing for more aggressive play and greater resiliency from team wipes. However, because of her dependency on stacking sentry turrets to speed up her ultimate charge, she sees more usage on the first points of defensive sides of escort/hybrid maps, where the defending team is given time to set up.
Yet, despite a limited range of utility, Symmetra had a pickrate of 36% on the four most common escort/hybrid maps (Dorado, Numbani, Hollywood, and King’s Row) during the recent Agents Rising LAN. While her usage per team varied due to preference (Liquid used her 80% of the time on the maps examined), she was clearly a niche pick in the competitive meta.
So the question is: exactly how successful is Symmetra in the competitive meta?
Defining Success
Because of the preference for teams to switch off Symmetra after their defense of the first point, I avoided using win rate as a definition for success. In its place, I used average time spent before capturing of the first point. This statistic is better for two reasons. First, it allows for a more all-encompassing look at the full potential of Symmetra. By being able to set up all six of her sentries at important chokepoints before the round begins, Symmetra is able to optimize her skill set and speed up her ultimate charge. Secondly, the current competitive format stresses an absolute stopwatch rule, so recording the amount of time to capture the first checkpoint gives us a better idea of how influential Symmetra’s role in the defense was.
Initial Results
The four maps being looked at showed different levels of Symmetra usage. King’s Row clocked in at the lowest percentage with 12.5%, with Hollywood having the highest value at 66.7%.
|
Map Name |
Symmetra Maps |
Maps Played |
Percentage |
|
Dorado |
3 |
11 |
0.2727 |
|
Numbani |
4 |
8 |
0.5 |
|
Hollywood |
8 |
12 |
0.66666667 |
|
King’s Row |
2 |
16 |
0.125 |
These numbers make a lot of sense in the context of the map choices. Three of the maps (Hollywood, King’s Row, and Numbani) include static capture points that make it easier to set up sentries around.
Three of the maps (Dorado, Numbani, Hollywood) also include very tight chokepoints that the enemy is required to pass through in order to either escort the payload or capture the point. This forces the enemy into turret damage, which not only slows them down, but also allows for faster ultimate charging.
I also explored the worst and best performance by teams with and without Symmetra on each of the maps.
|
Map Name |
Best Defense w/ Symmetra |
Best Defense w/o Symmetra |
Worst Defense w/ Symmetra |
Worst Defense w/o Symmetra |
|
Dorado |
5:00 (No Capture) |
5:00 (No Capture) |
2:42 |
1:44 |
|
Numbani |
5:00 (No Capture) |
4:55 |
1:06 |
1:04 |
|
Hollywood |
5:00 (No Capture) |
5:00 (No Capture) |
1:07 |
:47 |
|
King’s Row |
3:59 |
5:00 (No Capture) |
1:23 |
:39 |
At a first glance, Symmetra seems to provide defenses with a higher floor, meaning teams with Symmetra at their worst typically did better than teams without Symmetra performing at their worst. With the exception of the Best Defense on King’s Row, Symmetra Teams showed better Best Defense and Worst Defense times.
Of course, these statistics hardly tell the entire story. Because of the varying levels of skill between the teams present at the Agents Rising LAN, some of the best and worst times were influenced by peak performances by specific teams and weak performances from others.
I needed to find a more telling statistic.
Exploring Further
In order to give a better overall view of the effect of Symmetra, I looked at the average times to first capture both with and without Symmetra.
|
Map Name |
Average Time in Secs w/ Symmetra |
Average Time in Secs w/o Symmetra |
|
Dorado |
254 |
186.375 |
|
Numbani |
241.5 |
173.5 |
|
Hollywood |
213.75 |
113.25 |
|
King’s Row |
161 |
143.357 |
These figures were significantly more revealing about how powerful Symmetra was. On average, teams with Symmetra were confirmed to have performed at least 17 seconds better than their Symmetra-less counterparts, with a top difference of 100.5 seconds on Hollywood.
From a statistical point of view, Symmetra is clearly the best choice to run on all of these maps, so why are pros so split on her priority in the meta? The answer lies in Symmetra’s efficiency.
While Symmetra’s turrets do offer some initial defense, the majority of her strength lies in her ability to cut down long travel times and reduce the effect of team wipes. It could be argued that Symmetra does not reach her full potential until she fully charges her ultimate for the first time. So how much time are you really sacrificing to get Symmetra to her full power?
Luckily for you, I’ve decided to look into this statistic as well.
|
Map Name |
Average Time Spent Charging in Secs |
Difference between Average Time |
|
Dorado |
64.333333 |
67.625 |
|
Numbani |
68 |
53.666667 |
|
Hollywood |
69.7143 |
100.5 |
|
King’s Row |
75.5 |
17.643 |
Hollywood was the most efficient map for Symmetra, offering a 21 second return for ultimate investment, while King’s Row and Numbani both saw negative returns, with King’s Row having a huge -57.857 seconds.
These differences can be attributed to a large number of factors.
King’s Row suffers from the capture point being in a relatively open space. Because of the lack of a real choke point, (the only one being the gate that mid runs through on the way toward the point, but even that one has more than enough routes to circumvent) Symmetra is unable to dedicate her turrets to a single location, delaying her ultimate charge. Furthermore, King’s Row lacks safe spaces to hide teleporters, forcing less efficient placements. Numbani suffers from the same issues.
Symmetra finds success on Hollywood and Dorado because of the strong positions of turrets.
Dorado features many arches and chokepoints that the payload must pass through, with the most prominent one being Yellow Arch on route to Checkpoint 1.
Hollywood offers discrete turret placement along the treeline near the first capture point, as well as the potential to block off the main gate and computer room.
Symmetra’s lack of healing also puts defensive teams on a back foot against triple DPS or double healer. Her ultimate is usually the top target for opposing teams, making the lifetime of these portals usually very low, depending on how well it is hidden. For this reason, teams will run Lucio as an alternative, trading instant transportation for a more consistent speed boost and survivability. Symmetra also overlaps with other defensive niche picks, like Torbjorn and Bastion; both can protect choke points better and offer more DPS and tankiness.
Last Thoughts
In conclusion, Symmetra isn’t always super successful, but that’s not to say she’s doesn’t have the potential to be. Her strong presence on Hollywood illustrates “what could be” given a closer look at efficient turret placement. And moments, like at 21:48 of the Agents Rising Grand Finals, show how powerful her ultimate can be for mitigating team wipes and stalling point takes.
Given enough time and buffs, Symmetra may one day be a mainstay on defensive sides. For now, we’ll have to be satisfied with a few tables and a dream of more statistical significance.
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