Reaper needs help! Rework/changes needed

General Discussion
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With the new PTR changes I feel like Reaper is falling behind and I (and many others) don’t want Reaper to become even more of a joke. That said I was thinking of some changes. Please read the entire post and afterwards I would like to hear your feedback and you own idea’s to make Reaper great again… Because we all know the last time he was good was 10 full seasons ago and that was because of Ana and not Reaper himself.

So here is what I came up with.

Hellfire shotguns
(Multiple idea’s. Not all points have to be done. These are just multiple suggestions)

  • Armor piercing
  • Spread decreased
  • Fixed spread pattern

Point 1.
This allows Reaper to deal easier with armored enemies.

Point 2.
This allows Reaper to deal better with smaller enemy hitboxes while also giving him more effective range since his shots can land more pallets further away.

Point 3.
This allows Reaper to have some consistency with his primary fire

Shadow Step
(Reworked ability idea)

  • Cooldown decreased from 10 to 8 seconds
  • Casting time decreased from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds. (1 second on each end)
  • Indicator changed for the enemy. The enemy now sees a low hanging thin black mist lying on the ground for the place Reaper teleports to instead of the red lighthouse he uses now.
  • Shadow step now works as seen in Reapers highlight intro. He disappears into the ground and rises back up on the other end.

This allows Reaper to more frequently use shadow step while also making the ability more useable in more situations. Because the indicator is harder to spot the enemy has to keep their eyes and ears open at all times. Now that the ability functions as seen in his intro he is a bit harder to headshot or kill during his first casting fase.

Smoke grenades
(New secondary fire ability)

  • Reaper can now shoot smoke grenades from his hellfire shotguns.
  • Grenades cover a 5 meter radius and explode on impact.
  • Enemies can only see 2 meters in front of them. If you are on the edge of the smoke screen the effect will still be the same as in the middle.
  • 8 sec cooldown with a 3 sec duration. The cooldown starts when the grenade works out.
  • Grenades travel 17.5 meters per second and have the same trajectory as Junkrat’s granades.
  • Doesn’t require normal ammo. The ammo for the ability comes in the form of the early Souls that Reaper could pick up. If Reaper makes the final blow on the enemy the orbs come flying toward him no matter the distance. If he gets an assist on the enemy he has to go and pick the orbs up like he used to.

This allows Reaper to set up not only his own plays but also plays for teammates. The ability grows stronger the further you get into the match if Reaper doesn’t use it until the end. The ability is also strong as a escape cover screen or to disrupt/disorient the enemy in chokes or other closed of and tight spaces. This (Souls) system combined with the cooldown and area of effect and duration hopefully makes it so the ability isn’t OP or oppressive to play against.

Keep in mind numbers can be changed. I’m not a developer after all so I don’t expect everything to be amazing in this concept!

For example;

  • If his Hellfire shotguns become too oppressive the damage could be scaled back from a max of 240 to 200 for example.
  • If the smoke grenades become too oppressive the cooldown could be increased, the up-time could be decreased or the radius could be decreased

Edit:
I would like to explain the idea behind the grenades and Souls system. The reason the Souls are the ammo for the grenades means that Reaper has to put in some work first and cannot spam these grenades out within a match or use them from the first second. This way I’m hoping the ability will not be to strong while still being useable in multiple situations.

11 Likes
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“Falling behind” feels a bit disingenuous when he has been at the bottom for quite some time. But whatever, approved, literally any buff please. That would be great.

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“Falling behind” as in Torb can do Reapers work better for him. With the new rework I don’t see any reason to pick Reaper over Torb.

Torb has more range, less spread on sec fire, buff with 150 armor and damage per sec increase on a cooldown and a anti tank ult.

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Great post dude. + 1

I also made a thread regarding Reaper, and want to direct fellow Reapers to show some support and post their ideas there. Would love if you checked it out.

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No problem. We Reaper players need to stick together in these dark times :wink:

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rip reapers hes been f tier garbage since season 2 ended

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True and as I already stated that was because Ana had a speedboost on Nano… not Reaper. Reaper has always been bad on his own.

If Ana never had the speedboost on Nano, Reaper wouldn’t have been meta ones.

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As I’ve said in other Reaper topics: he definitely needs something, anything. Our poor edgelord :frowning:

I like all of your proposed shotgun ideas. Maybe even/or increase ammo count by two?

Shadowstep ideas would help. I really don’t want him to lose this ability as it can help with his flanking playstyle. I’d suggest even lowering the “REPOSITIONING!!” voice line a bit more?

Smoke grenades would be a step in the right direction. Not sure that alone would be enough. Maybe his life leach is stronger when he’s fighting inside his own smoke so that it gives the smoke a bit more utility than just obscuring vision? Maybe even a bit of a slow to enemies by like 15¡?

Like you said, I too am not a developer, so don’t want to overtune Reaper. Because if he’s too strong that could be far too oppressive and infuriating for an enemy team. But he definitely needs some tweaking. Anything. What they did for wraith gives me hope, as that added utility makes for outplaying the enemy and more options overall (like a quick reload).

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I LOVE these ideas! Especially the shadow step one, if they did that then shadow step may not be literally the most useless ability in the game. Also I love the smoke grenades idea, I really don’t know why he doesn’t already have them, they were in the reveal trailer and they match Reapers playstyle very well.

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I’m not joking. The devs said they couldn’t make it work in Reapers kit…

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The need to make his shadow step into the dishonored blink Maybe on a 6 CD

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Reaper should have always been a DPS/Tank hybrid like Mei, it’s not difficult to give Reaper a Smoke Grenade that uses the same mechanics as Winston’s bubble but obscures vision instead of blocks damage.

2 mechanics I would like to see, 50% damage reduction during Shadowstep and Wraith Form on a meter instead of on a cooldown so he’s more like the Wraiths from the Matrix and the redundant evasion is a counter to CC comps.

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How about, when someone get hit by a smoke-grenade Reaper does extra damage to armor.

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I don’t think the whole damage to armour thing is very organic, they just need to nerf Brigitte instead of turning everything into a counter to armour.

Reaper’s weapon is principally ok, all it needs is improvement to the spread.

1 Like
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Torb’s new shotgun is kinda insane.
Melts a Hog faster than Reaper now.

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That would be great… but I’m not sure if that would be too strong or not.

Ooh… and you just made me download Dishonoured again :sweat_smile:

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NIGHTFALL GRENADES