Wow, thanks so much, guys!
I like your build and often use a very similar one.
I love Reyna if for no other reason than I find her to have some of the most diverse helix choices.
With Reyna, unlike many other battleborn, every choice you make is truly a give and take choice. You choose to heal with overshield (which I feel is always the right choice unless you already have two other support on your team), fine, but youāve now given up the ability to provide extra dps to your team on overshield.
You choose to have homing plasma shots, fine, youāve now given up the ability to slow the enemy for an absurd amount of time. Her choices are a TRUE decision and can fit anyoneās play style.
I LOVE that I have to actually think and decide what to pick with her. Picking one thing truly means Iām giving up something else that is awesome.
She is a battleborn that you truly need to make choices on depending on your team composition and the enemies. Because of that, she changes how she needs to play every single game. I wish other characters were just as diverse instead of having a relatively clear cookie cutter helix build.
I do have a question regarding your level 9 choice.
I always take right - projectile reflection - (unless of course say Iām against three+ melee character). I avoid the longer overshield because in all honesty, I never see an overshield last the full duration in combat without breaking anyway.
Why would you choose the longer duration when an overshield (IMO) rarely lasts the full lower duration anyway?
I just want to make it clear, this is not criticism, in case it comes off that way. Iām genuinely interested as its very possible Iām missing something.
Thanks!
Yeah I agree. Iām expecting the over shield to break, duration seems silly here.
the first day pendles was out I found one in our base trying to take our thrall. once he was on the point i popped my ultimate and he flew off the map. one of the most satisfying taunts iāve ever been able to use
Like I said, usually helps get my ultimate up quicker, especially if iām not directly in battle at that time. or say I pop it to help a teammate finish someone trying to go get middle thralls on incursion, I can dart away and still have some overshield up by the time I reach the next conflict. it is more of a personal preference, but I like the satisfaction of knowing my shield is there for a while if iām not directly in a battle. plus it gains even more utility at 10 when the entire team has an overshield or using her legendary to heal health/shield of an ally and the pulse overheats. Iāve never actually paid attention to exact scenarios where the overshield duration truly adds to her kit, so who knows, I might be taking the wrong choice depending on the comp of the opposing team.
as for the level 4 helix choice, I just donāt like relying on other people to heal the rest of the team/myself. Iāve had games that was me and an alani where we both took healing and kept each other in the top priority to heal and we had the fewest deaths while maintaining an entire team and keeping them alive. plus, what if one of your healers is the one pulled by ghalt, DPS isnāt going to help them, getting them out of the fray with as much life as possible is priority. I also just like the personal satisfaction of seeing a teammateās health bar fly up and being able to call myself a true healer reyna, which from what I can tell has been super appreciated by others in matches
as for the homing vs slow choice, really is just a preference. now that slow has lost some utility, it doesnāt excite me much more than homing
Best overall support in game(Incursion). Overhield +shield heal+health helixes is amazing burst healing. Priority target +slow +increase duration is great for kill secures. Ultimate for safe sentry pushes, turret destruction, and well timed ult/ability denial. Only issues are she requires a team thats decent and listens and her personal damage output is pretty horrendous.
Thatās what I love about Reyna, there ARE no wrong choices. Everything has a use.
Had never considered this. Longer overshield out of battle makes for more time to heal them. Very fair points.
Regarding helix option 4, Iām with you. I have never not taken healing on overshield and canāt see myself ever taking anything else.
Thanks for the reply!
No kidding. I canāt count the amount of times Iāve played Reyna in meltdown and found myself alone trying to hold down a lane, even asking one person to come over and getting no response.
People please, if there is a Reyna on your team, ONE person stick by her. Sheās reliant on that overshield. Having someone nearby is half her kit until level 5. She is not a lane clearer!
Iāve seen Reynas that get 15+ kills in a match, and it confounds me. I mean against pretty good players, too. I have no clue how they do it. Iāve tried picking Reynaās more aggressive Helix options, and it usually just ends up a mess.
I consider myself a good Reyna, too. I get tons of assists, I mark targets well, I think Iām pretty good at using her Ult in smart ways, especially to gain advantage in the lane.
Itās the homing option that makes a killer Reyna. With that you become a pretty potent skirmisher that wrecks people like melka Benedict caldarius orendi most healers etc. the only thing itās not amazing against are brawlery types or tanks. Basically anything above the average durability mark itās not amazing against but pushing a ghalt out of position or still applying that damage amp combined with pulses and consistent focus fire still makes it pretty good. Homing Reyna has been one of my favorite playstyles over all out of all the characters
Same here 9 times out of 10 I go with the homing shots.
Plasma Pulse shots damage enemies and do bonus damage to shields, yes. IMO Reyna almost has two primary attacks. With the homing option, her Plasma shots become vicious against high-mobility characters who try to avoid enemy fire. Bennyās the obvious example, but there are many others.
Reynaās Ult Basically gives you a 100% damage reduction while youāre in the bubble, negating all damage that hits it. Meleeās, however, can run through the bubble and you can take damage from them, but any damage that hits the shield is negated (so running on the opposite sides of your opponents location is a pretty good safe haven.
Also yes thereās two types of ways to play Reyna, as main support or support/damage.
Reyna can be used to sustain a whole team, assassinate, or a combination of both. Support Reynaās usually choose heal, keep prority target on victims that their opponents are engaged in, and Ult to get their teammates out of situations.
Assassin Reynaās usually look for a specific target and lock them down with either slow or homing pulse shots (I find locking them with slow is much more reliable, will touch basis on why later), consistent damage, choose damage mutation to maximize their and teammates damage output, and will Ult to get themselves out of potential danger.
Both play an essential role and really I honestly canāt say either is better, just what your team needs. But if I were to put it in simple terms, Damage Reyna if you already have a dedicated healer and Heal Reyna for everything else (you have until level 4 to realize this in most cases)
Right off the bat for the level 1 helix it should be a no brainer to never choose the left helix option if youāre playing with all eldrid. If you are playing with at least 3 other shielded characters Iād highly recommend the left option as it will help them greatly. Or big shield character potentials like Phoeboe, Ghalt, Kleese, Montana, and S&A
If you are going for more of a support build always choose the following. Slow by level 2 on priority target, heals by level 4, increased overshield timer by level 9(?) and longer duration of prority target by level 8 (?).
If you are going more of a support build Still go for slow by level 2 (iāll explain why I promise), Damage increase mutation by level 4, and damage amp.
For the combination role (where you want to damage but you not quite sure if your healer can handle endgame) Iād choose everything else but go for damage amplification at level 9(?).
Now the reason why I feel that slow will always trump prority target making plasma shots home in is the fact that you can put out about the same about of damage output with the slow due to how strong the slow is. Choosing the Prority target homing shots gives your opponent enough time to just hide around the corner and laugh at you for thinking theyād die by it. And if you do get kills with it, chances are you wouldāve gotten that same kill with the slow. But the additional Bonus is that your teammates can benefit from the slow, not just you. Also with Reynaās increase to laser pistol damage she can do even more damage to targets than the plasma pulse gun if levelād right (Iāve gotten shots up to 111 a bullet, thatās over 1,200 damage a clip).
Well I donāt feel like writing a full guid so I hope this helps.
Great post. Im a day one Renya player and thats pretty much spot on.
The only place I diverge is at increased overshield timer. Iāve found a lot of the time if your target is being actively engaged they can out damage the overshield before the timer runs out.
What Iāve always been curious about is optical amplifier vs slazer thermokenetics. How strong can the laser get with over heated plasma pulse. Is it stronger than the 18% overall? Havenāt tested it.
Its stronger but not practical cause the heat goes down to fast. I think at max with attack speed you get maybe 6 shots before dropping. So by the time you prority target, build up heat and start shooting your prority target will almost be depleted abd you dont get a full effect.
I havent tested it since she got the damage buff but for the most part it isnt practical.
Yea I guess that makes sense. I guess if you got most wanted that may be helpful but you are right, that is a lot of set up.
Oh, yea, remember something else I wanted to say.
You almost have to decide if you are going to go full support or add some damage into the mix before the game even starts. I donāt know about you but I have a defensive Renya load out and a offensive Renya loadout. I go defensive if it looks like my team picked correctly and will protect me appropriately. If it looks like itās going to be an everyman for themselves Iām going offensive.
Really great & informative posts here, guys, thanks!
While I like the utility of the homing shots at Lvl 2, when Iām facing a really good team theyāll frequently just hide behind cover until the mark has worn off, making my plasma pulse useless until they come out since all shots will just hit the wall rather than some other enemy I may want to aim at in the interim. Therefore I almost always take the slow.
For gear I tend to focus on minimizing cooldowns. In that regard I prefer the Chrono Key to her legendary. I love to jump into a choke point, throwing up a photonic ward mid jump so that I can immediately jump back out of it (when my opponents melee rush or throw AoEs inside), quickly overshield an ally, mark a target, hose it down as best I can, and then jump in with another ward and repeat the process. If you time it right you can basically spam a choke point with wards and keep thralls and minions from being able to make much progress.