There are certain characters in Overwatch that lose their effectiveness when solely used for killing, and Reinhardt is firmly in this camp. If you’ve spent any time watching or playing Overwatch, you’ll recognize this massive sheild and hammer wieldimg knight from a mile away. Reinhardt is one of the lucky few characters that has two distinct weapons, one offensive and one defensive. His Rocket Hammer does massive amounts of damage to anyone who falls inside of a given swing, though it should be noted that these swings are exceptionally slow in the grand scheme of things. In addition to the Rocket Hammer, Reinhardt also utilizes the Barrier Field, his iconic light shield that can reflect up to 2000 hitpoints before retracting. Not only does this shield automatically retract when it runs out of HP, but it also recharges when it’s not in use and Reinhardt is much slower when using it. For these reasons, it’s best to save up your shield for when you’re right on top of a payload as a member of the attacking team, Https://www.overwatchtactics.com as this is where the Barrier Field is easily the most effective.
Reinhardt’s first ability, Charge, is quite tough to control, but can basically guarantee you a kill when used properly. As the name suggests, this ability propels Reinhardt forward a great distance, but it also allows him to do damage to everyone in his path. What’s more, any enemies that you pin up against a wall with charge will receive massive damage, usually resulting in a kill. His other ability, Fire Strike, allows him to launch a flaming projectile in the direction of the reticle for large close-to-medium range damage. Using Charge and Fire Strike in combination with his ultimate, Earthshatter (which stuns all enemies in a straight line) makes for a wonderful opportunity to get multi-kills. Still, you’re going to want to choose Reinhardt for his shield and its benefits for objective play over everything else.
This level of inclusion might not mean that much to gamers, but after showcasing the game to a few close friends, including female and minority gamers, we were all in agreeance that Blizzard’s design decisions made the game resonate with us more so than other games have, even if they aren’t an integral part of the experience. Still, as much as I am a fan of the diverse characters of Overwatch, the diversity within the game’s playable heroes is only one facet of the game’s dedication to inclusivity. While there are plenty of diverse characters, there are a few traditional, archetypal ones as well, though these are used to great effect.
If you’re looking for a character that deals a massive amount of damage and has a relatively high skill ceiling, then you can do a whole lot worse then Genji. Hanzo’s brother utilizes a combination of sword-based abilities and shurkiens not only makes him an awesome choice for kill-seekers, but also allow him to easily take out some of the most frustrating characters on the roster. Genji’s primary fire allows him to throw ninja stars in three-round bursts in a straight line, making this the best option for doing large amounts of damage, though you have to be extremely accurate for any hope of success. His secondary fire allows him to throw three shurkiens in a fan, allowing you to do a smaller amount of damage, but increasing your potential for contact. Oh, and let’s not forget that Genji can also climb up walls, so sneaking up on campers and snipers is an absolute breeze. Those who use a combination of his attacks, as opposed to simply sticking to one, will find themselves racking up kills at a staggering pace.
When D.Va’s mech is out of hitpoints, she ejects and is able to roam the stage as a quick 150 HP hero equipped with a Light Gun, which is accurate at all ranges but isn’t super strong from a damage perspective. The main point of the Light Gun is not necessarily to get kills, but to survive and build up D.Va’s ultimate meter in order to get a brand new mech. Unlike when her mech explodes, D.Va’s default ultimate, Self-Destruct, allows her to eject from her mech, causing a massive explosion and giving her the opportunity to instantly summon another. What’s more, this ultimate can be used in combination with her Boosters, creating a massive, horrifying moving explosion of destruction.
The support class is also carefully designed for players of all skill levels. While it doesn’t ring true in every situation, there are a few support characters that focus more on aiding the team rather than outright combat, allowing for less skilled players to contribute to the overall success of the team, while more skilled players can pick from certain support characters that demand more strategic use, like Zenyatta.
Now, it is possible to instantly balance the game and remove these annoyances: don’t allow duplicate characters on one team in quick play. Were players forced to choose someone else, the balance and counterbalance that all of the characters bring would suddenly become pertinent. The ability of a team sectioning off and controlling the entire map with one character type is removed. Suddenly, players don’t have to choose someone for the express purpose of knocking out one type of hero, and can instead work as a team (read: what the game is supposed to be about).