The variety of heroes in Overwatch 2 is astounding, especially since the game has over 30 of them already. It offers characters across different roles and playstyles, but none of them has too much similarity with each other. When you play the game, you'll easily find a character that suits you.
Reaper is one of the characters in the game who's on the dark side. Multiple cinematic have revealed him to be an intimidating and edgy hero, and that immensely suits his deep voice. Furthermore, his ability to destroy an entire team single-handedly is also appreciable.
Updated November 27, 2022: We've updated this article to add a video guide that breaks down everything you need to know about playing as Reaper in Overwatch 2.
Reaper's Role In Overwatch 2
You can easily guess the role this hooded figure plays in the game just by looking at him. Overwatch 2 divides characters into the Tank, Damage, and Support role, each one of them having their job in every game. Reaper is a Damage character who demolishes everybody in his path.
A team consists of one Tank, two Damage, and two Support characters in the game. Since there are a lot of people wanting to play the damage role, the queues for the same are significantly high at all times in both unranked and competitive. There is also a special ability shared by all the Damage characters.
Whenever a hero with the damage role eliminates an enemy, they get an increased movement and reload speed for a short duration. Along with this, Reaper's self-healing capability allows him to carry the game if left unchecked.
Reaper's Abilities
Every character in the game has five to six abilities that include their weapons, active, ultimate, and passive. While all the characters have the first three types, there are only a select few with their special passive ability. Reaper is one of these lucky characters.
This character will take you quite some time to get used to because he has to directly challenge the enemies while making sure he doesn't overextend. Here are all of his abilities that will help you do that:
|
Ability Name |
Ability Type |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Hellfire Shotguns |
Weapon |
Reaper has a set of two shotguns that shoot alternatively. They have a massive spread, making them weaker as the distance between you and the enemy increases. Furthermore, this weapon has hit scan which means that your shots will connect as soon as you fire, and there's no projectile-based damage. |
|
Shadow Step |
Active Ability |
Upon activating this ability, you will see an aura in the direction you're facing. When you press the required button, you'll teleport directly to the area indicated by the aura after a short delay. |
|
Wraith Form |
Active Ability |
As the name suggests, Reaper goes into a wraith form after using this ability that makes him invulnerable and increases his speed for a few seconds. You will not be able to shoot your weapon or use any other ability during this form. This means that you cannot combine it with Shadow Step. |
|
The Reaping |
Passive Ability |
This is essentially a life-steal ability. Whenever you deal damage to the enemies, you'll regenerate a part of the damage as your health. This allows Reaper to stay alive for longer in battle. |
|
Death Blossom |
Ultimate |
Once you have enough charges to use your ultimate, you can activate it and deal damage to all the enemies near you at the same time. This damage is enough to kill any squishy characters within seconds, but you can take damage while you're using it as well. |
Tips To Play As Reaper
If you're new to the game, Reaper might seem like an overpowered hero because the enemies you're going against will also be new, and might not know how to counter him. As you get better enemies, you'll realize that there's a lot more game sense required with him compared to other characters.
Furthermore, you'll be fighting in the front lines most of the time since he can only deal good damage when he's close to the enemy. During your battle, your positioning and ability usage can determine the victory or loss of your entire team. Here are a few tricks to help you get better at Reaper quickly:
Use Your Teleport Wisely
On most maps, the Swift Step ability will be the only way you can easily get into the enemy's back line. This is important because it's useless to attack a tank like this character since they'll get healed while the enemy damage dealers get a chance to kill you.
It is important to use this teleport wisely. After you activate it, you're stuck in animation for over two seconds where you're completely vulnerable to attacks from the enemy. This means that you can easily get sniped and killed before you even get a chance to teleport.
To prevent this, you need to ensure that you activate the ability when you're not in any enemy's line of sight. This prevents you from taking damage and also gives you an element of surprise since they won't know that you're coming. You'll see your success rate go up once you start focusing on your position while teleporting.
Moreover, there are different ways you can use this ability to go to various unexpected places as follows:
- If the enemy has control over the objective, and they're all crowded near it, you can try to teleport behind them and hit their back line. This can be especially devastating if you have your ultimate since you can kill an entire team with that.
- You can also try to get on top of the buildings where not a lot of heroes can climb. This will give you a view of everyone's exact location, and they won't expect you to be up there.
- Finally, you can always use this ability to get away from the enemies if they're chasing you. You'll need to break the line of sight for a couple of seconds for this to work.
Similarly, the Wraith Form can also be used for mobility apart from getting away. It has a short cooldown, so you can easily use it a couple of times before getting back into the fight once you respawn.
Push Back Abilities Can Counter You
Many heroes can knock you back like Ashe, Lucio, or Doomfist. Fighting characters with one of these abilities will be your nightmare since you'll have to spend your abilities to get close to them while they can ruin your effort by making distance.
One way to prevent this from happening is by predicting when they're going to use these abilities, and countering it with your Wraith Form since you can't be knocked back during it. It's important to stay composed even if they're able to make distance because you can always catch up or simply get away.
Characters like D.va can also counter you by pushing you away from your target using her rush ability. This is where your positioning will matter the most because you need to find the perfect time to attack when the tank is distracted.
Don't Overestimate Your Abilities
Reaper's ultimate can easily be counted as one of the strongest abilities in the entire game, but it's still important to know your limits. There will be times when you'll be tempted to chase a squishy character if they're alone even when you're super low, and you need to resist the urge.
It is always better to stay safe and find another opportunity than risk a 50-50 and a potential ten-second downtime if you end up dying. Furthermore, your Wraith Form will not get you out of everything.
If the enemies decide to focus on you and chase you through your invulnerability just because you pose a threat to them, there's nothing you'll be able to do unless you are supported by the tank and support of your team.
With that said, Reaper is one of the best characters you can use if you're queuing solo. This is because of his ability to carry by killing the entire enemy team and also sustaining himself through the life steal passive.