TLDR at bottom
On a base level, Reaper is one of the easiest heroes to learn.
- Wide spread + high dmg
- Good self healing for dmging enemies
‘Hey I should fight tanks so I can get the most self heal’ it’s pretty simple.
Get a tiny more complex and you have this.
‘Hmm seems like a lot of tanks have really powerful abilities that are easy to use up close, like hog’s 1shot, rein’s charge, d.va missiles, etc.’
‘I can just use my invincibility to block that one strong move, then continue the fight’
But the second you go past that, you really start to see Reaper’s huge issues
- Half the tanks have decently big armor pools
- Reaper’s shotguns deal literally half damage to armor
- Half dmg = half self heal
It literally takes twice the shots to shred armor, that’s a considerable weakness when you only have 8 rounds.
Well maybe you’re losing a fight to a tank, you have 1 of 3 options.
1- Wraith away, although D.va, Wrecking Ball, and Winston can chase you down. Also Roadhog and Orisa can drag you back towards them. 5/7 for a risk
2- ShadowStep away, but Literally every tank has some knockback ability to cancel shadowstep 7/7, not a good option
3- Use both? D.va and wrecking ball are the only 2 tanks that would consistently stop you from using both. So 2/7
Why is it that the game’s ‘designated tank killer’ is not designed to:
- Shred armor
- Outrun/keep pace with all the tanks
His guns and abilities just don’t work as well as they should. Don’t even get me started on his ultimate.
Death Blossom cannot kill 5 out of 7 tanks (full hp)
Feels like these abilities shouldn’t be given to a tank shredder. But Reaper is so bad that he can’t do anything else well.
- Reaper has very harsh dmg falloff, already combined with his spread he needs to fight in close range
Who else gets more effective with closer range? Every other DPS character except widowmaker.
It feels like nearly everything about Reaper’s kit is just wrong. Is it really a wonder why he’s terrible in plat+?
Reaper is rarely in control of a closeranged fight. Sure the enemy wants to make distance, but it’s still easy for them to land headshots on a close target, plus they don’t need to worry about missing 1/3 of their shots because of weapon spread.
Compare that to someone like Brigitte, it’s a death sentence to fight her closerange, because she can take punishment with 0 loss to her healthpool, then deal it back.
TLDR Reaper is designed to shred tanks and fight in closerange, but his kit has too many weaknesses to allow him to do either properly.
#BuffReaperNOW 9 seasons is too long a wait for Reaper to be good