Reaper should be #1 on the buff list (long post)

General Discussion
1

Now Reaper is not unplayable, no hero is. Every hero has a place where they can shine (for Reaper it’s usually not comp though)

But he should be buffed, and buffed greatly. If not a buff then a rework to 2/3rds or more of his abilities.

Here are the reasons each of his abilities should receive changes ranked from most needed to least needed. *(In my opinion, but I think everyone agrees with #1)

#1- Shadow Step
Personally I think this should get replaced. With either an armor piercing round or some sort of grenade, smoke or damage. (My personal take on Reaper is he can’t survive without range or speed, and he lacks both)

  • It is the slowest ability in the game at 2.5 seconds
  • It’s very clunky and inconsistent with TP locations, especially with slight angles and fences
  • Unbelievably detectable, both sound and by red smoke

Practically unusable in and near combat. Any enemy knows a TP-ing Reaper is a free kill.

  • Using it to escape combat=extremely risky
  • Using it to enter combat=100% suicide
  • Using it to set up somewhere far away=good, but very niche uses

I know ShadowStep isn’t useless, nothing in this game is. But Reaper is the only hero with one combat ability, being wraith form. He is immediately put at a disadvantage to every other hero. ShadowStep is too niche and too risky to stay the way it is, and it has been this way for over 2.5 years.

#2- Hellfire Shotguns
Advantages: 280DPS
Disadvantages: ~10m falloff, high spread, 1/2dmg to armor,

They’re pretty much the perfect portrait of “gimmick” they have damage and nothing else. Yes Reaper is close-range, but his design is way too simple, and the main culprit are these guns. It’s braindead.

“Get close, and do big hurt” If these guns don’t get buffed his abilities need to. He lacks the tools to survive anywhere outside of Reinhardt’s range.

#3- Death Blossom
I sometimes like to imagine how this Ultimate was thought of.
“Ok so we have this ult that’s cancelled by any CC and has short range”
'So Reaper should avoid enemy fire and being near them right?
“Haha, nope. He surrounds himself with enemies”

  • Less DPS than primary fire
  • 8m of range (radius)
  • Any knockback will get Reaper out of range
  • Cancelled by CC
  • Cannot kill majority of the tanks
Here's a list of every hero that can negate DeathBlossom w/ just abilites

CC=Stuns
KB=Knockback
1-Ana-CC
2- Ashe-KB
3-Brigitte-CC
4-D.va-DefenseMatrix
5-Doomfist-CC+KB
6-Genji-Deflect
7-Junkrat-CC
8-Lucio-KB
9-McCree-CC
10-Mei-Wall (And CC sorta but it’s rare)
11-Pharah-KB
12-Reinhardt-KB+CC
13-Roadhog-CC
14-Sombra-Hack
15-WreckingBall-KB

#4- Wraith Form
Wraith needs buffs depending on how Reaper’s other abilities get changed. Currently it’s good but it’s Reaper’s only combat ability.

If ShadowStep remains a non-combat ability after changes, wraith needs work. Here’s some ideas.

  • Remove delay upon activation
  • Resource meter
  • WallClimb on wraith
  • Wraith makes Reaper’s smoke really low, like the cinematics.Reaper sinks to the floor (First person camera would remain normal though) makes Reaper harder to predict

#5- The Reaping
Again, this would need changes depending on how 1-4 would get changed. If Reaper’s shotguns are buffed this passive might need a nerf.

Currently the only idea I have is Soul Orbs are brought back for Death Blossom only. Because Reaper loses Heals per second when ulting as people die.

This ability is fine right now though.

Still not convinced? (or think “Reaper just got buffs, he’s ok now”)

Geoff Goodman and his team tried to buff Reaper (and Mei) to counter Triple Tank, or GOATS. And it failed. Reaper is currently at his all time low. The buffs didn’t do what Geoff had hoped.

Pickrates:
Source: Overbuff pickrates, this month’s stats (PC)

  • Bronze 2.15%
  • Silver 2.43%
  • Gold 2.29%
  • Platinum 1.59%
  • Diamond 0.79%
  • Masters 0.34% (2nd lowest of all heroes)
  • Grandmasters 0.09% (lowest picked hero)

Reaper is also 2nd lowest picked XB-GM and 1st lowest PS-GM.

  • Seagull also said Reaper could use some help in the form of armor penetration.
  • SpiritOW (#1 Reaper onetrick account who reached top 10 NA multiple times) quit playing Reaper temporarily because Reaper just work out form him anymore. He came back but if the #1 player can barely play this hero what does that say to you?
  • Reaper has been out of meta since S2 and was only in S2 meta because of Ana’s ultimate, Reaper is not good enough to be a viable hero.

I can say with 100% confidence, Reaper is the single most underpowered/overshadowed/unviable hero in the game. He is in the most desperate need of a buff currently and should be buffed within the next 2 or 3 PTR cycles.

Hopefully Reaper can be fun for all ranks again and his time in F tier can end soon.

#BuffReaperNOW

-TRIHEXSUB

38 Likes
2

Good read. I agree Reaper needs buffs and not minor adjustments. I believe his wraith form is pretty good, but he’d be a in a much better spot reworking his shadowstep and another ability for him assisting in combat for his RMB.His ult is really risky and barely plays off, I’m not sure how they can improve it. Tbh anything would help out his instant suicide q. I’d say a movement speed increase would make him feel alot better so it wouldnt feel like your helpless and out of control.

He’s kinda like a lil rein on the team, meaning he’s really team dependent in order to do work. I barely work him as a flanker because of it. I treat him kinda like roadhog, sticking with the main tank giving him the firepower needed for the frontlines and shieldbreaks.

2 Likes
3

and yet he has some of the best kill potential in the game. If you think pick rate is a reason to buff a hero, just look at mei. Nobody wants to play her because she is so hated, so she kept getting buffs to fix that and now she’s one of the most overpowered heroes in the game and people STILL don’t play her. pick rate has nothing to do with balance.

2 Likes
4

very good post hopefully it blows up

1 Like
5

So you just selectively ignored every argument except pickrate?

OK pal sure. It’s not like Reaper with “some of the best kill potential” is sitting out of a 3tank meta in the pro scene. You’d think someone with ultra high dmg like Reap would be viable. But he isn’t because he’s weak and too simple.

Read my thread or get out

20 Likes
6

The reason his buffs keep failing is the character is broken and their “buffs” are bad. His most recent one “reduced randomness of spread”. Not the spread itself in anyway, just how random it was. The size of the spread is part of his issue though.

2 Likes
7

Yeah Reaper gets the most microscopic buffs imaginable. I understand he’d be OP if buffed too hard which is why I think he needs a rework .

6 Likes
8

oh i’m sorry, am i not allowed to disagree with you?

#1- Shadow Step Practically unusable in and near combat.

Why would you use it in or near combat? you want to have your cake and eat it too? he’s supposed to be sneaky with it, not instantly pop up in the middle of a teamfight and 1shot everything, which he can do btw if the enemy team isn’t paying attention.

#2- Hellfire Shotguns If these guns don’t get buffed his abilities need to

Why would they need to get buffed? He just walks right up to any 200hp target and shoots them in the face once, twice at the most. HEALS HIMSELF WHILE DOING IT, and leaves the scene. What possible buff do you need to be even more effective with that?

#3- Death Blossom

lmao that’s why they’re called “tanks” not “wet noodles who die easily because you pressed your big shiny Q button on the right hero”. Most heroes lose their ult when cc’d. It’s part of the game. And his ultimate is next to impossible to stop in time otherwise. You can’t even outdps him through it most of the time. He deals a lot of damage, and heals himself with the damage he does. Gg. I guess that’s not good enough for you? boohoo.

#4- Wraith Form
What are you crying about now? One of the few ways a hero can get out of certain death in a graviton? or any other situation where they will surely die? an ability that makes them invulnerable AND gives them a speed boost to get to a safe location to try flanking again or get back to safety for good? Yea, it’s so tragically weak…kappa. Hey let’s give Zen one of those… apparently it’s a weak ability so why not.

Then there’s your pickrates argument that i’ve already commented on.

And then your misguided conclusion.

Have you ever played Bastion? Junkrat? current Pharah? Hamster? Zen? arguably some of the most vulnerable heroes in the game now? Nvm, i was sure that you haven’t so i went ahead and looked at your profile and turns out i was right. All those heroes and others are much, MUCH more underpowered than Reaper. I run into GOD Reapers all the time. 20 times a day. I don’t think they make threads like this crying for Reaper buffs. I wonder why.

9

Personally, I’d love if they tweaked shadowstep so it could be used as intended as well as giving him more utility when in or entering/disengaging from combat.

I think lowering the voiceline and voiceline range would be a good first step. I also think it wouldn’t be too terrible if shadowstep was instant, or nearly instant. This would’ve been overpowered in his initial design, but with all the power creep and added CC/knock back, there are enough counters. I would say he shouldn’t be able to death blossom immediately after using shadowstep, as it would suck to be healers and get immediately wiped with relative ease. So give death blossom a .7 second delay before being able to use it. This way reaper would be able to engage and disengage with shadowstep.

I think a smoke grenade added to his right mouse click/alt fire would be ideal, instead of replacing an ability in shadowstep. Maybe even give Reaper a buff when he’s in or shooting through his own smoke like armor piercing rounds or a speed buff

10

If a hero is so bad that the pros can’t even use him. I think that’s a good argument for pickrate in balance.

Why is it the literal only ability that can’t be used in combat?

A rework but I guess you still didn’t read

Unless you’re one of the 15 heroes I listed, or Bastion, Widow, Hanzo or another Reaper with good aim. But yeah it’s “impossible to stop”

Haha insults! So mature. Read the post Wraith should only get changed depending on how other things get changed. That’s how a rework works

I’ve given up on you. Also this isn’t my main account. No hero is more UP than Reaper. And if we will use accounts as an argument. I see you never play Reaper

“You main Zenyatta, you are biased. I bet you just cannot kill Reaper because you cannot position yourself correctly.”

Stop arguing with feelings and emotion and personal bias.

15 Likes
11

exactly. if people are worried about outright buffs making him OP (which is unlikely) they should at least agree with him needing a rework

2 Likes
12

Reaper is just of those poor people who’s kit holds him back. He’s not in a great spot, but is also at the risk of one buff putting him as op. I agree shadowstep by far needs the most work.

I’m just a little nervous about a rework. Reaper is my fav dps to play, i’d hate if they did to him what they did to Symm. If it was just shadow step being replaced/ reworked I’d be on board.

1 Like
13

Yeah poor Reaper. That emo dude needs some love from blizz, he wants to be meta too

1 Like
14

The most needed thing is a rework that raises his skill ceiling. Reaper is just way too simple to thrive above gold, he has nothing to master outside of aim and wraith timing

4 Likes
15

Stop asking for abilities to be replaced. There is a number of ways I can think to make it into an awesome ability that don’t require replacement.

Shadow Step (pick one)

  • Reduce the cast time from 2.5 seconds to 1 second
  • Reduce the cast time from 2.5 seconds to 1.5 seconds, and allow Reaper to use shadow step during wraithform
  • Allow Reaper to use shadow step during wraithform, and reduce the cast time from 2.5 seconds to 1 second during wraithform.
    Boom.
1 Like
16

Not every single character has to have a high skill ceiling though. Some characters are just never going to be viable.

17

I know it can be buffed to be better. Personally I just don’t think it should be.

2 Likes
18

Yeah, 30% reaping is nice n all… but it’s barely moved the needle on his pick rate in either QP or comp.

A spike in interests then right back to where it was before. From June to september he was steadily rising in pick rate only to steadily fall again to be, now, where he was 6 months ago.

This should tell us something, whatever the problem with Reaper it’s not lack of healing from damage. Unless the healing from damage was put to stupid levels, but if a 50% increase in healing doesn’t change his popularity, probably people’s main problem was not with healing.

But Reaper isn’t in all that bad a position.

Tracer is in a similarly dire pick rate of just below 2%, along with Orisa, Tracer and hammond.

But there are heroes in far worse condition than Reaper. Mei has persistently stayed at barely 1% pickrate. Torb’s rework only got him to 1.77% pickrate only to steadily fall and he’s levelled out at 0.75%. Sombra slowly rose but only ever got to 1.2% pickrate on comp only to steadily decline to her current position of 0.66% pickrate. Bastion’s pick rate has doubled since his buff… but that’s only brought him to a 0.72% pickrate on comp.

Sombra is I think most deserving. She needs either a rework or a very substantial tweak to how her fundamental attack abilities work.

So… why reaper? Why not a hero who is equally maligned or more maligned?

19

reaper is still a better hero than characters like sym overall.
yet again, some players are too stupid to kill her, and let her run free till she ramps up her gun. avoid any players who lose against sym, they are probably not good at their role

1 Like
20

The dev’s have been trying with other heroes. Big buffs for bastion, reworks for torb and sym. Reaper hasn’t had his “big patch note” yet and it’s well overdue now that Reaper’s at an all time low

4 Likes