Sombra

Lore & Background

Sombra's real name is Olivia Colomar, revealed in the Searching virtual comic released in September 2017. She was born within the fictional city of Dorado, Mexico, the same year that the Overwatch organization was established, and is a native speaker of Spanish. While young, she lost everything from the Omnic Crisis and became an orphan. She recognized her talents in hacking and the value of information, and later joined the fictional Los Muertos gang in Dorado. Eventually, she was recruited by Talon, an antagonist organization that includes Reaper and Widowmaker. As a hacker, she employed the name Sombra, Spanish for 'shadow', and eschewed her birth name. After Vendetta takes over Talon in Overwatch 2, she and several other members leave the organization and are now on the run.

In Their Own Story

Sombra's biography is provided through additional Overwatch media including the Overwatch digital comics. According to lead character designer Geoff Goodman, they wanted to bring more villain-like characters to the game. Goodman considers Sombra to be 'evil in the sense that she's kind of only out for herself', but will stay loyal to her employer as long as the situation continues to work out for her and further her own agendas. Casting for Sombra was done prior to her launch. Carolina Ravassa was part of one of those casting calls. Though Blizzard was looking for Mexican actors specifically with a Mexico City accent, Ravassa, who is originally from Colombia, had developed a northern Mexican accent, and used it during the casting call, gaining the role. Voice casting director Andrea Toyia then worked with Ravassa to tune the accent to where they wanted it. Sombra's dialog was written by lead writer Michael Chu, with help from members of Blizzard's localization team in Mexico to include local references.

Reader's Guide

Sombra is classified under the 'Damage' role in Overwatch. She is equipped with a low-damage, high-capacity machine pistol for short-range combat. Her abilities allow her to hack enemies and their deployables, which prevents them from using their abilities for 1 second after the hack is executed, though they may still use primary skills. Sombra's hacks also relay information about the opponent's health and ultimate ability status to her teammates, as long as they are within line-of-sight of the opponent, for about a minute from the hack. Her hacks can also be applied to health packs, allowing them to recharge at three times their normal speed, while also disabling their use for enemies. While her hacks on enemies are short, lasting ten seconds, her hacks on health packs last for 45 seconds, unless hacked again before this period ends. Sombra may also throw a 'translocator' to teleport, making her invisible for 5 seconds and gaining a burst of speed to hide behind enemy lines to perform her hacks. Her ultimate ability is an EMP blast that destroys all enemy barriers and shields, along with hacking enemies and dealing 25% of their current health in the process.

Did You Know?

• Sombra was the second new character added to Overwatch after launch, introduced at the November 2016 BlizzCon event.
• Her real name, Olivia Colomar, was revealed in the Searching virtual comic released in September 2017.
• Voice actress Carolina Ravassa is originally from Colombia but developed a northern Mexican accent to win the role.
• Sombra's 'Los Muertos' skin features a neon green skeleton tattoo that required new display effects to show the glowing ink.
• Early in development, Sombra was designed as a support character before being reworked around stealth and hacking.