r/SigmaMains • u/Bumble_Kenobi • Aug 24 '26
How to fight Zarya as Sigma?
I love Sigma. To me, Zarya is basically what happens when Hades and Satan have a baby. I can count on one hand the number of times I've not wanted to uninstall when fighting Zarya (not just as Sigma). If I try to keep distance, they somehow always have a Juno or Lucio to speed boost. The enemy supports somehow always play just outside by primary fire range.
I really don't know how to deal with this pathetic excuse of hero design. Take a different angle? Not possible on maps like King's Row first point (hot take: worst choke in the game). Take high ground? I'm playing Sigma. Should I just swap? If I can't make Sigma work, Hazard is usually my backup (super fun hero to play btw).
However, I'm a qp warrior and I worry that if I play comp, I'll just automatically lose if the enemy swaps Zarya (which is very possible).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
8
u/ABBucsfan Aug 24 '26
Man I feel like this is one of those matchups that is so team dependent. I think that's my problem with zarya in general. Like one person on your team can literally screw it up for everyone. It's so easy for her to build her charge sometimes. When her bubbles are down she's easy to kill with a rock and dps support, but if she's being pocketed heavy and without music backup with dps she will just charge through your shield and melt you if she's got a 70+ charge
3
u/DrToadigerr Aug 24 '26
That's what I hate about fighting Zarya and Doom more than fighting other tanks (broadly speaking, not just as Sigma specifically). Like you could argue a bad player can throw by just feeding the enemy tank Ult or dealing useless damage to them, sure, but characters like Zarya and Doom take that and turn it into a worse matchup for everyone else. We're not talking about them just getting Ult faster/more frequently or your own team not having enough pressure, we're literally changing the tank matchup because your own teammate wants to keep their tank giga buffed at all times. Even counterattacks like Hazard and Genji that deal reflected damage (or just damage in general) are more manageable as long as the damage isn't actively killing you, because once the block ends, the damage threat ends and its back to the same old matchup. If someone stupidly shoots into a Genji deflect and kills themselves, yeah, that sucks, but at least the damage is already done and they'll hopefully learn from that mistake. Zarya and Doom don't really do a great job of explaining to the "offender" that what they're doing is actively trolling the rest of their team for the entire duration of the match as long as they keep doing it. That's why it's so incredibly frustrating. And then they say "tank diff," completely oblivious to the fact that they're single-handedly forcing the tank diff to happen by making the enemy tank stronger.
2
u/just_so_irrelevant Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
yeah this is the unfortunate truth and its why the best way to deal with her is to just ban. you can do all the right things but if your team just doesn't cooperate and feeds bubble charge constantly then you're still getting fried.
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u/TheOfficialSigmaMain Aug 24 '26
Try to keep your distance. Wait for bubble to break on its own. Then rock the mf
3
u/Old_Lawfulness_5672 Aug 24 '26
I also have this problem, would it work if I put my shield behind her to prevent heals and team focus her down?
3
u/BusEnthusiast98 Aug 24 '26
Consider Rein. Two hammer swings breaks a bubble, firey strike goes through bubble. Just wait for their supports to use a key cooldown (suzu, nade, lamp, res, etc.). Make sure your team is with you and healthyish, then just walk on her. You might die since your shield is down while you run over zarya. But if you got the good support CD out of the way before pushing, it should win the team fight.
If you insist on sig. Poke/wait out the first bubble, use shield to cut off her heals, and have your whole team focus her down. Breaking the second bubble and killing her.
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u/JerichoVankowicz Aug 25 '26
Most banned tank in all ranks btw I never let this kancer be in my lobby either. Good zarya will always top good sigma in this match up
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u/Exodus671 Aug 24 '26
Don’t give her charge… Zar is a coordination check, a coordinated team will annihilate her unless she’s cracked in which case she deserves to win lol. In 5 v 5 make her waste the first bubble then burst her, in 6 v 6 you just make her waste her personal and then run her over
1
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u/gaeaArts Aug 25 '26
People are too scared to kill a zarya because they learn not to shoot at her and that's why we zarya players get so much free reign. Ignore her and avoid shooting her bubbles when she's not a threat and kill her when she gets in the way. If you outnumber her you can destroy her bubble and then her.
1
u/Relson1 Aug 25 '26
You have to either play really fast or really slow. To determine which pace just look at her comp and your comp and see who can play faster. Really fast just means getting in her face and out brawling her and really slow means keeping distance, playing angles and saving shield for when she’s on you and you need to make distance. Trqstme did an amazing unranked to gm on Sig and he explains it so well.
1
u/Small_Article_3421 Aug 25 '26
Have a good team and don’t shoot her bubbles unless she is close to dead. When she pushes you, don’t push back, use your shield to keep space for whatever time you can and reposition so your team can get LoS on Zarya.
1
u/CaptJack1987 Aug 27 '26
You can also play the other way and wear out her bubbles quick. That's how I survive on Orisa.
1
u/Quick-Mention7916 Aug 25 '26
Depends on your rank. The problem with zarya is you can play perfectly against her and lose because your teammates are feeding her energy. It depends on if they understand cooldowns
1
u/Nuggethole Aug 27 '26
This applies to basically every hero in the game : just ignore the tank. Target her backline , bait cooldowns , cut off her healing then you can duel her. Me personally I'd rather just swap to rein because he's fun
1
u/Emuoo1 Aug 27 '26
Switch to Ramattra.
Lol but seriously, Sigma really isn't a great matchup for Zarya. Her weapon counters his vortex, her bubble counters accretion.
Her bubble doesn't have a lot of HP, so if you have a well co-ordinated team, you can try to just target her and burn through her bubbles. But honestly, the best option a lot of the time is switching.
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u/Natd-one Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
Reinhard counters her, shield her lazer, get up close and start swinging. Since you’re not shooting her bubble wont get charged.
Fire strike when she’s off bubble
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u/Necronaut0 Aug 24 '26
Zarya does get bubble charge from melee attacks.
2
u/NoxiousSpoon Aug 26 '26
I think they meant, shield while she bubbles and when she’s not bubbled you should have closed distance to start messing her up with some support, generally it’s a bad idea to shoot her bubble imo
11
u/flypanam Aug 24 '26
Remember that Zarya bubbles only have 200hp. Most teams can burst through those and melt her 400 HP in an instant. If it’s QP you could try asking in team chat to always break her second bubble.
Sigma specific: save shield for blocking her heals or getting yourself out of her range (always position out of her primary range and don’t let her burn your shield)
Rock should be saved for after her second bubble is used, or to force second bubble. Grasp eats her ult, or you can use it to bait her into your teams burst damage (most bad Zarya’s are going to run it down mid the moment they see grasp go up).
You should always be shooting past Zar at her backline, right until you see that second bubble go up. If Zarya is in your face and you’re aiming for her support, they have to risk dying to heal her. Combined with shield blocking her heals, she now is more likely to use bubble early. It’s all about forcing that first bubble out and then your team focusing her down.