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Knowing how to play multiple roles is key to success in Overwatch 2. Each team is divided into two Damage heroes, one Tank hero, and one Support hero. Expanding which role you play will help get you into games faster and create more effective team compositions.

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The Tank class in Overwatch 2 needs to provide stout defense and lead the team into battle. Most Tank heroes are meat shields, absorbing tons of damage for their other teammates to push themselves. As one of the founders of Overwatch, Reinhardt Wilheim has established a solid reputation as one of the best Tank heroes, and using him will set your team up for success.

Leading The Charge

Reinhardt should be the first to lead his team into battle with 325 health and 300 armor. His extremely high health allows him to absorb much damage compared to other heroes. Certain levels have narrow exits for teams leaving their spawn points, so having Reinhardt lead the way with his shield will be a literal lifesaver.

Reinhardt’s Barrier Field is a frontal energy shield that can block a total of 1,200 damage before needing to be recharged. His shield will start recharging after two seconds and will regenerate 144 health per second.

Reinhardt’s teammates can shoot through the shield, so communicating with your team while using the barrier will pay dividends. The best combo is to have Reinhardt set his shield in front of a Bastion or Torbjorn turret to protect the stationary weapon.

On the downside, Reinhardt’s barrier will reduce his movement by 30 percent and won’t withstand direct hits from high-powered Ultimates, like Roadhog’s Whole Hog and Pharah’s Barrage.

Drop The Hammer

Although Reinhardt is primarily a defensive-centric hero, the German Tank can lay down the hurt when needed. He swings a devastating melee weapon in his Rocket Hammer that can smash squishier heroes in seconds.

His hammer swings also push enemies back, so if you’re near an edge, you can knock people off the map.

Because of his hammer, Reinhardt isn’t easily nullified. His melee weapon can’t be stopped by anything; he’ll just swing away, making contact with anything in front of him. Reinhardt’s hammer deals 85 damage per swing, so a few solid hits will have enemies thinking twice about fighting the Tank hero.

Shatter The Earth

Reinhardt’s Ultimate, Earthshatter, can be effective for offense and defense. When you’ve filled your Ultimate gauge, Reinhardt will slam his hammer into the ground and knock down enemies within 20 meters of the impact area.

After you use Earthshatter, enemies will remain knocked down for roughly three seconds, but simply using your Ultimate may not be enough to fully eliminate an enemy.

Earthshatter inflicts roughly 250 damage depending on their proximity to the impact point. Follow up the Ultimate with Reinhardt’s Fire Strike or Charge attacks to finish the job.

Fire Strike is a projectile attack with a five-second cooldown that inflicts 90 damage. Reinhardt has two charges, so you can fire off one or two in quick succession after knocking enemies down. If Fire Strike isn’t enough either, utilize his Charge ability.

Reinhardt will burst forward and pin anyone in his path against a wall or hard surface. The attack deals 225 damage if pinned against a wall; otherwise, just 50 damage. This ability has an eight-second cooldown, so be sure you time your attacks wisely.

How To Play As Reinhardt

For being one of the strongest defensive heroes in the game, anyone playing Reinhardt must be leading the charge. On offense, Reinhardt should have his shield deployed to protect his teammates exiting the spawn area.

Being able to withstand 1,200 damage is more than enough to hold back an initial wave of firepower to secure the outside if there’s heavy pressure. Using Reinhardt’s Charge to quickly exit the spawn area for Control matches can be a nifty way to get to the objective point swiftly.

Although Reinhardt’s offensive capabilities are restricted to his hammer, he can still be a viable pick to defend in Escort matches. His shield can be the perfect barrier to protect turrets surrounding an objective point or other long-range heroes to shoot through his barrier.

Reinhardt’s Earthshatter can be an excellent crowd control Ultimate if the enemy team is bunched together. Using his Ultimate and then his Fire Strike or Charge can be a deadly combo for the German hero.

Reinhardt is an effective hero on nearly any map because of the importance of his barrier, but his shield can be more effective in tight spaces rather than wide-open areas. Maps like King’s Row and Dorado might better suit him than Ilios and Oasis.

Avoid charging into battle recklessly because elusive heroes like Tracer or Reaper can quickly get behind Reinhardt’s shied and attack him. Moira’s Ultimate, Coalescence, is a long-range beam that can also pierce Reinhardt’s barrier, so avoid the biotic Support hero.

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