How do I push up when my shields are getting melted. I was told I need to be more aggressive. (We won our match because our support were playing lights out) but after I was told I am not good at being aggressive with my shields. How do I push up so my team can?
If you are running Rein you can shield hop to keep the shield up a bit longer, you can ask a Zarya or Dva to mitigate some damage on you, or you could pick a route to point that has less long sightlines. As Orisa you can use your fortify when you shield is down to push more and in general a lot of Orisa’s don’t put the shield forward enough. When I was learning her my buddy would tell me to try to take bites out of the space in front of me and to put the shield 5 meters further than I was comfortable with.
In general as a tank make sure you are using your hp to push when you need it. It’s an important part of your kit and if you’re high health all the time then you are likely too passive.
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Don’t let it break. If using VC, tell your team when your shield is about to break and you are going to cover. If not using VC, hop when you shield is low as you move to cover - this visual cue, when repeated throughout a match, is hard for teammates to miss.
Always look for your next cover point to charge your shield. Again, try to never let it completely break.
In the old days before the shield Nerf, I got over 50k damage blocked in one match. That may not seem like a lot for someone who is a Rein main, but for me (a non-Rein main) it was pretty epic.
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I think you’re using Reinhardt.
Hide behind a wall until your shield&hp is full again.
Wait until your team groups up and start to press W+LMB.
Possibly, try to use shorter routes to receive less damage.
Stay close to corners in case shield breaks.
If you charge, just do short charges.
Don’t press E when pushing or you get your team almost killed half-way.
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Oh and most important! Write “There are two types of main tank players: idiots and cowards. And I am no coward!” on a piece of paper and tape it to the wall above your monitor.
Your goal is to push as much as you think you can get away with. If you get to like 4 hp a lot without dying then you are doing great!
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Position in places where you have natural cover and corners as much as possible. Remember, that is an infinite resource at your disposal. Simply not peeking a corner at the right time can do you wonders.
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I’m stealing this one 
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It’s a quote from some pro about Fraggie. Forget who said it… might of been Reinforce? And it’s slightly edited so that it’s not against blizzard’s cc.
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Think less about moving your team and more about taking space. The worst thing you can do as a tank is die too fast because your existance controls space, shield or not. Even the simple act of holding a corner, you create opportunities for your team by picking where the enemy team has to engage you. A good example of this is hanamura point A where you often see teams get stuck at the choke because the tank players dont know how to take space from the enemy tanks.
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Also a good thing to know for tank play in general is to be aware of your healers LOS. When you push into an orisa barrier be aware that your ana and moria (without orb) are unable to heal you though the shield. Same thing with corners or standing in front of the payload.
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Also as everyone said you just need to get your team in a good position with your barrier to start the team fight, I can honestly tell you that when I have a tank that can get me in close enough to start throwing my rounds at the enemy and keeping me from being rushed is a god sent as a DPS main. As others have said, don’t be afraid to advance with your team, I am in silver right now and that is probably the biggest thing I see out of tanks down here. They are too afraid to engage in the team fight, they rather just throw up their barrier and have their healers and DPS try to play off angles that aren’t great, but refuse to move because they don’t want to get hurt.
The tanks that honestly scare me when I main DPS are the ones who will get in your face, I can’t tell you how many times I have been duking it out on point, and the enemy tank sees that I am engaging their supports or DPS and I may have already gotten a few picks. Now I have a very angry German man coming at me swinging that giant hammer as I am trying to reload my revolver faster to try and survive the engagement. Good luck though mate, hope to play with ya!
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Most of these tips are accurate but what they’re not saying is, if your healers are bots, and you recieve no follow up from the team or resource, it will make tanking very difficult. You’ll be doing all these things they say in the tips and wondering why it’s still not working. You can “take space” but if the dps aren’t utilizing that space and pushing with you it’s all for nothing. The best bet at that point is either to hope for a massive shatter that can finally get your bot teammates on point or swap to a off tank like hog with self sustain and hope you can dps/tank your way to victory. Those tips they’ve given are assuming your team is working together and functioning as they should. Goodluck.
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Im not a rein player, but from a non-rein perspective, i can say that your main job is to force the enemy to retreat, always. That doesnt mean charge in there 1v6, but that means get up close and personal with the enemy tanks. And when you are within hammer swinging range, start swinging your hammer. Alternate between hammer swings and holding up shield. The main thing you need to know is when its time to swing that hammer and when its time to hold up the shield.
Also you need to know how to advance. If enemy team has a long sightline down the choke, you arent supposed to hold up shield and walk in a direct line down the middle to the enemy. Because your shield will never survive that journey. You need to move in diagonal paths, from cover to cover, giving your shield time to recharge
Also know which comps work with rein. Dont be “that rein” that yells at your dps for not grouping up for a push, when they are playing genji tracer. Thats not what they do. If they are playing heroes like that and wont switch, play a tank that synergizes with them like ball or zarya, dva winston
Ideally play with a Lucio. Makes things way easier. You won’t find players who play him much. Mercy Moira is most of what I see. Sometimes zen and bap. I see more brig than Lucio.
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Press W and use your hammer.
SHIELD > SHIELD > HAMMER > HAMMER > SHIELD > HAMMER > SHIELD > HAMMER
REPEAT
If you’re lucky your team is moving with you.
If you’re smart you’re triple calling a target to focus down. (Scientific studies have proven than yelling MONKEY MONKEY MONKEY results in simian death)
The hard part is getting people to follow and deathball instead of solo flanking.
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Play around chokes and don’t be afraid to hold W like me.
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Advance in segments or chunks, don’t try to take a long stretch of road all at once. Play from one corner to the next, stop to regen the shield when you need to.
Or one of the tanks can dive, which should disrupt the other team long enough to make a longer push. Even if you dive in, cause havoc, and dive out to get healed, that’s enough time to claim one or two 20m chunks of space. That assumes that the rest of the team takes that space, though. A lot of the time it’s not the tank who won’t “press W,” it’s the rest of the team afraid to leave cover.
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Play Brig for a day and you will know. Just holding right click won’t do it. You need to know how much damage you can take and when to take it.
If you never take risks your dps will have to take them and trust me you don’t want them to do it. They have less than half of your hp and will either get no heals or wait 1-2 seconds before they get any.
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The tricks are two:
- Be adaptable: play one main tank, one dive tank and an off tank.
- Adapt to your team playstyle. Start very agressive to build ult charge and if your team plays too slow or needs peels against flankers, be less agressive and instead peel defensively to keep your backlines clean. Remember: dead doesn’t heal.
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Holy cow I didnt expect that many responses. Thank you guys and girls so much for the help and tips!
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