Overwatch 2kicked off Season 13 with various quality-of-life map updates, a newMy Hero Academiacollaboration, and a teaser for the upcoming tank hero. Interstingly, after the midseason patch notes from Season 12 and the launch updates for Season 13, the meta seems to be shifting back toward Orisa’s dominance. TheOrisa meta inOverwatch 2isn’t a new phenomenon, but it highlights how the community often judges the state of the hero-shooter by whether Reinhardt is effective.
Reinhardt has been a fan favorite in the tank category since the first game’s release in 2016. Despite being one of the original 21 heroes, his core utility and kit have remained largely unchanged inOverwatch 2. Notably, while Reinhardt may become less effective at higher ranks and is often map-dependent, the consensus is that both playing with and against him is a surefire way to keep the player base satisfied. Unfortunately for Reinhardt enthusiasts, since the sequel launched in October 2022, there haven’t been many instances where the German Crusader was a hard meta-pick.
An Overview of Overwatch 2 Since Its 2022 Launch
Tank Balancing Issues Have Consistently Troubled Overwatch 2
Season 1 was an exciting period for the community as it ushered in a new era for the hero-shooter, with the biggest change being the switch from 6v6 to 5v5. While damage heroes like Sojourn, Tracer, and Genji proved highly viable, especially Sojourn, whose one-shot railgun sparked significant debate, Roadhog, Zarya, and Winston emerged as must-have picks for tank players. At launch,Roadhog and Kiriko dominated the leaderboard, primarily due to the synergy between their kits. Where Ana players once gained great value from their Biotic Grenade, Kiriko’s presence in the game made it so that Roadhog would be instantly cleansed of the anti-healing effect.
Though Season 1 suffered from slight balancing issues concerning Roadhog,Season 2 introduced Ramattra with Annihilation, an ultimate that could last indefinitely if any enemies were in his area of effect range. Though Orisa and Doomfist were also popular picks during this time, Ramattra’s release made him an almost guaranteed win for any team in overtime situations. As a result, players took to social media to voice their complaints about the Omnic tank, flooding their feeds with comments about how effective he was.
Ramattra’s ultimate was patched in Season 3, with Blizzard removing the pause from the Annihilation timer.
In the meantime, thepolarizing Mauga meta from Season 8stands out alongside Orisa multiple times, including Season 9. Mauga, introduced in Season 8, faced criticism for dealing and taking excessive damage, especially with his ultimate, Cage Fight, which provided him unlimited ammo while trapped inside the barrier. Orisa’s rise in popularity was largely due to Team 4’s decision to remove fall-off damage from her Augmented Fusion Driver and to make her immune to forced critical hit damage. When using Fortify, she also prevented direct critical damage from headshots.
Finally, Season 12 recently witnessed thecontroversial D.Va metadominate the Top 500 leaderboard, aided by dive-oriented characters like Juno and Brigitte. While part of D.Va’s success stemmed from a bug that caused her Boosters to stack movement speed multiplicatively with abilities like Juno’s Hyper Ring, she still maintained an impressive 52% win rate across all ranks,according to Overbuff. Her presence not only frustrated some players, but there were instances where tank players would try using other characters before ultimately giving up and returning to spawn to select D.Va.
Where Reinhardt Stands in Overwatch 2 Season 13
With the launch of Season 13, it might be too early to draw any solid conclusions, but Orisa has once again become a popular choice. This is unfortunate for Reinhardt players, as she effectively counters him. However, the recentMy Hero AcademiaReinhardt skin has been called “pay to win"due to a bug that allows him to use Earthshatter without any sound cues, giving him an edge. Additionally, the Season 13 map changes to Dorado, Havana, Circuit Royale, and Numbani have made high-ground access easier for the melee-focused ground tank. Numbani and Dorado in particular were some of Reinhardt’s biggest obstacles, and while it is still more ideal for tanks like Winston or D.Va to dive height, it seems Blizzard is continuing to address pain points for certain points and chokes that have been historically difficult.
“The Season 13 map changes to Dorado, Havana, Circuit Royale, and Numbani have made high-ground access easier for the melee-focused ground tank.”
Overall, it seems that players tend to be much happier with the game’s balance when Reinhardt is usable or nearly meta. When he feels ineffective, it’s often a sign that there are balancing changes that may need to occur to help stabilize the game’s current meta. As such, though Reinhardt was ranked at B-tier inOverwatch 2Season 12’s tier list, there is hope that he will climb higher with the arrival of future seasons and patch notes.
Overwatch 2
WHERE TO PLAY
Overwatch 2 is an always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl. Power up your railgun and disrupt the battlefield as Sojourn, or yield your axe and command attention as Junker Queen. Battle to take control of a robot and move it toward the enemy base in the new Push Mode. Bring the fight to new destinations across the globe in iconic locations like New York, Rome, Monte Carlo and Rio. Daily challenges and frequent updates mean there is always something new to play.
