I am going to preface this by saying I do not think Reaper needs a mega buff. The last thing we need is an undying Reaper meta like in Overwatch 1. That being said, I feel Reaper’s character and his play-style is super outdated. He is the original tank-busting, backline flanking, dark assassin we all know but with the game’s progression and the heavy emphasis on Time To Kill and crazy self-sustain, Reaper feel sluggish and slow and his move-set does not compete with his counterparts in either category:

• Tankbusting

Bastion achieves this at a much better price than Reaper does. Sure, while Bastion is locked to a cool-down to do what he does, that cool-down gives him more threaten and presence over a tank than a Reaper can ever hope to achieve. The added bonus of being ranged means he does not need to be knee deep in the enemy backline to fuck them in the culo. Mei is Mei, her isolation ability and ultimate makes Reinhardt’s ass pucker at the sight of her. Not to mention the massive damage her primary has and the slow effect that gives AIDS to anyone she hits it with. Hell, even Junkrat and Torbjorn can be a better pick than Reaper with Junkrat’s primary decimating the tanks and their large hurtboxes. If you were in a room with a Junkrat or a Reaper, who would you rather take on in a fight? Torbjorn’s character type isn’t very tankbusting on the surface but a high HP pool, shotgun, and a self buff to his firing rate makes him perfect for blasting anyone dumb enough to close the distance with him. Torbjorn is also great at range.

• Flanking

Tracer is a given, she is the standard for doing flanker playstyles well. Sombra too. Genji to an extent given his slower TTK but he makes up for it with his tempo plays of jumping from one target to the next and regenerating his dashes. Meanwhile Reaper has what exactly? Damage? Tracer and successfully one clip any squishy and challenge most at close to close-mid range. Utility? Sombra has fucking invisibility. Ultimate? Death Blossom is cool and I love it but between EMP’s team winning potential and Pulse Bomb being the Ol’ Reliable of ultimates, Reaper is competing with Genji for ‘situational team kill ultimate’ and at least Genji has tech embedded in his ultimate.

It just feels like Reaper is… old. Like the game has superseded him in nearly every aspect and that he’s been replaced by characters or just was never good at a particular thing in the first place. Nowadays he is just the counterpick to a good Winston or Roadhog on the enemy team and even that is situational at best. I wanna know if I am alone in feeling this way or that my fellow trenchoat and shotgun enthusiasts are with me on this one.