Currently Reaper will stand still when teleporting from the place he is and stand still when he arrives. Which makes him extremely easy to kill, and by virtue the ability isn’t used much.
I understand that shadowstep can’t necessarily be made to instantly spawn reaper as this would be considered OP by many players using low mobility characters.
So my suggestion is that Reaper instantly disappear during the start of shadowstep, but still be in a vulnerable standing position at the place he arrives.
I think this would lead to more dynamic gameplay with Reaper as he would more easily be able to teleport onto high ground during fights which is essential to his Batman-esque playstyle on a lot of maps.
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this is quite possibly the first time I’ve ever seen anyone compare Reaper to Batman
I mean I don’t disagree with it, but it just kind of struck me as an odd comparison to make lol
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In that case screw shadowstep, give him a grappling hook and a few reaperangs!
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Oh man I used to play Reaper exactly like Batman from the cargo fight from batman begins.
Sneak around, pick off one at a time, then go in for the massive fight w/ ult
I would enjoy the ability for Reaper to get an instant LoS based escape that requires forethought in your positioning to not just get killed on the tail end of the animation. I honestly don’t know how long of a cooldown Shadowstep is on right now but it might need to be lengthened a hair since it becomes more comparable to Recall but requiring reverse planning skills.
Honestly, as much as I enjoy the idea, it might be a bit too strong. Instantly leave for free? His options would increase by a lot. Like, it sounds relatively small, but if it played out how I am imagining it would play out, it would be a tad much. Then again, as a Reaper main, do I really care?
Shadowstep is on a ten second cooldown and the cast time is two and a half seconds. Recall is on a twelve second cooldown and a one and a half duration that goes back three seconds.
I’m not sure if it would warrant a longer cooldown since unlike recall it doesn’t heal you.
Case in point, I have no idea what it’s at. 10 seconds is more than enough for it in my opinion. I’m in the camp that thinks Widowmaker should have an 8s Hook instead of 10s, so putting a “better” grapple on a longer cooldown makes sense.
Think about it, to use shadowstep he would still need to stop firing and aim where he wants to appear, so it would still technically leave him a bit vulnerable, it’s just he wouldn’t be frozen in place.
The enemy could also tell where you are teleporting because it would be in the direction Reaper was last looking.
Keep in mind you wouldn’t really be able to do anything like dissapear and reappear right behind enemies because they would hear you re-appearing and would have a moment to stun/headshot you or just run away.
When put in the context of blink, recall, dash or translocator it’s not that bad since it’s more than just a button press.
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I was envisioning it being extremely helpful on maps, such as Gibraltar, where you can just instantly take the high ground to escape a fight that you wraith’d into. Only mobile characters or long range heroes could punish it. But you are correct, I suppose it would not be completely instant. It would be just enough that I feel his engagement options would open up substantially and keep him in fights for longer.
imo his problem is the fact he is a tank buster/1m-close-range-murder that doesn’t do the job better/safer than any other tank busters. But if they buff his current damage or Ult’s damage, then he’d be OP (since he could drop squishies even easier at point blank).
I think they should give him an Alt-Fire ability that gives him some other type of utility. So while he won’t be the best/safest tank buster, he will have something else to offer to the team fight/effort.
That aside, buffing Shadow Step’s speed once again wouldn’t be a bad idea. This might sound weird I think it should be reworked to:
- Make him vanish from his starting position entirely after .3 seconds, but still be at the starting position (just invisible/invulnerable) as far as the game is concerned.
- The ring to his intended location will still appear, albeit as a very small ring of smog/fog/smoke/etc. It will gradually grow larger over .7 seconds. He can cancel the ability within the 1 second it takes for it to fully go through the motions, after that he is locked in. If he cancels it, he has a .1 second “can’t do nada” delay, which is still short but there for fairness.
- After the 1 second cancelation window passes, he is locked in. He will then teleport to the smoke ring and smoke-to-solid himself within the circle. The animation itself takes .6 seconds AND leaves him vulnerable. He is only invincible for the first .1 seconds of reappearing and after that it’s open season.
Overall, the ability will still have a window of cancelation except it’s 1 second long. Be another invulnerability move (invulnerability of a super short .8 seconds after a .3 second cast time. The teleport-lock-in is .6 seconds which is still enough for someone to get the jump on him. Overall everything is significantly faster by about 33%-40% and gives him more utility.
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Possible milder alternative: Keep Shadowstep channeled for the same amount of time it already is, with similar visuals, but allow Reaper to continue walking around until he teleports (he still can’t move immediately after teleporting).
Making the teleportation part be instant seems a bit extreme, because he then has two different instant escape abilities, which makes it unlikely to catch him without one. If he can move but still has to channel, at least players have a brief opportunity to see it happening and stop it.
Do you mean he has to first select the area he wants to teleport, then hit E to activate it again, allowing him to move while it’s being channeled, while still telegraphing where he’s going?
I mean he does it exactly the same way it currently works in-game, except he can still move until the teleport happens. Basically change it from a stationary channeling ability to a mobile channeling ability (like Whole Hog).
Yes. Also make him explode in a cloud of bats to signify his disappearance. In this way it would retain its “1-Star Hero blatancy.”
Allowing reaper to move maybe a half-second sooner would maybe be good? Or would that be too much?
Tracer, Doomfist, Genji, Hanzo and Pharah already have two escape abilities. I don’t think it would be too ridiculous.
Though I suppose they could make the animation show enemies where it is he’s gone. Maybe they could have a raven appear above Reaper’s last location who’s beak points int the direction he went.
Az, have you seen my suggested replacements a few months back?
I’d honestly like some direct feedback from someone who dances in GM/High masters.
My suggestions for improving Shadowstep:
- Fix the area-targeting logic to make the ability less finicky
- Give him damage reduction at both ends of the ability
This would greatly improve his initiation, while not improving its use as an escape nearly as much. The damage reduction percentage would have to be thoroughly tested, of course, to make it balanced.
I have not seen it and I didn’t see a topic of yours on the matter.
