Edit: This thread has been made long before the PTR update of October 23, 2018. I am happy with the new Reaper changes. I think the leech and spread buffs are a huge asset to his kit. I’m keeping the thread active because now all I ask as a passionate Reaper main, is to please look at Shadow Step and give it an animation update (buff its speed), or consider giving him another ability that fits his kit a little better. Thank you, have a nice evening.
Old thread below
We’ve seen triple tank metas so many seasons. Even quad tank is still a strat in some scenarios. So the question is; where’s our favorite edgelord tank bustin’ boi?
Sorry folks, but Reaper’s kit is lame and I’ll explain why. I don’t need to point fingers at Torb’s rework and tie it to Reaper because there is already many threads doing that.
Current Design and why it sucks (in my opinion).
Reaper’s original design of being the shotgun hero is fair and balanced. He does a ton of damage but he can only do it upclose. The problem is – he’s a super easy target to focus and is easily countered with basic play. And with all this ridiculous CC in the game, he can’t catch a break (like a lot of other heroes out there).
The shotgun spread is terrible on smaller targets. Additionally, it’s just not as devastating to shields as everyone makes it out to be. Yeah I’m so glad to be hitting tanks in this triple support, triple tank meta where I can’t kill a tank in time before I have to wraith away (and feed support ult). I’m a terrible asset to my team if I can’t consistently kill anything else.
Wraith Form changes have been made in the right direction. Giving him that speed gain helped with survivability. But these changes haven’t been enough.
Shadow Step: Alright folks here is a huge source of Reaper’s problems is this garbage useless ability right here. Most offensive heros have two abilities to use in team fights. For example; Tracer’s recall / blinks, Genji’s deflect and dash, Soldier’s helix and heal, etc. Reaper only has his wraith form because honestly no Reaper is going to use teleport mid team fight unless the enemy team is throwing or completely braindead. It’s too slow, you can actually kill Reaper before he can move outside of the animation, and it has a sound cue. As if Reaper’s footsteps aren’t loud on their own. I mainly use teleport to get out of spawn faster. Teleporting behind the enemy team is just rolling the dice and hoping they don’t notice before you walk up and map design just makes Reaper’s teleport spots way too predictable anyway.
Deathblossom: Anyone who complains about Reaper ult being overpowered has seriously never played Reaper for a decent time. Death Blossom is probably one of the easiest dps ultimates to get out and counter of despite it’s damage. It’s also one of the easiest ways to kill Reaper. With the addition of Brig into the meta, Reaper is even more heavily countered during his ultimate because of how she can walk up with a shield and stun him out of it. And she’s just one of many heroes who can cancel his ultimate.
Leech: You’re punished for killing a 200 hp hero because shooting them hardly gives you any healing, and even when hitting tanks anything can outheal the amount of leech Reaper does. I’m pretty sure when people read this they might have forgotten Reaper actually has leech anyway since they gave Moira the better version of it. I miss his little soul globes, because they gave more healing on the flank anyway.
Alright enough whining, what does he need?
So, Reaper can go in either two directions. First direction is you can improve more on his flanking capabilities or the second option make him a stronger frontline dps. So here’s my two rework ideas.
Rework Idea #1 (The Flanker)
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Wraith Form Visual change: Change Reaper’s wraith form to make it visually harder to see him as he moves about. I mean, if I could have it my way he should have been able to move around like a black dust swarm which gives him a small flight / wall climb-ish capabilities like we see in the Sombra animated short. But sadly that would probably be overpowered?
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Shadow step: Keep this garbage ability I suppose; but actually make it useful and change the animation of it and make it way more faster. And no, he doesn’t need to meme himself and yell out “REPOSITIONING” before being able to move. Reducing the damage he takes during the animation might actually make it a more useful ability in teamfights. He would be a lot harder to hit if he teleported in the same manner as he does in his highlight intro.
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Leech: I want to believe that they gave Reaper some self-healing option (first with soul globes, now this) because the developers had intended for him to be a flanker in the first place. But, leech is a little underpowered right now so give that some love please. Even the smallest % change will help.
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Deathblossom: Unpopular opinion here, but I really wouldn’t care if they took away leech from his ult and instead gave him some sort of damage reduction. I was thinking maybe a lingering cloud of smoke to which if Reaper stands in it, it would reduce damage taken by 15% or so. The cloud would last for maybe 4-6 seconds. This would allow him to dominate his little area more.
Rework Idea #2 (Frontline buster)
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Shadow Step REMOVED.
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New Ability: Vampiric Embrace: Activate this ability increases Reaper’s rate of fire, and increases leech gain by 25% for 5 seconds. Has a 10 second cooldown.
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New Ability (right click) Smoke Grenade: Launches a smoke grenade, causing reduced damage taken for your team, lasts a few seconds. 12 second cooldown. Visual effect would look similar to how Reaper’s point of view looks during Wraith form.
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Deathblossom: Same idea as from Rework #1.
Anyways, those were my ideas and my little rant… I apologize for any spelling mistakes or parts that just didn’t make any sense. I want to just make it clear that yes; he is my favorite hero and with that, naturally, comes bias I won’t deny that. I also think that he’s not super underpowered but it’s definitely more frustrating to play him in this meta than it is fun. I’m the person that will play something stupidly underpowered and off-meta as long as they are fun to play. Reaper is losing the “fun” factor for me and a lot of other people.