Overwatch players discover massive Reaper Teleport exploit on Hanamura

Blizzard developers fix an unintended Reaper Shadow Step exploit in nearly every Overwatch patch, and that pattern should continue as fans have discovered a new bugged teleportation spot on Hanamura.

Reaper is a sneaky, dangerous character that can stealthily appear from the shadows and dismantle your team’s backline. Already potent given his abilities and damage output, the hero doesn’t need any help—let alone the ability to even further defy physics.

In the most recent exploit discovered by fans, Reaper is able to teleport inside of the staircase popularly used by attackers on the way to Hanamura’s Point B high ground. He can then walk out of literal stone, unseen by enemies, and devastate their push.

 

While Reaper’s Shadow Step is innately scary, it does permit some counterplay: there is an obvious audio cue and a very vivid visual cue when he teleports. This exploit doesn’t seem to hinder the audio cue, but it would hinder an opposing team’s ability to see exactly where he is.

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As shown by ‘AppleChoose’ on Reddit, the shotgun-wielding character is able to teleport directly below him when standing on the stairwell and then hang out within the seemingly impermeable structure until he decides to emerge and wreak havoc.

 

It remains unclear whether or not enemies are able to see the trademark red haze surrounding the hero when he Shadow Steps or if there is any indication of his character model visible from the outside.

Similarly, although audio cues like footsteps and voice lines are impacted by surrounding scenery—it is also unknown exactly how muffled Reaper’s sounds are when he is within the stone stairwell.

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One can only hope that these details won’t need to be discovered and that Overwatch’s developers will jump in and patch this out as soon as possible. Although they don’t typically discuss bug fixes in advance, unless particularly egregious, this one is likely to be a top priority for the team and it would be surprising for it not to be fixed within a week.

 

As noted by ‘Odurawza’ on Reddit, this appears to be a PC-specific bug. That’s at least a positive for console players, who have been dealing with a nightmarish game chat bug for a couple weeks now.

This leaves the onus on Overwatch’s PC base though, as players must consistently lay out justice by reporting players who exploit the bug until Blizzard eventually patches it and hands out punishments for those who took advantage of it.