alright so the new reaper spread changes makes him better up close but worse at ranges more than about 6 meters. the problem here is that reaper has a hard time getting in close without getting blown up by CC or straight up damage. Using wraith to get in leaves him without an escape option so more often than not he’ll die shortly after. I have an idea that could solve this problem and improve reaper’s teleport (which i shouldnt have to explain why it needs improvement)

the concept of reaper’s teleport is actually integral to his playstyle. without teleport, he would have to take stairs and elevators to important high ground positions where potent damage characters like to nest. the reason why people like mccree and soldier don’t need an ability like this is because they are able to shoot at a range and contest them. reaper lacks range so he needs a way to access high ground quickly and/or flank. however the way the teleport works now is no where near as optimal as it could be. not only is it slow, but it is also bright and loud, making it easy to spot and punish. this is one of the only abilities in the game on a damage character that doesn’t work in combat. even when used out of combat, due to the requirement of line of sight to reposition and reasons mentioned before, it is objectively bad for no real reason other than to make the reaper player’s life harder.

my proposal is to keep teleport, but change it in a way that makes it both useful and more convienient for reaper, and so that it is unique from symmetra’s teleporter because as it stands now, hers is just a better reaper teleport through and through. so upon pressing E, reaper would slip into the ground (think of his teleport highlight intro.) then the player would be sent to a top down view, exactly how doomfist’s meteor strike works. For a max of like 4 seconds or so, reaper would be able to maneuver and eventually relocate to wherever the target is moved to (pressing left click would be the way to manually teleport instead of waiting for timer.) this way, reaper is not limited to line of sight, thus increasing his flanking capability, which he desperately needs to be able to close the gap between him and his target. this also makes it less predictable and consequently less easy to punish. of course the sound (only play the voiceline clientside) would have to still be present up close since it’d be unfair to teleport around a corner to a scoped widowmaker unannounced. also, please dim the lighting effects of the teleport.

Of course, even with a better flank option this doesn’t fix his main problem, which is actually walking forward to get near his enemy to do what the character was meant to do: shoot things up close.

Luckily for us we still have a free ability slot (right click.) we can use this slot to help alleviate this issue. my idea is that reaper makes use of the nades he keeps on his belt and chest. they could serve as a smokescreen spanning a relatively small radius (maybe as big as mei’s old blizzard.) the throw distance could be a bit weaker than Sombr’s translocator. this throw distance could serve as cover for allies against someone like widowmaker for a couple of seconds, who he otherwise stands no chance against without getting a cheeky, risky teleport in. but, more importantly, it provides a layer of protection for the reaper player when he is approaching a target. since the vision of the enemy will impaired for a bit, reaper can get his opportunity target into the range he needs in order to be effective and do his job. obviously this ability in the right situations is very good. however like many other damage character abilities there is a downside. the downside for this would be similar to mei’s blizzard in that the enemy can just walk out of it, but at the very least this gives reaper another, less suicidal option to get in other than wasting his escape option. this also pairs up well with the teleport i proposed, since he’d be able to cover it. cooldowns would also have to be paused while in the ground since it would be broken if used to stall for wraith.

if you managed to read all of this, thank you. i’ve played reaper for a very long time and he is easily my best character (which is kind of sad now that i read it) but hopefully i can make a change the edgelord will become a viable character.