So, I’ve been doing some unrelated vod reviews to the forums (I do some coaching for friends and randos). And I wanted to go over Rein, who is portrayed a simple character but yet isn’t played too well. This isn’t a definitive guide, but should be nice reading material to learn him and improve.
Why should you listen to me? Well, I one tricked Rein into masters at a winrate of roughly 60% consistently without touching any other tanks. I’m not top500 material, not even close, but I have played my Rein into top500 lobbies (slow nights are wild for lobby variety), and won matches there.
Do not take my word over established better Rein players either, if you really want an authority on playing him, I’ll refer you to streamers like Flats, Emongg and people of the sort who are just flat out better than me. One of the things I need to do more to approach their level is unironically charge more. I don’t use charge as much as I really should.
Anyway, let’s get to it.
Rein is a relatively simple character to grasp. But let’s go over the basics and make sure everyone is on the same page.
Reinhardts Kit:
Hammer: Reinhardt has a big meaty hammer that he swings side to side. It does 85 damage a hit, which’ll be 106.25 damage next patch on discorded targets, or 106.25 whilst damage boosted in season 6.
It has a maximum stated range of 5 meters but this is dynamic. The hammer hits further away on the far sides of your screen, which is why you’ll see experience Rein players move the camera with their swings, both the start and end of the swing hit further than the middle of it.
Additionally it has a short knock back to it, which whilst is very niche, can be used like a broom to sweep enemies out of good positions, by not starting your next swing just long enough so all your swings go to one side.
Shield:
Reinhardt’s shield has 1400 health (which is a bit much imo), it doesn’t block things like Hanzo’s dragon, melee hits, Doomfist punch, Orisa spear spin, Ramattra punch, Genji blade. etc.
When shield is up you cannot swing, and you suffer a 30% movement penalty on the ground. Which means you can do shieldhops to move faster, and ensure that some of the enemies bullets hit your healthpool, which your supports can heal.
Shieldhopping is simply where you jump prior to casting shield, meaning you’ll be midair with the shield up. It lets you move at the enemy quicker and saves shield health.
Conserve your shield at all costs. If your shield breaks you will break. Best to be on 20 health with 200 shield than on 220 health with no shield. Your supports can heal your health, they can’t heal that shield, and you need it to block things like shatter, spear, storm arrow. etc.
I don’t recall the exact numbers for shield regen without breaking. But it’s roughly 2 seconds before regen, which occurs at 144 shp/s.
If you shield breaks, you will be allowed to cast your shield again after 5 seconds. By which point you’ll be dead. Use natural cover, and don’t try to shield everything. Shield in OW2 is a selfish tool because it’ll break otherwise and you will die.
Charge:
Charge is a fun one. Hated in low ranks because Reins will charge into a 1v5 in a drunken brawl. Needed in high ranks for mobility and the occasional pick. Fantastic for closing the gap.
Important note: Charge’s hitbox is the most inconsistent thing that exists. On 20 ping I have charged in the tight hallway above dorado’s first point escort, (the little bridge you pass under). There was a Cassidy in the middle of that hallway, I charged dead center.
It missed and booped him instead. Had a lovely moment with them in the chat afterwards laughing about it 
Nonetheless, charge is useful. Just inconsistent sometimes. Charges that should hit won’t, charges that shouldn’t will.
It does 50 damage on a boop, 225 if you get them and slam them into a wall. So Mei and Reaper will both survive keep that in mind.
However charge will also keep them vulnerable for your team to shoot, keep this in mind, and if you have the chance feel free to charge the enemy tank into your backline for as long as possible until you hit a wall at the end, if your team is paying attention, they won’t survive.
It has a cool down of 7 seconds, charge itself has a max duration of 3 seconds (and a minimum of 0.3 seconds, so note you can’t cancel it immediately).
Also yes, you can cancel it again. That is important info, let’s you boop enemies off the map which is fun. Also be aware that speed boost will also speed up charge past 200% of your movement speed. It’s fun but can throw you off so keep that in mind with Lucio comps.
Finally, charge will also stun you and your opponent if you charge into a running B.O.B, Doomfist Punch, Brig shield stun, another Rein Charge. You will both be knocked down for 2 seconds.
Firestrike:
Rein has the awe inspiring ability to defy physics and make swathes of flame that will seethe through the air to scar your opponents.
Fire strike is a cast projectile with no drop off, it does 100 damage, pierces shields, and will only be broken by terrain (so Mei ice block, wall, the environment, and also can be eaten by Sigma and D.va).
Also keep in mind when thrown through amp matrix from Bap, it does 200 damage, which is a one shot.
You can hold up to 2 firestrike charges, with a new charge developing every 6 seconds (that you have less than 2 charges),
Important: Enemy Rein’s will be watching for fire strike specifically, as it is a long enough window that you won’t be able to block shatter through since you can’t cast shield fast enough. It’s about 0.2 seconds slower than Earthshatter’s cast time, and casting shield is like 0.4 seconds as well, which is a big window as you rise up the ranks.
Earthshatter: This ability is Rein’s ultimate. It does 50 damage to all hit by it, but if you’re right at where it’s cast, it does 120 damage. (Close is within 1.75 meters, you’ll know it trust me.)
Kills with the 120 damage will also show up as critical strike kills I believe.
Upon using shatter, a cone of cracks across the earth will propagate from the hammer and towards wherever you are looking. These will be blocked by things like Zarya bubble, Orisa Fortify, Mei wall, and terrain, but not by the payload, so be aware you can shatter through the cart. It is also blocked by shields. So watch out for Winston bubble, Ramattra shield (nemesis shatters are great), Sigma, and Brig. Also Rein of course.
Enemies cannot jump over the cracks (unless using a movement ability for that height), so don’t worry about them jumping, though do worry about them dodging.
They will be knocked down for 2.75 seconds after being shattered. I recommend saving two fire strikes because this isn’t enough time to reach the enemies at the end of the cone and kill them. Two firestrikes kills everyone but tanks caught in it, but a charge at the end will as they get up.
Kit is over, let’s get to the matchups against other tanks and some special considerations.
Orisa: Orisa is a bit of a hard counter for Rein, but can absolutely be beaten if you feel like bashing your head through that particular brick wall.
Orisa has an answer for everything you have, she works incredibly well in Brawl scenarios, shooting her gun at you. She has spear for cancelling your charge, forcing you back, and cancelling shatter as it is a stun. Her spear spin eats firestrikes so be wary of that, as well as being able to push back charges. And finally her fortify completely blocks charges, shatter (it won’t propagate past her), but not fire strike.
To win this match up, well it’s difficult. You really want to be a pest against her. Use shield to block spears, you won’t be throwing single firestrikes past her so if you want to use them, use the first to bait the spin, and chuck the second after the spin (for style, time it to hit her just after the spear spin expires, you can also use this against Genji’s, they’ll try to eat the firestrike and that’s a free hit).
And fortify is something that you’ll struggle to bait, but you have to. Get up in her face and swing, alongside your team you will force out fortify, and after it ends they’ll typically spear to regain space. Shield the spear and then shatter her, and the rest of her team behind her. Use that time to kill the team (save firestrikes for this).
And then swap. Because while you can win these matchups (and believe me I have done it plenty), it’s a very uphill struggle and you’re better off on Zarya.
Ramattra: Ram is a better brawler than you are when in Nemesis, bait out Nemesis as best you can and try to weather it out, give up a bit of space if you have to. But when it ends you want to be on top of him and give him no space.
If you aren’t on top of him at the end, if he still has his slow he’ll use it to gain distance from you and survive, but if you stay on him he’s a fragile tank without Nemesis and will die. Save charge because sometimes they’ll pop ult and turn this around, and you need charge to get out in that case.
Otherwise remember that his shield is only available in his squishy form, so shatter away his nemesis for easy enough team wipes.
Sigma: Sigma is a poke tank that excels at kiting Rein and winning the matchup because you’ll never reach him. However in the brawl he is fragile like base Ram and falls apart.
The entirety of this matchup is going to revolve around whether or not you can successfully reach Sigma. If you can, you’ll be able to beat him down, if you can’t you’ll be useless. This is similar to Orisa except he is ranged, and every trick he has to cancel your kit has counterplay for you.
He’ll eat firestrikes but be vulnerable to swings, he’ll shield shatters but has a second and a bit to two second delay before recasting it, he’ll rock charges but you can shield it. Focus on getting to him, be mindful of him putting shield behind you which’ll cut off your supports. And just give him down. If he goes for Gravitic Flux, and doesn’t fly up (which happens more than you’d think), just shatter him. Shatter is an easy thing to trade for Flux, and often kills him as well.
Overall this is an even enough matchup. Take it and take the other old man of the cast down. But not too hard, he’s a kindly old man and deserves good things.
Zarya: Honestly a nice matchup for Rein. Zarya is a snowball brawler who is fragile. She excels at building an advantage and never giving it away, you want to bait bubbles. If she is on low charge, best to just let them run out, but if she’s high charge, or out of position, break them and then her. If she engages with only one bubble, break her. If she’s bubbling, you’re shielding, if she isn’t bubbled, you’re swinging and fire striking. If she gravs behind you, you can charge her back a bit with the boop and then go shield your team depending on the circumstance.
Be aware she can block your shatters with bubble, and firestrikes from afar are easy charge for her. Don’t let the fight last too long otherwise she’ll snowball you with her high charge.
Junkerqueen: Junkerqueen is a nice matchup for Rein. She’s another brawl tank that thrives off of the sustain but is too fragile to truly take on Rein consistently. Her ult is your main concern in the matchup, swing on her and she will fall.
This is a good matchup for you, her ult is the main problem you’ll have to solve and you have some options. You can shatter her when she uses it to prevent the team anti. You can charge pre-emptively to cancel it mid cast (but this also runs the risk of giving her a free ult and you dying out of position). And you can just shield her team during the ult if your Kiriko doesn’t have suzu. If you don’t have a kiriko in that matchup good luck.
Hog: Hog is a fairly self sufficient tank that you’ll like see more of in season 6 or whenever his reworks come out, so this is likely to change. Take this with a grain of salt.
Hog thrives off of using his hook to take you out of position and let his team collapse onto you. You need to be on your A game and use your shield to mitigate it, be cautious about it and if you aren’t 100% confident, don’t go aggressive when it could get you killed out the bat.
Whole hog is worth shattering. It just is.
He’s incredibly durable, don’t get too pre-occupied with killing him off if there’s others you can contest instead and kill. He’ll live through pretty much anything you and your team can throw at him.
Make sure your shield is always available facing him, and fire strike when you know he can’t hook you.
Winston: Winston is a dive character and kind of not your responsibility. He’ll lose in the brawl with you, and if you run a brawl comp he won’t really be able to do anything comp wise that is, he’s top the meta for a reason). Post leap feel free to charge him, be wary of bubble when going for a shatter, and just realise that you’ll likely be dealing with his team more than him.
Dva: Similar to Winston except your Firestrikes can be eaten, and you’ll want shield for her bomb. Otherwise feel free to charge her, and shatters are free so have fun. You’ll likely have to change to deal with her team comp though.
Ball: You aren’t dealing with him. Focus on his team and ruin their day instead. You can charge him out of slam and grapple if you’re good enough to ruin stalls by the way.
Bastion: Bastion excels when you play into his tempo, you need to bait out his turret, and use natural cover until it ends. Once it has it’s an easy fight to roll on into. Just be aware good Ram/Bastion comps can time it out so there’s never a good time to truly engage.
Sombra: You can shield her hack as a reaction, but you’ll need your team to be ready to shoot her to cancel hack for you. Emp often will set up the enemy tank to ult you as well.
Rein: This is a fairly simply matchup. Don’t shield his firestrikes, dodge them instead, swing on corners and use camera manipulation to try and hit him whilst avoiding his hits. Charge to cancel his (feel free to charge him if he’s used his), look for windows to shatter through firestrikes. Avoid having any kind of a predictable rhythm with your shield casting otherwise you’ll be shattered.
Is there anything else I should clarify for Rein players? Any tips you want to add? Throw them below please.
It’s my favorite ability in the game and makes for a magnificent highlight intro!
) which makes Irish creme liqueur as its flagship beverage, but they have this occasional s’mores flavor that JUUUUST… 
Now I gotta listen to Christmas music.