Today we take a look at one of the more iconic heroes in Overwatch, Reinhardt. Reinhardt is easily one of the best tanks in the game with what some would say is a pretty standard kit, it can actually be utilized extremely well and provide anything from massive dents in the head, to massive percentages of ult charge denial or just denying the ults in general. There is rarely a case where one would say "We don't need a Reinhardt". When looking at Reinhardt from afar most players, even the higher level players will assume that Reinhardt is all about holding the shield on a choke point until it shatters, then they would assume you flame strike and just relax in a corner while it recharges but that is rarely the case.

Especially now that the 3-3 Tank and Support composition is on the rise in competitive play, Reinhardt is the glue and Ana is the glitter that makes him sparkle. What do you think would happen if your Reinhardt wasn't there to block a DVA ultimate with a shield, or pin the enemy Mercy or finally land that clutch Earthshatter that could turn a losing 4v6 into a won battle? None of those things would happen and you would be wondering why there isn't any ultimate charge while they seem to have theirs more often than you.

Shield Management

Have you ever seen a Reinhardt try to play the hero and charge at a DVA Ultimate and “Save the team” by being a martyr? Lets not be that Reinhardt, What most don’t understand, even some at higher levels is that a Reinhardt's Barrier Field with even 1 HP is able to block things such as Junkrat’s Rip-Tire or a DVA Mech Bomb, So of course, we need to manage our shield right? So how do we do that? Well firstly we need to take some simple steps, Sometimes it’s ok to take a Widowmaker shot or a few Junkrat nades to save the health on your Barrier Field at the beginning of the round, Most people run Ana in their composition nowadays so it is ok to take the damage to save Barrier Field health for the sake of giving your Ana more ultimate charge and your other teammates more health and walls to hide behind.

Your Barrier Field is what determines who wins the Reinhardt battle. You have more health on your shield than their Reinhardt? You’re ahead and winning, They will refuse to play the aggressive game with a Lucio speed boost or all in with a nano boost if the know you are winning the shield battle. Why? Well most players would assume that since you have been managing your shield better, you have had more blocked damage and played smarter and in a sense provided your team more opportunities to build ultimate charge.

Here EnVyUs’s Tank cocco gives us an opportunity to look how to manage your shield incredibly well and doesn’t overextend, And communicates to his teammates when it’s below Five hundred and says it’s dropping, most Reinhardt's on ladder will not communicate that which is extremely key. Think of that communication as the Five hundred health shield, make sure to get it out or the Five hundred health you saved would not have mattered as your teammates had little time to react to the shield breaking and going down so they took more damage than necessary, and as a Reinhardt we need to prevent those unnecessary mistakes and damage.

Charging, The Correct Way

Charging is simple yet difficult to master, And it’s always situational, There is NEVER a situation where charging is a must (Except for walking up to a hammered down Mercy, Then it’s pretty safe to assume to Charge her.), one situation people don’t seem to understand is that it’s ok to trade Charges, most Reinhardt’s seem to think it’s ok to take a pin but in reality it’s not. For example, say you’re sitting on the last point of Route 66 with your Barrier Shield on defense holding in the middle of the straight shot to the final point the payload needs to get to, now, are you going to take the pin straight down the middle when your enemies are at the ready to follow him? Or will you trade pins and hope for your team to burst him down quicker than they can you and hope you win the duels.

Well the answers quite obvious, you would trade the pin because in this case the enemy Reinhardt could easily knock your secondary tank or a damage dealer or support to the other side of the semi-truck, Will it happen? Probably not but it is a possibility and it will do more damage to your team because of how out of position the enemy Reinhardt will shove you, Will you kill the enemy Reinhardt? Yes you usually would, but how would you prepare yourself to fight a team whose in position when your team is scattered and most likely a bit picked off by the disorganization at this point.

You have to make the situational choice of when it’s good to trade pins and when it’s good to be pinned, You need to have not just the midrange view around you but map knowledge as well and awareness. ALWAYS be aware of the opportunity to counter pin, Don’t be scared to be pinned, look for ways to counter it. And lastly always take scenarios you’ve seen in past games and apply them to the current one, you never know when a situation that involves Charging would appear again, The whole learning process of Charging is playing the game and learning all the different situations you can apply them to.

That face when you know your Charge is good

The Head To Head

We will keep this segment short and simple. As Reinhardt the best way to bait out enemy Reinhardt’s Earthshatter that being “fake the break.” What do I mean by that? Well any Reinhardt, even at the professional level seems to have a knack for falling for the low shield health voice line and you intentionally putting it down at Five hundred or less always seems to bait the Earthshatter. Couple that with a few jumps backwards and they fall right into your hands.

Now when it comes to Charging the key is to remember the current situation you’re in, Can you afford to be pinned? Will your teammates soar to the other side of the map out of your line of sight? And the most important one, Have I seen this exact Charge attempted before? If the answer is yes then it should be obvious to read what the opposition has in store and where their positioning themselves and you should know whether to take the pin or trade them, It’s all about experience.

Wrapping It Up

In the end Reinhardt is all about past experiences and applying them to the current games and having blind faith in your teammates, You’re only as good as those helping you and they can’t perform if you can’t protect, Charge or Shield manage properly. You won’t receive medals a lot of the time, except for objective time mostly, you won’t be the flashiest player and you’re not playing Reinhardt to be that guy, but don't get discouraged, you are the glue holding the team together, you are making sure they are able to play their game without having to worry about their head being taken off by a Mccree or a Roadhog hook coming around the corner, You’re scratching their back so they can scratch your’s, That play alone, knowing you helped other players do their best by providing Shielding, Key Earthshatter’s and out Charging the enemy Reinhardt is rewarding as of itself.

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