Reaper - The Dual Rework đź’€

General Discussion
1

So, a lot of us know that Reaper isn’t exactly in the best spot right now. He can be very powerful in the right hands, but it can be very hard to extract value from him.

I think part of the reason for this, is that he is currently stuck between two niches: flanker and tank-buster, and as a result he’s mediocre at both of them.

I have a proposal for a rework that will align him to one role, and make sure he’s good at it. Of course, the devs will first need to decide which direction they want to take him.

Idea #1: Reaper the Frontliner

As a brawler, Reaper is quite underwhelming. Although his passive gives him decent sustain up-close, plenty of other heroes tend to outclass him. The goal of these changes is to make Reaper more viable against tanks, so he can maintain a stronger frontline presence.

What you’ll see is a net nerf in mobility, but a buff in overall fighting ability.

General

  • Removed 50 health.
  • Added 50 armor.

Primary fire: Hellfire Shotguns

  • Spread slightly decreased.

New ability: Mortal Slugshot

  • Bound to RMB
  • Reaper fires a single slug from one of his guns.
  • Consumes 2 ammo.
  • Does slightly less damage than primary fire.
  • Short cooldown between uses.

Reaper’s shotgun pellets do little against armor, which is present on most tanks. Now that his damage can be centralized into one hitbox, he will stand a decent chance against armored opponents. It will also give him some options against opponents at range.

It can be very useful to initiate engagements against armored opponents using this ability.

Wraith Form

  • Movement speed boost decreased back to +25%.
  • Duration slightly reduced.

With Reaper being more focused on frontline fights, Wraith Form should be more of a disengagement ability, rather than an escape from the enemy backline. There is no need for him to retain his current mobility.

Shadow Step

  • Removed from kit.

Shadow Step was designed as a flanking tool, and thus has no use in frontline brawls.

New Ability: Dusk Grenades

  • Bound to E.
  • Reaper launches a small, sticky projectile forward. It can latch onto enemies, barriers, or walls. After a short countdown, it will explode, dealing moderate damage to all enemies within a certain radius.
  • Much less damage than Tracer’s Pulse Bomb, but a greater area of effect.

The goal of this ability is to separate Reaper’s target from their teammates. It can also be used as a way to damage tanks who are hiding behind barriers, or to force them to reorient their shield.

Passive Ability: The Reaping

  • Unchanged.

Ultimate Ability: Death Blossom

  • Unchanged.

Idea #2: Reaper the Assassin

This, I believe, is how Reaper was originally designed to play. As a flanker, Reaper is slower and more methodical than Genji and Tracer, and thus has far more downtime. As a result, a faster flanker will almost always outdo him.

The goal of these changes is to bring unique strengths into Reaper’s flanking playstyle, so that he can merit being on the field instead of Genji or Tracer. We can accomplish this with a net buff in mobility, as well as some additional effects.

Primary Fire: Hellfire Shotguns

  • Spread moderately reduced.
  • Falloff damage slightly increased.

Many of Reaper’s more valuable targets will tend to have smaller, slimmer hitboxes. This change will help him deal reliable damage whenever he shoots, while still maintaining his already high damage output.

New Ability: Shadow Field

  • Bound to RMB.
  • Reaper launches a small projectile with dropoff. Once it lands on the ground, it emits a cloud of darkness in a certain radius around itself. Enemies in the field move 20% slower, and cannot see any allied or enemy heroes. They can still hear all audio cues, however.
  • Any ability that grants additional sight (Infra-Sight, Sonic Arrow, Opportunist) will still work inside the field.
  • Reaper and his allies can see normally inside and through the field.

The goal of this ability is to allow Reaper to get the jump on his target. Right now, it’s hard for him to flank without being discovered and intercepted. It can also be used as an escape tool.

Wraith Form

  • Now allows for vertical mobility, a la Valkyrie!
    • Press the jump button to rise, and the crouch button to descend while it is active.
  • Character model’s visibility slightly reduced while channeling the ability.
  • Cooldown slightly increased.

Shadow Step

  • Cast time moderately reduced.
  • SFX volume reduced.

Passive Ability: The Reaping

  • 20% lifesteal removed. Now Reaper is healed for a flat amount for every elimination he makes.
    • Healing amount is slightly increased if Reaper himself deals the final blow.

Reaper’s lifesteal was intended to give him an edge against tanks. However, as an assassin, he has no business duking it out against the frontliners.

Death Blossom

  • Unchanged.

Phew! That was a long read.

Please let me know what you all think! How do you think Reaper should be played? Do you think he needs these drastic changes? Do they seem OP to you? What would you change?

I welcome all feedback!

Thanks,
Molly :yellow_heart::yellow_heart:

8 Likes
2

I like the second option must more butter than your first proposal since it fits what his character is. The only thing I wouldn’t want to see would be the 20% movement decrease.

3

Careful with these rework threads, they will nerf him or make him a completely different hero and you are going to be sad… :confused:

1 Like
4

This would actually make him terrible

But I don’t care about Reaper enough to want him reworked

5

I honestly like the mix of two playstyles Reaper has, Flanker and Tank Buster. It is a combination unique to him. In all honestly, I would just like Blizz to reduce his spread a bit and make shadow step a bit faster with a new animation to match his highlight intro.

PS: I’ll leave you with this montage I recently made:

6

All we need is less RNG and a faster shadowstep.

1 Like
7

Less spread with a more centralized pattern would fix the RNG issue.

Also, remeber the days when me and you made that old Repaer Buff Megathreads on the old forums. Those were dark days for our favorite Edgelord. I know lots of people would still like to see a rework or buff. But to be honest, I love Reaper how he is. I think he is severely underrated. These days, he is actually good imo.

8

I do remember you, dear, dark times indeed.

He is underrated as a tankbuster, but I dislike how inconsistent his damage is. Sometimes it takes three shots at 7m to kill a Mercy and other times it’s a one shot kill because the RNG made it a headshot.

One day, they will hopefully get rid of RNG in all heroes and that will raise the consistency of everyone.

1 Like
9

Agreed. I feel like his shotgun is sometimes similar to Forntites shotgun, in the fact that it sometimes does like 8 damage and other times it does like 100+. Really though, ALL heavy competitive games should have little to NO RNG. All it does is add luck and reduce skill. Reaper shotgun should be no exception.

1 Like
10

Look up the thread on reddit titled Overwatch needs static shotgun spread. RNG/luck based elements don’t belong in a competitive game; many other competitive fps games already have this feature.

It lays down how Quake and TF2 already have static shotgun spread that makes sense.

1 Like
11

Might have already seen that thread before, but I’ll look it up anyway. See you around the the forums b :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
12

(sorry for the late reply, I just want to bump this thread a little bit :sweat_smile:)

What do you think would be terrible about Reaper? I’d be interested to know!

13

I was down with the frontline idea (as I personally love shredding tanks); however, with the Wraith nerfs, I am like, hell nah. Wraith is one of my favorite abilities and returning to that nasty version sounds terrible. I am not a huge fan of the slug either, just for thematic reasons. It would be sick if he loaded his shotgun with hellfire rounds that pierce through armor, but it is this edgy black fire similar to his ethereal smoke. It would help him against multiple tanks which is realistically what he needs to do as most people run 2 or more tanks. Or Brigitte, which is a hyrbid and can make an entire team “Reaper proof.” So wasting 2 ammo for one shot that melts the armor is not enough to compensate for the wraith nerf, if you ask me.

1 Like
14

That sounds interesting too! Would it simply consume one round of ammo? And would its damage be similar to his normal shots?

15

I was just envisioning it as his “magazine” is replaced. So eight shots of the effect once you activate it unless you failed to reload, then whatever was left in the magazine. And yeah, completely worthless unless the target has armor. Like, as a Reaper main, I would LOVE it to do bonus damage. But when dealing with something as powerful as armor piercing on a character that is countered by armor, it has to be a bit more circumstantial in my opinion.

1 Like