Photo Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
One of Overwatch’s best known heroes, Reinhardt, charges into the fray, literally. Reinhardt has the hit points to soak up damage, a massive war hammer to challenge any who get close, and a strong shield for defense. This Reinhardt guide highlights abilities, strengths and weaknesses, and play strategies to aid your team. Let’s take a look.
Primary Ability: Rocket Hammer – Range: Melee (5 Meter Cone) Reload: N/A
Reinhardt swings his Rocket Hammer in a wide arc, dealing damage to all enemies hit and pushing them back slightly.
Pros: Excellent Melee Damage
Most enemies, with the exception of a few, such as McCree, Reaper, or Roadhog, who are within melee range of Reinhardt’s hammer will quickly realize they’re making a mistake. Reinhardt can eliminate low health targets he manages to get within melee range of. Additionally, in close quarters such as hallways, Rocket Hammer becomes even more deadly.
Cons: Vulnerability, Forced Close Combat
When Reinhardt is swinging his hammer, he is unable to shield both himself as well as his team. Knowing when to engage in melee combat is important and will boost not only your survivability, but the survivability of your teammates as well.
Key Tip: Animation Cancelling
Reinhardt can cancel the animation of his Rocket Hammer by either using Barrier Field, or Fire Strike. This can allow him to attack sooner than if he followed through with the full animation. This enables him to output damage faster. Keep in mind, this prevents Reinhardt’s hammer from hitting all targets.
Secondary Ability: Barrier Field – Absorb Capacity: 2000 Damage – Recharge Rate: ~200 shield per second (While not active after 2 seconds)
Reinhardt projects a shield in front of him, shielding him and any allies standing behind it.
Pros: Large Absorb Capacity, Shield For Team
Blocking heavy damage with Barrier Field just feels good. The shield’s size enables Reinhardt to shield both himself and his allies from tremendous amounts of damage. Additionally, Barrier Field recharges after not using it for two seconds, allowing Reinhardt to maximize on its use.
Cons: Slowed Movement Speed, Only One Direction of Defense
When Reinhardt is channeling his shield, he loses a portion of movement speed. Additionally, Reinhardt can only face one direction while he has Barrier Field active, so his teammates must be aware of this. As well, any strategic enemies will know this and try to hit him from multiple points, forcing him to retreat if he does not have any allies to aid him.
Ability 1 – Charge: Cooldown: 10 Seconds (3 if interrupted)
Reinhardt charges forward at a high speed. When Reinhardt contacts the first enemy hit, they will become grabbed by him. Reinhardt will carry the caught enemy for the full duration of Charge, or until he makes contact with a physical surface. If Reinhardt manages to pin his enemy to a solid surface, such as a payload or wall, Charge will deal a large amount of damage. Know when to charge. Know when not to charge.
Pros: Speed Boost, Significant Damage, Enemy Removal
Charge has a variety of uses. First, Charge increases Reinhardt’s speed, allowing him to quickly travel a large distance. This enables him to return to objectives faster. Second, if Reinhardt manages to pin an enemy to a wall or other physical object, that enemy will take heavy damage, or die. Third, Charge is a great tool to remove enemy players from an intense firefight between teams. Last, charge is best used in medium to small quarters, where the enemy has less time to react to it.
Cons: Decreased Mobility, Potential Dangers
Because of the movement boost of Charge, Reinhardt’s mobility takes a hit. First, this can allow enemies to sidestep out of the way, negating its use. This can be dangerous by putting Reinhardt behind enemy lines, and away from his team. Also, using Charge when taking heavy damage can effectively be a death-sentence for Reinhardt. When charging, he drops all of his defenses, relying only on his large health pool to survive the duration of Charge.
Ability 2 – Fire Strike: Damage: 100 – Type: Piercing Projectile – Cooldown: 6 Seconds
One of my favorite abilities is Fire Strike. Reinhardt slings a large flaming ball at his target, dealing damage.
Pros: Ranged Ability, Able to Pierce Shields and Players, Moderately Low Cooldown
With its moderate cooldown, excellent range, and solid damage, Fire Strike pulls its weight. Additionally, Fire Strike is able to pierce both shields and players alike, enabling it to hit multiple targets at once. Also, this ranged ability deals the same amount of damage regardless of distance.
Cons:
I can’t think of any serious flaws with this ability. It seems pretty balanced as well, with its six second cooldown preventing spamming.
Ultimate Ability: Earthshatter – Damage: 50 – Damage Type: Cone Stun Duration: 2.5 Seconds
Reinhardt slams his Rocket Hammer into the ground, damaging and knocking down enemies in front of him.
Pros: Crowd Control
Crowd Control, (also known as CC) can be the difference between winning or losing a team fight. With a stun which lasts 2.5 seconds, this ability cannot be overlooked. It is important after using Earthshatter to maximize damage. This can be done by using Earthshatter, following into Fire Strike, and then swinging your Rocket Hammer. Charge can be used, but usually Fire Strike into Auto Attacks puts out the most damage. This ability has the potential to win team fights. Earthshatter can also be used in 1v1 fights if you know you will land a kill. I usually reserve charge if I am trying to remove a key hero from the fight.
Cons: Relatively Short Range, Weak Damage
Be sure when using Earthshatter not to underestimate how far away enemy heroes are. If you synergize Earthshatter on top of Lucio’s Crossfade, you can catch the enemy team off guard. Also, because of Earthshatter’s weak damage, it should not be relied on solely for landing kills.
That’s it for the German Juggernaut. Hopefully you found some useful information in this Reinhardt guide regarding Reinhardt’s strengths and weaknesses. Thanks for reading! Let us know what you think in the comments below! From all of us here at TGH, I’m David, and as always, Good Luck, Have Fun.
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