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Overwatch

Quick Hero Guide Series

Quick Hero Guide Series
Introduction
The Heroes
D.Va Hanzo Bastion Genji Lucio Mei McCree Junkrat Pharah Reinhardt
Reinhardt

Reinhardt

  • Reinhardt is the back bone of most front-line focused hero compositions. If the other team doesn't have flankers, you can just push and push and push. Reinhardt is very good when your team isn't being heavily pressured from the flanks.
    His job becomes a lot harder when the other team has one or two (good) Genjis or Tracers. If you're being destroyed by flanks, do not pick Reinhardt. It probably won't work, anyway.
    If the other team is neglecting to flank or has players that are bad flankers, running Reinhardt will be great.

  • If the other team does happen to have flankers or Pharahs that are pressuring you, you need to look at where the most damage is coming from. Sure, if you shield straight up you'll be blocking the Pharah's rockets. But oh no. What was that? Your Mercy just got sniped because she was relying on your now non-existent shield. The only team you should shield yourself from damage that isn't frontal is when it has the potential to kill you. You need to keep your shield where it will block the most of their damage. This means that if two Tracers are on you and your team, then yes, try and shield you and your team from them if the front side of you isn't going to be throwing a ton of damage your way.

  • Reinhardt's ult is very good. It builds very slow if you aren't doing damage. This means that the single most important thing you can do for your ult charge is to firestrike as soon as it comes back up. If firestrike is off cooldown and there's a target, chuck it. You won't build ult very fast without spamming firestrikes.

  • The other way to charge ult fast is to go for hammer swings and charges even if you don't know if it will get you a kill. If your team doesn't desperately need your shield and you can go hammer or charge someone without dying, go do it. Get that ultimate charge.

  • Charge doesn't have a lot of fancy things--you either hit and you do a lot of damage, or you miss and you don't. Risk-reward. Other than that, it's pretty easy to land a charge on an enemy Reinhardt that is shielding and is reasonably close to you, so you can go for that. Also use this to get out of spawn and closer to the fight faster. Cooldown is only 10 seconds so you'll have it back up in plenty of time to use it in a fight.

  • Earthshatter sounds a lot less cooler than hammer down, so do yourself a favor and just realize that Reinhardt's ultimate is not called earthshatter. It is called hammer down.

  • Some games you'll be able to build it faster than others. It will depend largely on what heroes your team and theirs has. If you're building it fast throughout that particular round, use it more liberally. If you're building slowly, use and spam firestrike more and try and find that perfect moment.

  • Use it whenever it will hit a lot of people or important targets. Nothing too complicated. Keep in mind that it will be blocked by stuff like other Reinhardt's barrier even if they didn't have their shield up when you pressed Q. Hammer down spreads over time in a cone shape, meaning if the other Reinhardt has good reflexes, he can block it. Be very wary about using it when a Reinhardt is right in front of you.


What is arguably Reinhardt's most helpful attribute is his shield. Since it has a very large health pool and does not give ultimate charge, it is perfect to help your team break through a choke point. As a result, he is a strong, safe pick for all maps but KotH. However, Reinhardt can be very strong for KotH to maintain control of the point or retake control of the point when the enemy is shutting you down.
This might make him seem like an attack-oriented hero but he is equally good on defense in order to defend the chokepoint by making it harder for the enemy team to get a pick. Also, if only one team in a match has a Reinhardt than their team will have the ultimate advantage because of Reinhardt's shield. Early ultimates can shut down enemy pushes and ultimates on defense and give you the break to push and take the choke point on offense.