Tanks and Double Shield Meta

General Discussion
1

I had written about this when the PTR notes came out, but I never thought this patch was a good idea. My reasoning behind it is that if you’re going to nerf the shields of the shield tanks, you should nerf the damage of the shield breakers as well. This would compensate for all of the damage shield breakers would do on others after the shield goes down, which is ridiculously fast now.

Secondly, I believe that, while it pushes people away from the double shield meta, it also pushes people away from defensive tanks in general. With the shield tanks, rather than playing defensively like shield tanks should be played, they are now forced to play offensively in a style unlike their character was originally created for.

Overall, I am very confused by this patch because it has been discussed over and over again the need for more tanks and healers and less DPS, and yet here you are nerfing the shields that protect people from overpowered DPS. This game certainly does favor DPS mains.

2

This patch as far as tanks are concerned is a dumpster fire. Blizzard just ruined Christmas. :frowning:

3

Ultimately it doesn’t make much sense to nerf shield break at the same time as nerfing shields because then you just end up right back where you started in terms of how long shields take to break. Shields may be a bit too fragile right now, but it will take time for tank players to relearn their heroes and for everyone else to learn to play around the new tank playstyle.

4

You don’t need to nerf shield breakers to the same extent, but some people are just OP right now, like Reaper or Sym or Hanzo and especially Bastion. If you want to nerf the shields, that’s fine, but you can’t nerf them to this extent and not compensate somewhete else

5

I actually don’t think this pushed people away from Double Barrier too much.

It just changed the barriers involved. Whereas before we had Sigma and Orisa, it’s currently looking like we’ll get Reinhardt and Orisa. You lose 200 HP of barriers, and you now get a faster, less-boopable Reinhardt and a more-durable Orisa. You may not spend as much time popping barriers, but that’s because you’ll just have less opportunity to do it before Reinhardt and Orisa are on top of you, and between the armor revert and their personal buffs, they’re going to be harder to brawl against than ever

If I had to describe it, it’s like Double Barrier and GOATS had a love child. Stack your defenses, then BOOSTIO into the enemy and just slam them with brawling power.

6

This patch is amazing. All they have to do is nerf snipers too and we’re golden.

7

I’ve been seeing more Sigma/Rein than Orisa/Rein, but yeah, other versions of Double Shield are starting to pop up.

8

as a tank i’m happy that barriers was nerfed, now people can get off my back about being a barrier dispenser and nothing else.

9

I main orisa and I can say for a fact I am playing way more aggressively. but things change you we got to learn to adjust with the changes.

10

Sigma-Rein seems like it could be stomped on by Mei really easily, but it’s possible. I haven’t really seen much of it yet–I saw some Sigma-Orisa, Sigma-Zarya, and Sigma-Hammond, and they all folded pretty easily.

That said, basically every comp I’ve seen so far that didn’t get stomped right away has had Reinhardt. Orisa-Zarya got mobbed by Rein-Orisa and Rein-Zarya, Hammond… anything is getting trashed by Rein comps, and don’t even talk to me about DVa or Winston lol.

11

Also, its now up to barrier tanks to work together so that when one barrier is down the other is up. Part of the team play.

12

I can honestly tell you that in all of my time playing tonight, not one time have I seen anyone play Orisa and Reinhardt. I’ve seen mayne 3 people in total play Orisa. Her shield just isn’t a viable option anymore

13

Sure, but see, that highlights a problem:

What happens when your second tank doesn’t have a barrier?

The patch didn’t really solve why Double Barrier was being run, it just moved the emphasis from the poke phase straight over to the teamfight phase.

It’s been in probably half my games at a minimum, and it’s absolutely just taken a dump on everything else. The only games where that hasn’t been the case have been against Rein-Zarya when the enemy was running better supports and DPS (i.e. Reaper, Lucio while we had like Soldier and Zenyatta)

14

Idk what kind of peope you play with, but I have never heard someone refer to me as a shield dispenser

15

every tank gets stomped by mei. its why Orisa Sigma were meta. they get stomped the least.

16

when i played aggressive tank before i got told to just stand still and hold my shield up, just stand there.

i’m a very high risk/reward player, i don’t like sitting and holding one button and staring at barriers, i like outplaying them.

sure i’ll keep a barrier up for my roadhog that is ulting so he doesn’t get slept, but i don’t want to sit at a choke like a statue, i like doing pincer maneuvers, hammer and anvil, flanks, baits, all of that tactical play.

17

I’m happy tanking is becoming less about spamming shields. I’d rather be a brawler and be part of the action. This patch makes tanking funner

18

I don’t think that’s true. Sigma gets trashed by Mei even worse than Reinhardt, I think. Rein-Orisa is more resilient against her, but beforehand, Sigma+Orisa had more-than-adequate defenses compared to Sigma+Rein or Orisa+Rein, but had the added advantage of drastically more firepower, which is why they were preferred to anything with Reinhardt.

Now, there’s a more-clear tradeoff of firepower vs defenses… sorta, as long as you only look at ranged engagements. Once you close the gap, Rein+Orisa just becomes flat out better than the alternatives. With Reinhardt’s movement buffs, too, that period where there’s a more-clear tradeoff doesn’t last as long, so you shift into the phase of “why would you run anything other than Reinhardt” much more quickly.

Mei in Double Barrier was insurance against Hammond comps, but also she was a good way to punish Sigma because there’s virtually nothing Sigma can do against her outside of barrier dancing, which… is of questionable value when she can slow you down (and thus inhibit barrier dancing)

19

I just posted this in another thread and I supposed it fits here as well.

Anyone saying tanks are useless, or even just slightly nerfed, needs to think a bit more deeply about the changes.

My profile is public, I have most of my time on tanks and I have been playing tanks daily on PTR since it has been announced because these changes are the best tank changes Overwatch has ever seen . They address what is a major issue with playing tanks in Overwatch, an issue that has been, partially but strongly, responsible for the horrible DPS queue times.

The only nerfed tank is Sigma, every other tank has been buffed and they are not placebo buffs. They are significant. Orisa and Rein never been stronger , and to lesser extent Winston, Zarya and Dva are also buffed.

The amount of effort it takes to peel off or even move a Rein is so significant, Rein opens so much space and takes so much attention, you feel like a siege tower approaching the enemy walls: Every enemy is going to notice and turn their heads to you, and thanks to Steadfast you don’t feel like a kid in a bouncing castle anymore. 400 shield is inconsequential, could nerf it further even.

And I can play Rein in Well or Sanctum, plus I don’t need a Lucio anymore, which also enables more varied support picks. Any support duo works with Rein now, I do mean any, Brig+Zen? No problem.

Orisa is goshdarn unkilable. She is so hard to take down it’s like she’s the boss of a Mega Man game. And you can’t just ignore her because she can out-duel any hero, Reaper included. She actually plays a lot like Zarya now, use cooldowns to increase your life and murder everyone.

Dva and Winston benefit from the armor buff. Plus the Moira nerfs changes some thresholds. Winston alone can deny 60 out of 65 HP/s, Dva can eat the Orb more consistently, opening up a lot of space to murder squishies with a coordinated dive.

Tanks were very heavily tied synergies to other tanks, and to a lesser extent also tied to supports. Like Rein demanded a Zarya, Winston/Dva/Ball, Orisa/Hog/Sigma, and those implied different support picks, since Rein/Zarya without Lucio wouldn’t work too well, nor they would work with Mercy. Those are still good synergies but new combinations have risen and that’s awesome.

I’m gonna solo queue as tank again. I recommend you all to watch Bumper (former Titans MT) for inspiration. Embrace your inner Bumper.

1 Like
20

I don’t like what it’s doing to shield tanks. Shield tanks are purposefully defensive and it’s taking that away and forcing them to be more offensive. If the patch isn’t pushing them away from the double shield, then it’s pulling them towards it lkke you guys pointed out. So instead of forcing people to choose other tanks, they can only choose 3. The patch didn’t do what it set out to do in either case which was to fix it so people didn’t use the double shield meta. They would either continue to use double shield because they have to now, or they would be forced to be an offensive shield tank which doesn’t make sense

Yes Reinhardt can move faster. Yes Orisa can fortify more frequently. Does that change my opinion on their shields? No.

I didn’t start playing Overwatch until sometime last year, so I don’t know how much they have changed overall, but that really doesn’t change the fact that I think this update sucks for shield tanks.