Disclaimer: This article contains curated tips, guides, other useful information posted on Inven KR by the users. Please note that such guides and information are not objective truths and may not reflect the latest patch or meta changes.

 *Source guide from Overwatch Inven KR by Ewinahmi[의남이] [Korean]

Greetings from an old gamer in his thirties. I only (or almost only) play Reinhardt and I’ve had hard times earning the Master tier. I used to play healers a lot since I’m too old to play other heroes. But none of my allies were picking Tanks, so I started playing Reinhardt. I started playing Reinhardt in the middle of Season 2. Sometimes I chose Roadhog or Ana, depending on the team composition.

I hope this guide could help other Reinhardt players or those who are in the lower tier. Those who’re already in the higher tiers may simply ignore my words.

■ Before I begin:

These tips I’m about to tell you are based on my personal experience, but I advise you to try them.

1. Work on your aim. Some people may say Reinhardt doesn’t need a good aim, but how you hit your Fire Strike determines how fast your Ultimate will be ready. I strongly recommend you practice by watching how other players’ play. I saw a player named Ttuttu (if I remember correctly) practicing his aim with McCree.

2. Be sure to warm yourself up in the practice range before you start Competitive Play.

3. Understand the environment of each map to take advantage of it while in combat.

4. If you lose three matches in a row, just call it a day and go practice in Quick Play or Custom Game. Once you begin to get stressed, chances are you’ll screw up the whole game, even if your team is winning.

5. Try to play Support heroes. Those in a low tier often complain to Supports for not being with them. But what they don’t know is that Supports cannot heal when they are struggling against the enemies, or are killed. Understanding Supports will help you understand Tanks. Know the difference between using Barriers to protect you and using them in front of Supports. (i.e. Ana, Lúcio, and Mercy). You should especially get yourself experienced with Ana. Enemy Ana will irritate you, so I use Earthshatter to eliminate her. Eliminating enemy Ana is very important. Know when enemy Ana will throw Sleep Dart or Biotic Grenade.

6. Never give up, even when you are losing all control points. There’s always a chance to get better results. You will really lose if you think the enemies are superior to your team.

7. Know your enemy and know yourself. If you find that some heroes are tough to beat with Reinhardt, then try them out and get to know them.

8. Be flexible with team composition. Do not just leave the match when one of the allies picked not-so-favorable heroes (e.g. Hanzo). Be ready to change your role, have some patience, and accept the result. For your reference, I won a match with Symmetra and Hanzo in my team (when were on attack).

9. If you feel like you’re not going anywhere, take a break for a few days and watch how other players do. Study their strategies and make them your own.

I may have included some tips that are already mentioned in other posts. You can ignore them if you already know them.

■ Tips on Charge

It takes a lot of effort to use Charge in the right direction. There are tons of ways to dodge it, and no guides to help you. Just a quick reminder: you can dodge Charge by jumping.

Based on my experience, it’s best to use Charge in a diagonal direction. It depends on the enemy’s location, but diagonal Charge seems to work better. You can maximize the effect of diagonal Charge in Numbani, especially on the second floor. When you’re on Attack, use Charge on Lúcio, Mercy, Roadhog, or Zarya when they’re standing beside a sign. Hitting the sign will eliminate the enemy or cause them to fall onto the ground, while preventing you from falling.

Alternatively, you can use Charge towards a wall on the right side of Point A. Either way, you can make your team start with one less enemy, which could lead your team to victory. Also, when you confront an enemy at a staircase, wait until they reach halfway to the second floor before charging, otherwise you might be blocked by a door.

■ Fire Strike

The direction of Fire Strike depends on the distance between you and your enemy. Aim straight when you’re far away and diagonally when near enough. The enemy may try to avoid the strike upon seeing you move, so predict where the enemy will go.

Prepping your Ultimate fast using Fire Strike is the key to winning. I suggest you work on improving your aim in the Practice Range every day. Use Fire Strike whenever it’s available, but watch out for Roadhog and Ana, since they may be ready to use Chain Hook or Sleep Dart.

■ Barrier Field

You can find tons of tips elsewhere, so I’ll skip the details. You can always learn through repetition. However, it’s also necessary to check the enemy’s Ultimate status by communicating with your teammates. You may try not to keep Barrier Field on, but accustom yourself to activate Barrier Field when you hear an enemy Reinhardt cry, “Hammer down!”

If you suddenly feel like you’re in a bad situation, watch you back and hold your Barrier up. I’m terrible with mind games, so I asked other players to help me practice blocking Earthshatter. I’m not going to say I’m now skilled at it, and sometimes I fail to catch the signal during a dogfight. But I’m sure I got better than before. The Ultimate voice is loud enough to hear, so it would be helpful it you get used to it.

■ Earthshatter (You either are a troll or a pro, depending on how fast your ult is ready.)

Earthshatter has generous standard for effective hits compared to other Ultimates. I’m buying the idea that you can earn the Master tier with Earthshatter. Familiarize yourself with some spots where your ult is the most effective. Using it whenever you see a group of enemies won’t always help.
Also, keep in mind that you can use Earthshatter from the higher ground towards the ground. Check if there are enemy healers before using it. Your team is likely to be able to take over the ground if their healers are eliminated.

If you’re close enough to an enemy Reinhardt, you can knock him and the enemies behind him down, altogether. In addition, quite a few Reinhardt players tend to hide behind the payload when confronting an enemy Reinhardt. Seize this opportunity and bring your hammer down.

When Lúcio is in your team, take advantage of speed boost and approach the enemy Reinhardt to use your Ultimate. Earthshatter can also break the D.Va-Reinhardt Ultimate chain. This Ultimate combo cannot be easily broken. That’s where communication comes in. Signal your teammates when your Barrier is failing or your Ultimate is ready.

You should also watch out for your enemy’s Ultimates. Even though you use Earthshatter on the enemies, the enemy Genji’s Dragonblade combined with Nano Boost nullify the effect of your attack. So make sure they’re not using their Ultimates. Eliminating a buffed-up Genji has the same effect of shutting down two Ultimates.

You can lead your team to victory if there are no Reinhardts on the other side (or they’re bad Reinhardts). Reinhardt is not a dynamic hero, so most people don’t like to play him for a long time. You can see their skill level by their moves. Generally, there are three types. Make your move according to their play style.

1. Defensive statue
2. Fire Strike thrower
3. Charge-happy solo player

* Securing the space and FOV

[Continued from the previous post]
Consider your teammates’ positions when you activate the Barrier. I’ve seen many players sticking to the payload, but sometimes you need to take care of friendly Healers and DPSs in order for them to take position. Keep your enemies busy while placing yourself close enough for Ana to heal you.

*Playing Guides by Tier

A Gold or Platinum-tier Reinhardt must be aggressive. Use your Barrier only if you really need a shield. Rely more on Fire Strike to charge your Ultimate, use it, and wield your hammer against enemies. Proper Earthshattering during your team’s rush will lead your team to victory. Try to charge your Ultimate twice as fast as the enemy’s Reinhardt. You must build up experience to be skilled enough to make it happen. You have to die a lot and watch a lot plays. This experience will certainly ensure you higher scores in the future.

You may encounter some players who use a second account, but don’t panic and focus on eliminating the enemy ace with your Ultimate. When you’re in Diamond, however, forget what I’ve said above. Reinhardts in this tier rely more on Barriers. A split-second Barrier down will be greeted with a tremendous amount of attention and bullets. Therefore, you must remember two words: “management” and “moderation”. Only after understanding the true meaning of “moderation” will you be able to achieve higher scores. My win rate skyrocketed once I understood the meaning of it before I got to Master.

*A Way to Transform from an Aggressive Reinhardt to Genji-hardt

I’ve decided to become aggressive to protect friendly Healers, not to mention the DPSs.
However, being “aggressive” doesn’t mean you Charge towards the enemies and die in glory. In my opinion, being “aggressive” means that you shoo away the enemy DPSs with your hammers and keep your position. You also often use Charge on enemy Genji or Roadhog to protect the Healers. Keeping your Healers safe is crucial in this tier. The moment you become Genji-hardt is when your Earthshatter is combined with Nano Boost. Reinhardt can stay alive for a long time, but only if the Healers are safe behind you.

I’ll briefly cover how to handle the Pharah-Mercy duo before I move on to the next subject. If friendly DPSs are not good enough to take out Pharah and/or Mercy, change your hero to Winston or Roadhog. The enemy Tanks won’t withdraw their stance, even though you didn’t notice the duo.

*Some Advice to Ana Players

All Ana players are usually the same in terms of their way to position themselves and their aim, but great Ana players use the right amount of healing and use Sleep Dart at the right moment. You’ll have no problem to go up to Diamond with only these two. However, I’d like to add that throwing your Dart a lot is not everything. Use your Dart in critical situations to save your teammates; throw it on Roadhog who is pulling the allies or using Whole Hog, and on McCree when he uses Deadeye.

Finally, don’t hold your Ultimate for too long. Keep an eye out on your Tanks and use it to rescue your them. Check your teammates’ Ultimate status to maximize the boosting effect.

■ Conclusion

Reinhardt is a simple hero in terms of controls, but playing him right is not easy at all. I’ve had a lot of hard times playing him. That’s why I feel worn out after playing Reinhardt for a few hours. There are other good guides out there, but I took a long time to digest them. I tried to get familiar with him by watching a wide range of videos and gameplays and observing the enemies’ movements. I got killed so many times in the process of learning.

I hope you find my guide useful. If you find anything wrong with my guide, please don’t be too hard on me. That’s all. Thanks for reading.