A few rounds later I tried her out myself and had fun returning the favor! She’s a lot of fun to play, although her role on the team isn’t very clear-cut.
Mei Basic Info
Mei is classified as a Defense character, although that doesn’t really seem to fit her. I actually think she’s more of a Support, as she can’t defend an area like the other Defensive characters can.
What she can do is lots of crowd control. Her weapon, ice wall, and ultimate all help with this role, and her last ability can be used to draw fire from teammates.
Her weapon is the Endothermic Blaster. At close range it shoots a stream of coldness – I dunno what else to call it. It damages the enemy, but can also freeze them in place if you hit them with it enough. It can also be used at long range to shoot icicles!
Personally, it reminded me of Ice Spike headshots from Skyrim.
Abilities
The interesting thing about Mei’s abilities is that only one of them (her ultimate) does any damage, and that’s not the main point of it.
Again, that’s why I see her more as a Support character. A Defense character like Hanzo or Bastion is meant to take out bad guys attacking – not just incapacitate them.
But I digress. Mei’s abilities are as follows:
Cryo-Freeze - Mei gets encased in a big block of ice and heals herself. She can’t use abilities, move, or attack during this time. Ice Wall - Just like it sounds, Mei creates a giant ice wall. Usually it’s used to block enemies, but you can also use it to raise an ally (like Bastion) to higher ground for some interesting strategical moves. Blizzard- Mei releases a drone to slow and damage enemies in a small area. If the enemy stays in it too long, they are frozen solid.
Combat Tips
More than most other characters, Mei’s role can be summed up in one word:
Troll.
Slowing, freezing and taunting bad guys is the name of the game. Here’s how to play:
Use Ice Wall to separate the enemy team - Turning a 6v6 fight into 6v2 allows you to smash a few bad guys before the others can break through the ice wall. Once you kill the first few, you can turn your eyes on those left and easily take ’em out since you’ll outnumber them. This is especially useful if you can isolate the healer from the rest of the team.
Draw fire then use Cryo-Freeze - I can’t tell you how many times I used this tactic to basically act like a tank. Even though it’s risky if you wait too long to use it, it allows your teammates to beat on the enemy while they waste time/bullets/abilities attacking you. Most players will stop attacking once you go Ice-Woman, but they would’ve already wasted some time whittling down your health.
Icicle sniping > freeze spray - While Cryo-Freeze is on cooldown, try to keep your distance from enemies. Your icicles do decent damage, which is good because you’re fairly fragile and shouldn’t get into close combat unless you can fall on Cryo-Freeze to heal up.
Close off rooms or hallways with Ice Wall - On one map, the objective was to capture and hold a room with two walls and two large openings. I would repeatedly block off one opening, giving the enemy only one opening to attack us. On another map, I sat on the payload I was escorting and kept using Ice Wall to block the hallways the enemy came down, letting us travel a bit more before the whole enemy team could attack at once. My point is that it’s a VERY versatile skill, and can be used well for both attacking and defending teams.
Combine your freeze gun with your ultimate - Your ultimate can freeze enemies solid, but only if they’re in the affected area for a long time. Use your close-range frost stream to slow them down and keep them in the Blizzard. Any enemies frozen by your ultimate are easy pickings, so it can be a game changer in a big team fight.
There you have it- some of the best Overwatch Mei tips and tricks I saw after playing with her quite a bit. You’ll probably never be at the top of the leaderboard with Mei, but you’re still a great asset to the team.
