Overwatch Reinhardt Advanced Tips

Overwatch Reinhardt Advanced Tips by LeonCoaching

Fire Striking when Ultimate is 100%

After my ultimate is at 100%, I only use fire strike to secure kills or mid fight when you need that burst of damage. The main reason for stopping fire strikes is that I don’t want to charge the enemy’s support ultimates any faster. The odds of getting a kill with random fire strikes are low especially if no one on your team has called a target for being low. If we can delay the enemy support ultimates then we can possibly get an un-countered shatter, which when you land a good one, it wins the fight by itself. Another reason is if they have a Reinhardt, the enemy most likely has shatter as well and I don’t want to give him any window to shatter my team.

Keeping charge short

Whenever I go for a charge I try my best to angle it so that I can pin them to the closest surface. This keeps me, and the enemy that I pinned, close to my team, so they can follow up and kill them, or keep me alive if I need the help. Making charges short and sweet also reduces the chance that the enemy team will react to save their teammate with flash bang/proj. barrier/sleep dart/hook/etc. There’s many ways for the enemy to stop your charge, which puts you in a very vulnerable position.

Blocking Trash damage

Most times when I see lower ranked Reinhardts they will be using their shield in situations where its not warranted. For example, your team just lost a fight, but you are the first one to spawn. You go to the choke and start blocking damage. By the time your team is with you and ready to go, your shield needs to recover! Thats on average 5-8 seconds your team needs to wait for your shield and it may not seem like much, but if the shield needs to be charged consistently while the team waits, it can add up throughout the match to 30-50 seconds of just waiting around and that could’ve been that last push your team needed to capture the objective. The same applies when playing defense Reinhardt. The enemy is regrouping at the choke, they show no signs of pushing in but their junkrat is spamming away in your teams direction from behind cover. If you hold your shield up and block the junkrat mines that are easy to dodge then you risk the enemy pushing in with a full shield versus your shield that is already damaged. This leaves your team at a significant disadvantage since having that reinhardt shield infront of the team can make a huge difference in the outcome of a fight. Primarily because if reinhardt isnt close to the enemy and he dosn’t have his shield, he dosn’t provide much value to his team. I like to wait until I see the enemy start using their Reinhardt or Orisa shield to use mine, that way i ensure the fight starts on equal grounds in terms of shield health. Who wins the shield battle then is up to your DPS and Offtanks.

Going for only big shatters

There’s nothing quite like getting a huge shatter, where all six of the enemy team get caught in it. This is an easy team wipe, but most of the time the best play isn’t the biggest one. Holding shatter for that perfect moment can cause great moments to slip by. Getting a two person shatter that wins the fight is just as good as that six person shatter, they both accomplish the same thing and thats winning the fight. It may not be as flashy or get you POTG, but you won the fight.

A good example of a shatter that can win a fight is using Earth shatter on an ulting Genji. WARNING: Earth shatter’s height got reduced, so Genji can dodge it simply by double jumping. Shatter just as the Genji is landing from a double jump to make sure he gets caught in it. Landing an earth shatter on a Nano boosted Dragon blade can win the fight on its own, because you took away the enemy’s win condition. Even if they use every ultimate to win the fight, using shatter to stop the nano blade forced them to over commit to the fight, which will swing the ultimate economy in your team’s favor.

Bunny Hopping with Shield

A great way to close the distance on the enemy as you push into a choke, point, etc. is to bunny hop. What is bunny hopping? It is the act of dropping your shield to gain full walking momentum to jump and use shield while in the jump animation. You’ll maintain the same speed as walking, while also using your shield. You can keep doing this to move in with your shield in basically half the time it would take when you hold your shield up constantly. This method can also help you win shield battles. You have 500 hp and your healers are behind you. Dropping your shield for a second and walking forward will give you that shield health edge while also charging your support ultimates. WARNING: This strategy is very risky when you are up against certain heroes. For example, a Roadhog can hook you as soon as you drop your shield and ruin your day. A good widow/hanzo will realize the timing of the bunnyhop and quickly dispatch one of your backline teammates with a precise shot. Just one of the many things Reinhardt players need to take into account and adjust their play style for.