Okay, Reaper never got really changed for a long time.
And I fell like he can’t keep up anymore, soon.
Here is why:
- Brigitte added, more stuns and armor are hurting Reaper
- Hanzo got rework and he can kill everyone faster from a close range
- range buff and spread buff for many heros Bastion/McCree/Mei/Solider/Orisa
- Torb rework, new shotgun is insane + Reaper bad against turrets
Other problems
- Teleport is clunky and wonky to use
- big hitbox/head-hitbox
- close quater hero, but no tool to get in
- general counters like range and highground
- shotguns feel inconsistent
- ult is easy countered, no burst, bad range
It’s always claimed Reaper’s niche is to counter tanks.
But he can’t really do that reliable, other heros do his job better or he doesn’t even have the chance to do it. He just gets counterd to hard.
He is not a reliable flanker, you can’t really play him that way.
Reaper has not really a purpose in the game right now.
His niche is taken and you have no benefit anymore picking him, latest after the new PTR.
Pls improve Reaper.
21 Likes
Take out tele, replace with smoke grenades
He needs something without a doubt
Keep tele, tweak/buff it. (Lower voiceline. Lower cast time. Instant teleport from his initial cast position, still have load in time at the back end of teleport)
Add smoke grenade to his alt fire. Possibly give them added benefit other than just obscuring vision. I.E. Can see enemy outline in and cthrough smoke, they can’t see yours. Or maybe even add extra life leach while you’re in or firing through your smoke. Hell, give reaper armor piercing rounds when firing in or through smoke. Could even have the smoke slow enemies to an extent. (Obviously not all of the above. But one or a few of what I listed could go a long way)
His hellfire shotguns need tweaking/buffing. Give em the torb treatment, that sexy fixed spread pattern. Maybe lower the spread a bit or give him a few extra rounds. Even some armor piercing percentage would be wonderful.
His ult probably needs a little bit as well. I would’ve said extra damage to armor, but our little dwarven friend got that. So no need to double up. Maybe either give Reaper CC invulnerability, or if they want that to be his ults weakness, give him damage reduction by 20-30%.
Another option for brawling would be to possibly bring back his soul globes. Have them only drop when he gets the final blow on an enemy. Keep his life leach and the globes give him 25 or so HP. Let em stay on the map for 45 seconds. Or hell, even let him acquire a set number that builds a meter that he can use to trigger another ability (instead of smoke grenade). He can press alt fire and it begins draining the meter, while active it gives him CC resistance and extra life leach. Press alt fire again to stop the meter drain and it goes on cooldown for a set time. Or screw the globes and just give him that ability on cooldown instead of smokes. He’s supposed to be a brawler and this would help a lot. His counters are a plenty, this negates some (CC in close quarters) but allows range to still be his main counter.
9 Likes
Great Suggestion
He can’t keep up anymore
2 Likes
You’re right! He most definitely can’t keep up currently 
I get the feeling they’re worried they also might over tune Reaper and he’d be an absolute terror for teams to deal with. After all, we don’t want another ironclad 35% damage reduction Turret terror a la, Bastion.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m fine with him being a situational pick. I can’t see him being viable and optimal all the time. But I’m not fine with a character over shadowing and replacing him almost entirely. Sure, him and Torb have differences, but they fill the same general role… Except Torb does it better with the added utility of his turret. That’s why I think it’s important that Reaper keeps the flanking aspect of his style (with some tweaks and additions). Then they both can brawl, but Reaper has the added ability to flank and assassinate. Where Torb has the benefit of his turret. But to get to that point, Reaper first needs some buffs/tweaks to brawl equally, otherwise there is little to no reason to pick the edgelord over king Dwarfy poo.
2 Likes
I agree he mustn’t be always viable, but with so many buffs/Qols/reworks he will get absolete
1 Like
Exactly. He needs something so he’s able to fill his role when needed or the map allows it. And I don’t want him to be fully buffed just on the brawler side so then Torb gets over shadowed. Like I said, the ability to flank for Reaper is the biggest separating factor between the two at the moment, so I hope they take that into account. Nothing wrong with being similar, but allow them to have different utilities and major options.
1 Like
Yeah would be pretty nice if they get it this way. Hog will also be improved…
Just saw in another thread that they’re working on Hog currently and he was meant to be changed some in the current PTR patch, but they didn’t have enough time with some visuals for him to make it in. They also mentioned that it’s not a rework. So Hog will be getting something soon. Hopefully they’re also working on Reaper and didn’t have enough time to implement it. That or the mild uproar of Torb over shadowing him will get them to start working on it immediately
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Yeah, there two heros with a similar shotgun, could completely overshadow him.
And their kit is probably better/more forgiving
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the tank buster thing just isn’t working for him anymore, there’s so many other characters better at it now and making him strong enough to compete would cause tank mains to feel targeted.
2 Likes
Yeah, I think so, too.
Even they have to make something different about his shotguns/damage.
1 Like
And what do they do about it? Nothing, now they decided to work on Hog again, because apparently he is now in more dire situation than Reaper…
Yeah and your point?
This will make Reaper’s situation even worse.
If you wanna know what about it read above…
1 Like
It’s just another nail in the Reaper coffin. I was refering to the original post, haven’t noticed Hog discussion above.
1 Like
Reaper’s in tough spot. Like you said, tanks are in a bad spot too. And the unfortunate trend: changing heroes to be better against tanks in one way or another. I really think Torb’s alt fire (his shotgun) should not have been made better. Those changes should have been given to Reaper, THE shotgun hero. Torb’s shotgun should be a back up use (emergency. Fire and hope for the best). Whereas reaper, who has no other source of damage, should have a more consistent shotgun. So now they’ve really painted themselves in a corner. Leave Reaper trash and forget about him? Or buff him and make it even harder on tanks? I love the Overwatch team, but it’s really unfortunate that they buffed Torb in the way that they did while seemingly neglecting Reaper. I’m glad Torb got his rework, but it now overshadows Reaper. They have pretty similar roles, except on paper Torb is superior in most ways to fill that role.
So what do I propose? Adding more flank skills/options to Reaper. An ability that helps him to be a better flank/brawler hybrid (as that seems to be what he was initially intended to be), as Torb seems to be a more pure brawler with added turret utility. So give Reaper assassination/flank utility, a la smoke grenades and tweaking his shadowstep to truly allow it to be used mid battle. (Sorry to keep repeating myself. But the more places I do so, the higher chance a dev may see our gripes and suggestions to help Reaper in any way)
1 Like
What do you think about giving Reaper a slight change, like giving him 1 more shell in each shotgun that would be fired only by alt fire.
Those 2 shotgun shells would have for example 3x dmg to shields and buffed damage to armor which would not be negated by it, but would not be able to dmg red health pool?
This would give him back a viable spot as a shield/tank buster. In ult he could have it as a starting 1s dmg or burst every 2s or sth like that.
how about instead they just nerf brig, torb and hanzo?
For one of the most powerful characters in lore he sure is a chump in the game.
3 Likes