Overwatch 2 Reaper: Abilities, Changes, Playstyle

Overwatch 2 has characters divided into three categories: Supports, DPS, and Tanks. Each of them has a different role, but they combine their roles to win the game. Reaper in Overwatch 2 comes under the DPS category, where you get to see heroes like Tracer, Cassidy, and Genji. DPS characters focus on dealing high damage to the opponents either by staying in the Tank’s cover or by flanking them.

Key Takeaways:

• • Reaper is a Damage Hero in Overwatch 2.
  • He has a close-range weapon called Hellfire Shotgun which deals deadly damage.
  • He has two main abilities. The Shadow Step allows him to teleport from one spot to another, and the Wraith Form makes Reaper move faster and invulnerable. His Ultimate is Death Blossom which damages all nearby enemies.
  • His Passive abilities include The Reaping, which lets him heal after dealing damage, and the Role: Damage grants him a burst of movement and reload speed upon elimination.
  • Reaper’s playstyle is quite aggressive, and he is arguably the best flanker in the game.

Reaper In Overwatch 2

Reaper comes under the damage category of the game. He played a vital role in the lore of Overwatch 1. He was a part of Talon, a terrorist organization along with Doomfist, Sombra, and Widowmaker, and he was one of its leaders. Initially, he was presented in 2016’s Overwatch as the villain. His ultimate aim was to end the organization of Overwatch in order to bring chaos into the world.

The game has brought many changes to the characters, adding more definitions to each one of them. The new additions include passive abilities as well, such as having healing or damage buff after eliminating an enemy. However, you cannot stack up the passive abilities by multiple eliminations.

Reaper’s Weapon And Abilities

In Reaper’s case, he has two passive abilities, which are The Reaping and Role: Damage. His abilities include Shadow Step and Wraith Form. Moreover, with Hellfire Shotguns as his weapon, he has an Ultimate called Death Blossom.

Hellfire Shotgun

The Hellfire Shotgun is Reaper’s primary and only weapon. There are two guns that Reaper uses, and they fire alternately. They are short-range weapons that can be considered a shotgun, and each of them contains eight bullets. At close range, the weapon deals a critical amount of damage to the opponents, and you can even take out tanks easily during a 1v1.

The gun is not so effective at long ranges, and it will only do minimal damage. To compare the ranges, if you are to shoot at a bot from close range within 5 meters, the bot will be eliminated in only one shot. However, if you are fifteen meters away, the health bar will decrease by only one point. Therefore, make sure you land all your shots from a close range.

If we compare the Hellfire Shotgun with the original Overwatch, they have nerfed the gun a little bit. Its overall damage used to be six, but it has been reduced to 5.4 now. Moreover, there has been an increase in the pellet jump, changing from six to seven. Therefore, if you used to play Reaper before, you will need to put in extra effort to eliminate the opponents.

Shadow Step

The first ability of the Reaper is Shadow Step which you can use by pressing the default key: E, and doing a left click. The ability allows you to teleport from one place to another. Once you press E, you will be able to see purple smoke on your screen. The purple smoke shows the location where you will teleport to.

The Shadow Step is quite flexible and lets you teleport to long ranges as well. However, the best thing about it is that it will give you access to spots that most players either cannot reach or take time to reach.

The ability has a lot of uses; however, it depends on what your playstyle is. During overtime, you can be putting on pressure on the opponents while waiting for your tank to join. Once the tank joins or your health drops significantly, you can simply teleport to a safer position.

Moreover, the coolest thing you can do to dominate a 1v1 fight is to teleport right behind your opponent. Not only will this let you gain the upper hand in the fight, but it will also make the opponent feel confused and inferior. However, keep in mind that the ability will not teleport you to another spot instantly.

It will take some time, so make sure you are not too exposed while using it. Moreover, another downside of the ability is that when you are in the teleportation phase, the enemy can see red smoke, and during that, the Reaper is vulnerable for a short period of time. So, make sure you teleport somewhere safe.

Wraith Form

The second ability of the Reaper is Wraith Form which can be used by pressing the default key: Left Shift. The Wraith Form allows you to become invulnerable along with a faster movement speed. However, the ability does not let you shoot.

It can be quite useful while fighting against more than one enemy. If the fight becomes overwhelming, you can simply use it to fall back and ask your teammates to be careful. One thing you need to be mindful of is that the Wraith Form makes you invulnerable, not invisible.  

Therefore, as soon as you use the ability, you will be able to run away from the fight, but the opponent will know where you are going. Moreover, if you are low on health, try your best to go near your teammate so they can provide you with cover.

However, if there is no teammate nearby, go to a corner and wait for them to come. Stay in a close corner and wait for them to show up so you can deal high damage. You can even use it if you are playing too aggressively near the opponent’s spawn.

The Reaping

The first passive ability of the Reaper is The Reaping. It allows you to heal while dealing damage. Therefore, even if you have no healer in the team composition, you will not need to worry. Moreover, The Reaping will make you even more independent as you will be recharging your health while taking on the opponents.

Role: Damage

The second passive ability of the Reaper is Role: Damage which grants you a burst of increased movement speed along with a faster reload speed after eliminating a target. The passive ability allows you to take on more than one opponent in a series if there is a need. You can simply take down an opponent and then reload in cover and go on for the second one.

Death Blossom

Reaper’s Ultimate: Death Blossom will cause panic in the opponent team as soon as they hear his voice line. His ultimate ability allows him to use a long-range weapon at a faster firing rate, damaging every opponent that is coming into the field of view.

However, be careful while using it in an exposed position. You will still be vulnerable, and therefore if the opponent team has a player like Widowmaker, you will be eliminated in no time. Therefore, assess the area and ask your teammates to cover for you.

BEST Playstyle For Reaper

There is no doubt that a hero like Reaper is for players who prefer staying on the heated battlefield in the game. However, it is not just about engaging in direct fights, and the hero needs to be used very strategically. The main purpose of Reaper is to flank the opponents.

While you are flanking, you will come across the opponent’s flankers. Reaper is deadly in a 1v1 fight mainly because the fight is happening at a close range, and The Reaping allows you to heal after dealing damage. Therefore, go as close to the opponent as you can and try to get at least two headshots, as they will be enough to take out a DPS and Healer Hero.

Moreover, since you will be focusing on short-range fights, we recommend you lower the sensitivity. It will allow you to keep your aim on the enemy even if both of you are moving. Even though it is a run-and-gun type game, a hero like Reaper does not need a lot of time to eliminate an opponent. Therefore, make sure you practice your aim in close fights.

Make sure you use your abilities because there is no point in saving them. It is possible that the opponent is better than you at aiming. If that is the case, then your raw aim will not be so helpful on its own. You will need to use your abilities to confuse them and gain the upper hand on them.

If you are running low on health, you will always have the option of using the Wraith Form, which will let you get in a better angle or let you fall back. If you are planning on using it for a better angle, try to get out from the field of view of your opponent.

As soon as you are out of their view, get out of the Wraith Form and stay close to the entrance. As soon as you hear the opponent draw near, ready your aim and shoot at the perfect moment. Not only will it catch the opponent by surprise, but it will also give them serious damage along with healing you.

Moreover, make sure you are maximizing the benefits of each ability. Adding on to the Wraith Form, as mentioned earlier, each gun of Reaper has eight bullets. It is possible that you empty both of your magazines, and the opponent has a clear chance of eliminating you.

Enter into the Wraith Form for a short while to gain an advantageous position and then get out of it. Not only will it help you in repositioning, but it will reload your weapons as well. Therefore, you do not need to expose yourself to an opponent while reloading your weapon.

Apart from the Wraith Form, you can use the Shadow Step to change sides, get in odd positions, and confuse your enemies. However, it will be most useful when you find yourself covered by the opponents. Just get yourself more familiar with the teleportation timing, so you don’t get late and end up getting eliminated.

The best use of Shadow Step can be used with Reaper’s Ultimate: Death Blossom. Most players tend to use the ultimate right in front of the enemies at close range. The ultimate takes some time to come into action, and during that, the opponents target solely the Reaper and kill him. To overcome that problem, you can use the Shadow Step to get to a heightened area from where you can use your ultimate easily.

Reaper’s Synergizing Heroes

Let us not forget that Overwatch 2 is a team game, and so Reaper will need some other hero in certain situations. So, there are some heroes that your teammates can play with in order to synergize the abilities and damages and end up eliminating opponents within a few seconds.

Moreover, it will leave them frustrated and lose the game assuming the strategy is too good. The following heroes mentioned have abilities and playstyles that complement that of Reaper and so make sure that you convince your teammates to use them.

Ana

Reaper can deal a lot more damage if he is supported by Ana’s Nano Boost ultimate. Moreover, if your team is playing for a retake, you can use Reaper’s Death Blossom ultimate with the Nano Boost in order to take down multiple enemies within a short period of time.

Sombra

Sombra’s ultimate EMP perfectly complements Reaper’s ultimate if used at the same time. The opponents will not be able to use their abilities once Sombra uses her EMP. This will leave room for Reaper to use his ultimate, not allowing the opponents to dodge or heal themselves.

Kiriko

The Support Hero Kiriko will be there to provide a good amount of support to Reaper while he is flanking. During the flank, most fights will be 2v1; therefore, the opponent will have slim chances of eliminating both, Kiriko and Reaper. She even has the ability to teleport through the walls, so in case you get into an overwhelming situation, you can always call upon her.

Zarya

Zarya’s Gravity Surge is perfect for pulling opponents into one place. So, it gets easier for Reaper to use his ultimate. Reaper can also catch them from behind while they are getting pulled. It will let him do lots of collateral damage by going close to them. However, going too close to them will be risky unless there is some cover provided.

Orisa

Orisa has got a buff in the game that helps Reaper in hitting the final blow to the opponents. Not only does Orisa slam her spear down to damage them, but before that, she pulls them inwardly as well. After she slams down her spear, there will be opponents who will be weak enough for Reaper to take them out in one shot.

Apart from that, you can use the Overwatch 2 Best Ultimate Abilities to come up with your own combos in order to take out opponents more easily.

Changes For Reaper In Overwatch 2

There are only two major changes that Reaper has received in the game, and they are:

1. Hellfire Shotguns damage per pellet was reduced from 6 to 5.4.
2. The spread increased from 6 to 7.

Although the game has nerfed his weapon skills, the game has changed overall. We don’t get to see more clogged-up gameplay with tanking abilities, rather, the battlefield is more open now, and there is room for flank. Therefore, Reaper is now more significant than he was before.

Final Words

All in all, if you are trying out damage characters in the game, then Reaper is definitely the one you should choose if you prefer playing solo. Most players are health conscious if they don’t have a healer on their team. So, they don’t push the way they are required to. Reaper, on the other hand, can heal himself after dealing damage. Moreover, he can quickly slip away from the fight using his abilities.

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