So Rein in the OWL

General Discussion
1

I know this was predictable, and I’m genuinely not surprised (as I had been saying this would happen), but Rein’s pick rate is abysmal in stage 4 so far. He sits at .7% pickrate, which is the lowest of all tanks by far, and 5th lowest overall. For context, he barely edges out Torbjorn in terms of pickrate.

Yes, I know he has a buff on the PTR in the form of a new passive, but I very highly doubt this will make him playable at the top level. It simply doesn’t do enough to address his laundry list of issues.

I guess we are put in a spot where we are forced to “wait and see” but having knock backs reduced by 30%, while being a great change and one that was necessary, is not gonna cut it on its own. At least not when the hero is underperforming this badly.

I know people like to talk about Rein like he has always been a main stay, but that is only true for the mid to lower ranks of the game. He was only meta during goats because there were 3 healers and 2 off tanks supporting him, and he needed every ounce of that support just to even APPEAR playable. Before that he was garbage tier during dive for a long time. Yes, I get that he will probably always have a healthy pickrate in the mid to lower ranks, but the game should not be balanced around that anyway.

Rein will need further changes in order to climb out of the gutter that he is in now. I’m just letting you guys know now, this way in a few months when the “hey guys, Rein might need some buffs” threads start popping up, you can be unsurprised. The Steadfast passive is a step in the right direction, but I would be shocked if it ends up being enough without additional changes to either Rein or all of the other main tanks (who in my opinion should not be nerfed, and this would be the wrong direction to go in).

10 Likes
2

Hopefully Sigma will be versatile enough that I can play him until Rein is up to speed.
Good to see some diversity in barrier tanks, at least.

5 Likes
3

True. Sigma is a lot of fun, and a welcome addition to the game in my opinion. Can’t wait for him to be on the live servers.

3 Likes
4

I think Sigmas and Reins are going to have loads of fun fighting against each other, they both have manageable barriers and like to agress into the enemy without fancy mobility.

1 Like
5

Orisa does Rein’s job better. She’s just too good right now for such a similar hero.

I think Orisa should have a much worse shield since halt and cc immunity are so strrong.

Rein isn’t the problem here.

4 Likes
6

until lucio gets his speed reverted, i doubt we will see a lot of rein at all.

2 Likes
7

rein has consistently been weak in metas as soon as winston was made dominant, with goats as the glaring exception

the thing is that now orisa dominates in the few niches rein had in mercy meta (koth and king’s row) so now he’s just bad everywhere

3 Likes
8

If you want to be more mobile you’d just play Winston or Ball in 222 anyway.

9

I kinda don’t want Rein to be good just because Speed boost is. That kind of dependency isn’t healthy or fun in my opinion.

2 Likes
10

I agree with this, but Winston isn’t dominating right now. In fact, his pickrate is middle of the pack overall. Right now Orisa is the number 1 most picked hero in stage 4 OWL.

11

i didn’t mean to say winston was dominating atm
i meant to say “once winston became relevant” since rein kinda died after triple tank

12

Ah, I see. Definitely agree then.

13

As ppl like to say “it is not his meta”.
orisa is just doing his job now and the guy was most picked hero just recently.

14

How could you possibly change the meta where Orisa doesn’t overlap with Rein?

15

Honestly, I do see bunker getting massive nerfs just because the pros hate it. But, then it will just swing back to Dive, sadly…

16

I’d prefer if they nerfed other tanks down to his level. We’re at a crazy spot in power creep now and I get anxious every time a new hero is buffed. But yeah, I agree that his passive likely won’t help him at the pro level of play, I feel its more of a quality of life change for ranked players.

17

Based on the PTR I think Rein/Sigma would be fine. Orisa just do so much while also having a good shield and putting out good damage from range. I don’t have an ideal situation, but I think Orisa’s shield could be toned down a bit more.

18

Dive absolutely shreds Sigma + Rein. Can’t see that being a legitimate composition.

Edit: actually I think I misunderstood what you meant.

19

I think part of the problem is that OWL is just innately prone to mirror matches. If there is a team comp that shows even a moderate advantage, pro teams will flock to it.

Rein had a lousy pickrate during Dive, Hog had a lousy pickrate during GOATS and during that same time Orisa really only came in for Ilios Well. I am not holding my breath for a meta that won’t dumpster at least one tank.

20

Part of the draw to 2-2-2 should be-- at least in theory-- that certain tank comps will work on different maps and so on.

Dive will most like be best on Gibraltar, probably Numbani as well… at least the early parts of those maps.

Orisa/Hog is super strong comparatively just about anywhere else.

Rein/Zarya or Rein/anything should be able to at least compete with Orisa/hog at most of those maps, excluding Nepal Sanctum and Ilios Well (cause boops.)

The new passive for Reinhardt helps him in the general sense from being booped, but it actually hurts him now against Orisa/hog because of the power of Whole Hog. With Reinhardt being pushed around less, it actually means he takes tons more damage from whole hog now. I guess he could turn and charge away, but either way he’s chewed up.

Yes, we need Lucio’s group speed reverted now that 2-2-2 is a thing. Rein can do okay if/when he’s empowered to actually close the gap on Orisa.

Not 100% sure yet on the Sigma effect. He might work with Rein. He seems to work with Zarya, and perhaps Hammond to a lesser extent. But currently among high-elo players on the PTR, they are getting best results with him paired with Orisa… that makes an even more barrieresque meta if that comes to pass.

Everything is not set in stone yet, and your mileage may vary.

2 Likes