How to help a main tank

General Discussion
1

Hello, I am Crona, I’ve spent a little over a decade playing video games and I would like to discuss a topic that has been apparently eating away at people like a festering parasite coated in tick covered leeches.

Main tanks are getting accidentally screwed over by the strongest attempt to destroy a meta I’ve seen since Infinity Ward nerfed dual Model 1887s. The stun/CC meta to kill the dive meta. I don’t play many tanks, and the only real main tank I would think I consider myself competent as is Orisa.

I have a Rein one trick friend, fun guy, likes beer, his idea was to give Rein more armor over HP and for him to take reduced knock back.

I wasn’t sure about the armor but that reduced knock back sounded interesting, so I thought about and I felt like I should tell SOMEONE at least.

Rein passive!

Front-line Shield - Reinhardt takes (20-50%) reduced knock back. (Doesn’t resist obvious things like Zarya grav or the specific height for Doomfist on his uppercut)

This value can be modified until it’s seen as fair.

Doomfist rocket punch
Junkrat mine
Roadhog’s ultimate
Lucio boop
Pharah boop
Brigitte boop
D.va boop
Maybe also blasts from ults like D.va, Junk, and Doomfist as well.

This would work primarily similar to how D.va and Orisa behave when they’re getting CC’d while firing, their horizontal momentum is stunted (Though why their vertical momentum is the same I have yet to understand). It would work this way in all directions. This can be seen as both a good and bad thing, as having reduced knock back against a Roadhog ult is a bad thing, but then again I’m sure most Rein mains would prefer not getting bumped around like a pinball if it meant to have to worry a bit more about Roadhog’s ult.

There was also a suggestion from the streamer ProlikeChro, a deeply intelligent analyzer and combat/war enthusiast, to actually get rid of Reinhardt’s slowness when holding his shield up and allow him to walk at normal speed so he’s not helpless to try and stop himself from getting stunned and could even potentially maneuver himself to avoid it entirely.

I don’t just want tank main’s suggestions, I also want those who one trick, play support, DPS, flex, and of any rank. The variety of opinions and suggestion may actually be a possible solution.

5 Likes
2

The issue has always really been that stun meta isn’t killing the viability of main tanks. Not picking a Reinhardt right now is throwing, despite this being stun meta and Orisa being the anti-CC main tank.

I think it’s a fairly unavoidable fact that making Reinhardt simply better isn’t an option. He’s already mandatory and he’s already overperforming compared to other main tanks.

However, he is becoming unfun and therefore a change is deeply wanted by many. So basically you’d have to nerf him first to give him room for these resistances. What would you have nerfed though?

3 Likes
3

Buff Orisa, she should be the business in this meta, but weirdly isn’t.

4

I like this idea for 2 reasons.
First, the reason given which would help allow the Reinhardt player to maneuver against stuns.
The Second, it would indirectly be a buff to his shield allowing the Reinhardt player to close the gab quicker to perform his role better; saving HP on his shield.

I think Briggy’s shield bash simply needs more counter play. Like the way McCree and Tracer have counterplay. I think if you allowed Reinhardt to not be stunned when his shield was up to Briggy’s shield bash, this would offer a lot of counter-play to her.

Imagine the mind games between Briggy and Rein players. Rein players could try and lower and raise their shield in the attempt to bait out Briggy’s Bash, and Briggy players would have to be more mindful about how they use their stun.

Not only this, it would make the Stun Earthshatter combo much more difficult to pull off and feel more rewarding. This would also open up a much higher skill ceiling for the ReinBriggy vs ReinBriggy mirror match up we see so much of.

4 Likes
5

I still do not understand to this day why Reinhardt with shield up can be stunned.

The excuse ‘that would make shield bash useless because people will be hiding behind him’ is not even logical and can be countered with the same excuse Brigitte apologists use, the ‘just shoot the shield first’.

Just don’t allow shield bash to stun him if he is holding the shield, my goodness.

4 Likes
6

I think that’s more to do with keeping things consistent than actual balance. If Brigitte’s shieldbash stops working through barriers then so should Rein’s charge and Genji’s dash and so on. Melee attacks just go through barriers.

1 Like
7

I do not mind her going through barriers to stun the next person near him but when she stuns him, the one who holds it.

Hence that it makes him stop shielding, there is legit no difficulty in performing a tactic that does such serious impact to a hero. He is moving slowly, it is basically impossible to miss him. Such abilities should be more difficult to execute in my opinion.

8

Nerf Nothing, like seriously his kit is so outdated and simple. Saying that he should get nerfed before buffing him is completely stupid, since he’s been untouched for a long time they didn’t even bother to fix his bugs. These changes has been demanded before this stun meta, just because he has high pick rates now doesn’t change the fact he needs help.

1 Like
9

I’m with you there, I agree.

However that would be making a totally arbitrary one off interaction between two heroes that is totally different to the established mechanics of these abilities. I can see why they wouldnt be keen to fill the game with random one off interactions that new people have to memorise.

10

Regardless of what people have been demanding, I think it’s really unlikely to happen without a nerf somewhere else. He’s statistically too good and Jeff has already confirmed they’re not buffing Rein.

11

you are mentioning roadhog’s ult like its a threat to anything

12

That was awhile ago. A lot has changed…
And a lot has stayed the same (like his bugs).

1 Like
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They didn’t say such a thing, besides There’s two reasons why Reinhardt has high pick rates. Before season 10 he was 1 of two anchor tanks and people loved playing him more than Orisa. Second reason is Brigitte, and how she’s the main reason his pick rates skyrocketed in season 10. But guess what, she’s getting a lot of nerfs soon, and if she’s getting weak so is Reinhardt.

14

Well, I wouldn’t consider it impossible to be Brigitte and remember the ‘stunning Reinhardt doesn’t work so don’t do it’.

Just like Genji can’t deflect beams, their mains, new and old get use to it at some point and keep it in mind. Brigitte players right now in their game play is basically ‘I can stun everything so smash that button regardless the hero you face’. Legit nothing to keep in mind as form of difficulty, not even the cooldown because of how short they are.

2 Likes
15

He really doesn’t need buffs. You have to nerf him elsewhere, heavily, for some of these suggestions.

16

Lol, this is your argument now huh. “Nerf Reinhardt before buffing him”

No, it’s the other way around. We need to buff him first than make changes to the new buffs. Like Sombra and all the others. Besides I didn’t see anyone of you complaining about Reaper and Mei getting buffed and use this argument “nerf them first, than buff them”

lol hilarious…

1 Like
17

He’s picked more than Brigitte is in GM.

He’s not weak. Never has been.

1 Like
18

For the last time, pick rates doesn’t mean everything in this game. Do I have to mention the “Sombra, Doomfist, Reaper, and Mei heroes that got buffed and their pick rates didn’t change” example everytime someone says Reinhardt has high pick rates?

19

Reinhardt is completely unbalanced, and unfun to play when you’re getting thrown from one side of the map to the other and stunned 3 times every 10 seconds.

20

You just have your perception on enabling wrong. Rein enables Brigitte, not the other way round.

Funny you mention Sombra who’s supposed to be so strong against Rein, and yet where is she while he’s on both sides?