I know there is some Reinhardt mains in here with a lot of time on him.
How do I manage my shield damage? Do I keep it down when not needed, It always seems to break when we are in team fights and I get shredded of course!
I’ve noticed some players don’t seem to get theirs broken as much.
Can you help a brother out? Some shield tips would be greatly appreciated!
Taking it down and putting it back up rapidly as you push generally keeps damage lower and feeds your healers a bit but it could be dangerous if the enemy has burst heroes like Widowmaker or Hanzo.
Definitely keep it down when it’s not needed so it can recharge unless it’s near full and you are worried about a surprise snipe or something.
Use cover. The shield is only for when you or your team don’t have it.
Your whole team should move through chokes as quickly as possible when attacking. Don’t hang out in the choke.
Pass off shield duty to your fellow tank:off-tank and let your shield recharge sometimes. Even enemy Mei walls can give you a chance to regenerate your shield.
Unfortunately, you need team cooperation to maximize your shielding capability.
On defense, you are usually better off with Orisa.
Yep. Watch any pro or very high rank Rein and this is how they play him.
I don’t really play rein (or tanks in general) anymore, I’m more focused on improving my zen gameplay, but in my 37 hours on PS4 with him, I have a few tips that I still remember
•Fairly obvious, but if you’re on a payload after a team fight that you just won, you don’t need to keep your shield up. No one is going to be shooting at you any time soon, so drop that and let it recharge. This sounds ridiculous, but you won’t believe the number of times I’ve seen it in gold, platinum, and even one diamond level game before.
•Sometimes, “flashing” your shield is better than just holding right click. Examples are when d.va drops her nuke, tell your team to get behind you, wait about 2 seconds, and pull out your shield at the last second before it explodes. This allows your shield to recharge up to ~800 hp while down during those two seconds and stops it from being shot at by enemies for a full 3 seconds, in which time they can severely weaken or even destroy your barrier before you have time to block the nuke. Another example is when the hog ults. Don’t hold your shield up, he’ll rip through it in 2 seconds. Block some, bounce back with your team, and block some more. I got this specific one from a really helpful YouTuber called KarQ. I advise you check him out for hero tips, he releases a new tip for his “one tip vs every hero” series about once a week. They’re really helpful.
•Finally, communicate when your shield is about to break. If a bastion is sh**ing damage at your shield, you should tell your team, and back them into cover while your shield is still up. Examples are the first middle choke on numbani. When your shield is about to break, tell your team to move into the room with the health pack to the right, let your shield recharge, maybe have your healer heal some teammates, and retake the fight.
Hope these helped!
I can’t include links in my posts, but for more rein tips in general, look up “One Reinhardt tip vs. every hero” from KarQ ft. Cloneman16
Thanks everyone, great advice!!! 