Strong Against
Weak Against
Strong Against
Weak Against
Featured on the official Overwatch Twitter account! https://x.com/PlayOverwatch/status/1945543961604432228
This build has been updated for the Sigma buffs added on 8/7/25. Not much of the actual build has changed, but certain areas of the build are stressed more (particularly due to the buff to how much barrier health is gained proportional to money earned).
I update this build fairly regularly based off of my own testing and suggestions from others. Feel free to provide feedback on it; I appreciate it a lot!
The main idea of this build is pretty simple: melt down the enemy with tons of damage from your primary fire while being able to keep yourself up with the combination of [De Kuiper's Thesis], [Orbital Barrier], and [Philharmonic Fortitude].
This build synergies with literally any hero that can capitalize on the damage you do, as well as any hero whose damage and/or utilize can be capitalized on by you. The utility from heroes such as [Ana] and [Zenyatta] especially can bolster the amount of pressure you do.
Playing against [Zarya] sucks. [Beam Splitter] really isn't enough to prevent her shredding you, so it's not worth taking up an item slot for it. The best you can do is keep your distance and keep her Energy low so her presence isn't so overwhelming.
A tanky [Mei] can prove difficult to play against as well, since she has a lot of tools to zone you hard without much you can do to fight back. You could attempt to counter her with [Beam Splitter], but like with [Zarya], the build will lose a lot of power with it taking up an item slot. She also obviously has other things other than her primary fire that make her a pain. Try your best to keep your distance from her as much as possible and spam her when you can to force her cooldowns.
[Junkrat] is annoying simply for how easy it is for him to melt your barriers. Use your Experimental Barrier conservatively while also cycling it to keep [Orbital Barrier] from breaking and thus you from losing a chunk of your self-sustain.
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Round Notes
The 8/7/2025 buffed the scalar to barrier health gained proportional to money earned to 150%, up from 100%. I'm honestly really surprised that they did this because his barriers are already pretty sustainable. Regardless, we want to take advantage of this as soon as possible by getting [Philharmonic Fortitude]. This will increase your survivability drastically thanks to the increased uptime of your Experimental Barrier alongside the buffs to his barrier health scalar. [Trinisphere] is still a usable first power depending on the matchup, but [Philharmonic Fortitude] is certainly more consistently successful when getting it Round 1. While [Trinisphere] is an easy way to boost your damage right off the back, [Philharmonic Fortitude] increasing survivability is more valuable in most situations. You do more damage when you're alive than when you're dead, after all!
Depending on the matchup, [First Aid Kit] might be a nice choice if you can keep your distance. [Field Rations] is also a potential option if it's a good map for it.
Your main goal this round is to earn as much money as possible. If the enemy is playing grouped up often, spam your primary fire into them to get a lot of splash damage off. Cycle your abilities accordingly to prevent your Experimental Barrier breaking (though this should be relatively easy with [Philharmonic Fortitude].
Comments
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Log InUpdate: Got to Elite tier 2 now with 17 wins and 7 losses. (71% winrate)
is it worth it getting Advanced Nanobiotics round 3 along with De Kuiper's Thesis?. The healing from the barrier procs the 10% attack speed from Advanced Nanobiotics.
Sorry for the late reply! Yes, depending on the round and how much money you have, Advanced Nanobiotics can work really well. Once I get some time to actually test it out enough with a couple games, I'll update accordingly. Thanks!:)
Little update, I’m in Pro 4 with 68% winrate ! Maybe I’ll get to All Star this season
Alright so this build rocks. I'm not sure about [Philharmonic Fortitude] first. I would say it depends on the team comp. Sometimes Trinisphere made me win a lot. Otherwise it's rock solid. I'm in an insane win rate and I'm destroying the opponents. So much so that I wonder if Sigma will get nerf during the season. I would say pick Apogee Alignment if you're against a Rein or a Queen.
Thanks for sharing !
Thanks! Yeah, the first power seems to be pretty situational. Once I have enough time, I'll probably go more in-depth on what to choose depending on what the opposing team is running. :)
Do you have a forge code for import build? Please.
@ActionGamerX , @Astra i couldn't find it in the notes, have a similar build with some fill-ins
@ActionGamerX Added it to the build notes, sorry for the wait!
do u mind making an in game version of this build itd be so useful its so good
@MesoTroop3r Added it to the build notes, sorry for the wait!
From some brief playtime with Sigma, I really do not like opening [Trinisphere] first power. I feel like [Philharmonic Fortitude] is strong round 1 as it lets you sustain and stay on point a lot more. My preference so far has been open with defense and sustain and really focus more on WP as the rounds progress. However this is just my take from very brief time playing, so grain of salt!
I'll for sure give that shot sometime. The main reason behind going Trinisphere first is really just to farm enough money to get strong fast with good items. With a goal like that, the power is easily the best option since, well, it's his primary fire. If damage mitigated got you money (which I can argue should, at least damage mitigated by barriers), I would really like Philharmonic Fortitude Round 1.
Thanks for the feedback!
@Astra My view is that if I am alive longer, I am able to do more damage. I find the survivability of shield power round 1 allows me to pump out some hefty damage numbers. More shields = more left clicks and more chance for your team to sustain you, in theory! Also, with a stronger shield people want to spam into it more, which is really easy to take advantage of with kinetic grasp! When I see people pelt the shield, I will use grasp and walk in front of it, lower shield, then replace it with max hp again since it recovers so fast. Try shield power a go round 1 and let me know what you think! I would be interested to see is trinisphere or shield better in theory for pumping out more left clicks.
Again, this is just my view and very open to testing and changing etc, still trying out different powers round 1 and different builds. I think super tank build feels strong, but can lack in damage, while trying to build heavily WP can be tricky too. Hard to strike a balance. I was also messing around with some AP builds around Accretion that seemed promising! Will test more.
This is great, thanks! Got 7 wins 0 losses right now (100% winrate). Climbed in an hour and a half from rookie to contender. Hopefully now just as easy to elite. Fun build!