Why does nobody play Reaper?

[Rorke]

I never see him anymore. Not in my games or on any of the random twitch streams I sometimes watch. It's weird because when I play him I feel as though I do really well.

I guess he's just a "scrub killer" character but not good for high rated play. Idk what do you all think?

[GennGreymane]

He is a good tank buster in a format with a regular amount of tanks, but since its a 3 tank stack meta, he would get obliterated by D.va and hog.

Plus soldier can burst down Rein's shield a bit better and self heal, allowing for a 1 healer group to be a bit more viable. Unlike reaper who must kill to get a heal.

[ati87]

If true then I assume it's also party because of his range and that he is a bit less versatile then lets say Mccree or a Soldier.

Reaper likes to get personal but getting to that situation can be hard when you attacking a objective.

[DeadmanWalking]

If I see 3 tanks I go reaper, it counts on my opponents comp. Especialy if someone on my team is playing 76

[shammypie]

He is a good tank buster in a format with a regular amount of tanks, but since its a 3 tank stack meta, he would get obliterated by D.va and hog.

Plus soldier can burst down Rein's shield a bit better and self heal, allowing for a 1 healer group to be a bit more viable. Unlike reaper who must kill to get a heal.

like this guy said basically the meta is shifting to 3 tanks and 1 heal so it's a lot harder to get closer to the enemy team/ bust through defenses. Because of this you need your two offense heroes to be able to dish out damage from a distance to soften the enemy team. McCree or Soldier is needed for constant damage (he's overwatch's version of an ADC). Furthermore you want a hero who can apply pressure from the side. In this fashion Reaper has fallen out because while he can flank he has a hard time making a difference with the added survivability and cc of the enemy team. So someone like pharah and genji come into play more often.

[GennGreymane]

If true then I assume it's also party because of his range and that he is a bit less versatile then lets say Mccree or a Soldier.

Reaper likes to get personal but getting to that situation can be hard when you attacking a objective.

He is also good for squishy characters. This meta basically has none outside of soldier, zen, Ana, and Lucio, but all of them are heavily defended by three tanks.

I think the three tank meta needs to be broken. Thats the issue. Tanks should not be dealing damage at the levels of DPS. If tanks are nerfed down to 2 tank status again with reduced damage, you will see more people playing reaper, tracer, winston (who needs no nerf or buff), and others

the 3 tank meta really hinders too many characters. Junkrat is kinda pointless, reaper cant handle more than 2 tanks, tracer cant hurt them too well, and becase you are fighting high HP characters, winston is useless


Lucio will never fall out of meta until another character is added who fills his role. If another character came in who did AOE healing better, but no speed boost. Lucio no longer is meta in this case, he can now be chosen for speed/heals, or you would pick the new guy for damage/heals, etc. This also means you can keep Lucio speed focused, meaning a healing nerf wouldnt be out of the question.

[Naxere]

If I see 3 tanks I go reaper, it counts on my opponents comp. Especialy if someone on my team is playing 76

If I see 3 tanks I go Zenyatta. Discord Orb makes them squishy.

[Anyael]

What skill rating are you all playing at? 3 tanks is good but it isn't even close to mandatory and I'm playing in Diamond.

[ati87]

He is also good for squishy characters. This meta basically has none outside of soldier, zen, Ana, and Lucio, but all of them are heavily defended by three tanks.

I think the three tank meta needs to be broken. Thats the issue. Tanks should not be dealing damage at the levels of DPS. If tanks are nerfed down to 2 tank status again with reduced damage, you will see more people playing reaper, tracer, winston (who needs no nerf or buff), and others

the 3 tank meta really hinders too many characters. Junkrat is kinda pointless, reaper cant handle more than 2 tanks, tracer cant hurt them too well, and becase you are fighting high HP characters, winston is useless


Lucio will never fall out of meta until another character is added who fills his role. If another character came in who did AOE healing better, but no speed boost. Lucio no longer is meta in this case, he can now be chosen for speed/heals, or you would pick the new guy for damage/heals, etc. This also means you can keep Lucio speed focused, meaning a healing nerf wouldnt be out of the question.

I wouldn't call the damage of Rein, D.va or hell even Winston that high given their lack lack of range.

True if it comes to melee combat Rein and Winston are probably stronger then any other character out their (not counting ulti's) but that's the tradeoff for not being able to shoot things at range, which half the maps favour.

Zarya and Roadhog are a different story and I can agree that both needs to be closer looked, but even with Zarya the tradeoff is that she needs to build up her dmg and her lack of health and mobility compared to some of the other tanks.

What makes the 3 tank strategy viable is probably what makes game as a whole broken in some regards. This game favours rush strategy when it comes to taking the objectives, so get personal and just push for the objective all the time (most don't do this btw, and are semi surprised when it works) this kind of play would favour those that can take a hit or 2 and that can do something when it gets personal.

[Post]

the 3 tank meta really hinders too many characters. Junkrat is kinda pointless, reaper cant handle more than 2 tanks, tracer cant hurt them too well, and becase you are fighting high HP characters, winston is useless

Junkrat tears through tanks, their large size makes them easy to direct hit, and hit in general really. The reason why Junkrat isn't great is because of the non tank characters.

[Raetary]

roadhog replaced him

[Val the Moofia Boss]

roadhog replaced him

Somewhat true. Unlike Reaper, Roadhog is not hamstrung by range restrictions, and has enough health to survive close combat with the enemy to take advantage of close-range damage bonuses. Reaper on the other hand, can only deal significant damage at close range, whilist having low health and limited options to escape or close the distance. His teleport takes quite some time to cast, leaves him vulnerable, and doesn't travel that far. Reaper has become a niche character, mostly seen on control maps like Illios where everyone is bunched up in a tight space.

[Onikaroshi]

I always play reaper on attack, dun care, its what i do

[DeadmanWalking]

I also pull out the Reaper when there is an especially competent and annoying Monkey.

[Rorke]

Somewhat true. Unlike Reaper, Roadhog is not hamstrung by range restrictions, and has enough health to survive close combat with the enemy to take advantage of close-range damage bonuses. Reaper on the other hand, can only deal significant damage at close range, whilist having low health and limited options to escape or close the distance. His teleport takes quite some time to cast, leaves him vulnerable, and doesn't travel that far. Reaper has become a niche character, mostly seen on control maps like Illios where everyone is bunched up in a tight space.

Reapers damage up close is really good though. And he's extremely tanky for an attacker with Wraith form + Warrior victory rush + 250 health.

Idk I feel like the character is extremely good but I guess people just don't play him because of the "meta" or whatever.

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What skill rating are you all playing at? 3 tanks is good but it isn't even close to mandatory and I'm playing in Diamond.

mid goldish.

[AeneasBK]

@GennGreymane love the avatar update lol.

@OP Get ye back to general offtopic, the manlets there need leadership

OT : I've just started branching out to new heros and Reaper is one of my more successful options, really enjoying the normal gameplay, cannot for love nor money land a decent ultimate; get hooked or headshot before I can even finish (start!) saying "Die!" the first time let alone 3 times

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Somewhat true. Unlike Reaper, Roadhog is not hamstrung by range restrictions,

Whut? His R-click has an adjustable range? Or ...

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True if it comes to melee combat Rein and Winston are probably stronger then any other character out their (not counting ulti's) but that's the tradeoff for not being able to shoot things at range, which half the maps favour.
.

Another whut? Winston tickles things, even Symmetra out DPS's him, it's only his healthpool that lets him win those 1v1s... Whut...

[DeadmanWalking]

Pharah tends to keep me from playing Reaper over 76. Nothing like being forced to shout angrily from the ground at a flying Pharah because there is nothing else to do but eat missiles.

[Dug]

I've been playing him more lately and I'm doing just as good with him as when I first picked up the game. You just need to play patiently and go balls out when the time is right. He's so damn beefy. If people allow you to run through them then they're going to have a bad time.

But this also isn't ranked play. I mainly do support in ranked.

[wunksta]

Whut? His R-click has an adjustable range? Or ...

He has a short blast, a medium range blast and a long range hook. Plus he has on demand healing, which is better than Reaper's healing ability.

Reaper does need some kind of buff but I'm not sure what would work.

[ati87]

He has a short blast, a medium range blast and a long range hook. Plus he has on demand healing, which is better than Reaper's healing ability.

Reaper does need some kind of buff but I'm not sure what would work.

Na he doesn't need a buff, maybe Roadhog needs a nerf.

Characters that are technically fine but get overshadowed by other characters because their is some overlap in what they can do best is a general problem in Overwatch.

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[MENTION=629133]

Another whut? Winston tickles things, even Symmetra out DPS's him, it's only his healthpool that lets him win those 1v1s... Whut...

He doesn't need to aim (which for many is a problem) and does a multitarget damage of 60 dmg per second (see wiki), the fact that he dies is his problem and not his dps.

If he got a charge on his jump he could be fixed and become OP at the right time.