Overwatch devs respond to new Reinhardt-Zarya interaction on Patch 1.45

The Overwatch community spotted a surprising new interaction between Reinhardt and Zarya in the latest patch, forcing Blizzard to respond and shed some light on the powerful duo.

While Reinhardt and Zarya used to be a central part of the controversial GOATS meta, the Tanks have dropped somewhat in popularity due to recent updates.

Patch 1.45 may have subtly turned things around for the duo however, as a surprising interaction has been uncovered when combining Reinhardt’ Charge with Zarya’s Projected Barrier.

Throughout previous patches, when opposing Reinhardt’s would Charge into one another, they would clash heads and both fall to the ground upon impact. Zarya’s defensive bubbles would not change that outcome.

Thanks to some surprising changes in the latest update however, the book has been rewritten when it comes to Rein and Zarya interactions as charging with a barrier will no longer drop you to the floor.

Showcased throughout an in-depth breakdown from Reddit user ‘SushiDoughnut,’ it turns out that if a Rein is bubbled mid-Charge, they will be able to push through another charging Rein without being phased.

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Adding insult to injury, even if both Rein’s are protected by Zarya, the Tank that started their charging animation first will still continue to push back the opposing hero after meeting in the middle.

Surprised as they uncovered a handful of new interactions, the group testing each interaction couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing.

The new changes all apply to the likes of Doomfist and even Brigitte, as heroes will no longer be stunned after colliding with a charging Rein.

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Perhaps the most staggering interaction of them all, comes from Brigitte now being able to knock down an opposing Rein without being impacted whatsoever as “Zarya’s bubble negates Rein’s Charge” in this interaction.

While this might not seem all too significant a change on the surface, these heroes are now able to survive previously risky encounters. 

Responding to an inquiry on the official Overwatch forums, developer Matt Whited outlined how the current interactions with Rein’s charging other Rein’s, are not quite working as intended.

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“This is a bug that will be resolved with the next release,” he explained. However, there is no clear indication as to whether this comment extends to all of the new interactions, or simply just Rein vs Rein matchups.

For the time being, this issue is able to be manipulated thanks to the latest patch, though it is likely to be reverted sooner rather than later as Blizzard has been rolling out new updates far more frequently in 2020 than in years prior.

While this unintentional Zarya buff might not last, the Overwatch community has been enjoying the tweaked version of the hero throughout the very first experimental mode.