Reaper Ability Idea! (Better at High ranks!)

General Discussion
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First before I start I must point out that this is not my idea but came from another user on the old forums (have not seen them on the new one) called AngelicDeath.
You can find the original post: Overwatch Forums

So if you see this AngelicDeath I got tired of hoping you would re-post this yourself since Reaper really could use some love. Hope you don’t mind! Reworded it to be a little more up to date.

Concept: Give Reaper a new alternate fire called Explosive Rounds. This alternate fire would be an ability that does not increase his base damage to targets. However, it would allow Reaper to treat armor as normal health and deal double damage to barrier’s for three seconds on a 12 second cooldown. Can be activated during ult.

Results?

  • Would increase his effectiveness against most tanks even when being heavily healed.
  • Would likely make him the ipso facto tank buster he was suppose to be and thus making him strong against heavy tank setups.
  • Has minimal effect on squishy characters unless bolstered by armor. Bastion, Brig, and Torb (current and upcoming iteration alike) may take the brunt of this change.
  • Would give Reaper a higher skill ceiling as it would require proper timing to take full advantage of.
  • Should not make Reaper a must pick.


Let me know if you like it! Once again, Thanks AngelicDeath. Hope this takes off and gets the dev’s attention.

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That is a good idea. And as a tank player, it scares me. This is one of the few good ideas that comes off the forums and there’s a slight chance it could be implemented

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Lot of people have been asking for this, and I suggested this earlier:

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Your post is part of what reminded me of the idea so I went digging for it.

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Oh, cool.

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That’s funny.

I clearly remember you being stood rather stubbornly in the “Reaper is fine, you’re just using him wrong”-camp.

Anyhow, at higher ranks the problem of armor is overstated tremendously. If the enemy Brigitte uses her ultimate then no one really cares much. Particularly, now that Reaper does consistent headshot damage armor is really minimal in terms of impact.

At higher ranks the following things really wreck Reaper:

  • Massive headshot hitbox
  • People don’t let you get away with shadowstep
  • His base speed is too slow for a CQC hero
  • CC is extremely powerful against him and easy to land
  • His ultimate is easy to counter so it’s really relegated to only killing Genji, Tracer and Lucio unless you can get a good combo off with other ultimates

I’m not against this idea, but I also predict it wouldn’t do much at the highest or lowest spectrums of play. I expect this ability would be more of a deal maker between platinum and low masters where sometimes people are intimidated by Brigitte’s ultimate and/or peolle refuse to shoot at the enemy shield.

Any buff to Reaper helps, but this would only fix some of the weaknesses he experiences, but at other levels he doesn’t share the same weaknesses, and as long as the other more prominent ones are not addressed then people won’t play him more.

That’s just food for thought.

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I read the title as “beer at high ranks” and I was all excited… v_v

That being said, it’s interesting, but not what reaper seems to need. He’s a flanker. Not a walk up to a barrier and shoot it hero. He needs better/faster ways of getting into the backline if anything. I agree with the people saying shorten the shadowstep time.

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Opinions change. Mine has been mostly that shadow step overall is fine. I did once think reaper was fine overall but that was kind of before Brig took over.

I still believe he does well at most ranks. Just think this would help in the skill ceiling part.

I can see what you mean. However, I do think this would be worth a shot. :slight_smile: Pun intended.

Agree but kind of disagree too. He can be a flanker. But he also has the dexterity to be a frontline brawler.

Also one interaction to think of

Currently even Winston’s Barrier can eat up his entire Death Blossom as it is 510 damage over 3 seconds. Allow Death Blossom to do double damage and he can peel through it with half of his ult and get some possible value out of it.

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I’m scared of this because it would be annoying. He needs something about him to be useful, maybe if he didnt have to stand still for way to long to teleport, or let him do it in wraith.

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I can appreciate wanting to buff other parts of his kit but I would rather focus on the idea this post brings. Could you elaborate on what you dislike about the idea?

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Wait…really? His ult only does 510? I thought it was more.

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Oh I’m here and still proud to be a Reaper main :muscle::sunglasses:

BTW, I still think Reaper is a bit weak, but keep in mind, I posted that idea before Reaper had is wraith form buff. If they ever added an ability such as that, they may have to take it down a notch at risk of overbuffing him lol

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It wouldn’t really do anything. I like the idea, but I can’t imagine this being very useful.

BTW torbs armor will take 2x damage but thats just negating it, it still would give extra effective health, just not nearly as much.

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Unless this is wrong. Which is possible.

It only does 170 per second.

Good to hear! Hope you don’t mind me snatching your idea right?

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Not at all. Between you and me, I was proud of the idea :hugs:

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Interesting…do you think there would be anything to making his ult do bonus damage based on proximity?

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that’s oddly specific damage considering how random it feels

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Considering the proximity is already pretty wide I am not certain it would. Also I do not think we want to buff him to kill squishies even faster during his ult. Might have some consequences many might not like.

Such as McCree having far less time to Flashbang him and such.

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That’s fair. I’m just not sure if he actually needs anything. On the one hand he seems weak, but that seems mostly to stem from being easily counterable. And buffing so many heroes worries me of power creep.

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Deadly, as a long time, high ranked Reaper main yourself, I was wondering as to your thoughts on the current state of Reaper. Do you think he is underpowered? Overpowered? Just right? What changes would you make to him? Especially when considering the points you made about what Reaper struggles against at high ranks?